Intent
At HPS, we aim to support children to develop the key life skills of: independence; confidence; articulacy; innovation; creativity; enquiry; analysis and problem solving whilst making learning fun and encouraging a love of learning.
Happy
Ambitious curriculum
Manage themselves
Stimulating environment
Take risk
Everyone ready for year 1
Accessible and achieve
Develop language
Why is Early Years so important?
Early Years is so important in giving children the foundations they need for their future. It is a time where children make and establish important relationships that will set them off on their educational journey. Early Years is also the time when key communication and language skills are developed as well as early literacy and maths skills and the physical and social skills they are going to need for future learning. They develop core skills through their interactions with others and their environment. Play in the Early Years is vital in developing these skills and encouraging an enquiring mind and a love of learning.
What Early Years looks like at Hamstead Primary School
At Hamstead, children encounter opportunities to be creative, to be curious, to try things out and to develop their independence and confidence in a safe, fun, engaging environment. We believe that children learn best through practical, hands-on experiences and interactions with their environment and that play provides children with the opportunities to consolidate and extend skills and concepts learnt. Our curriculum involves a mixture of child initiated and teacher led tasks. Our staff are skilled play partners, teaching the children their next steps and reinforcing and supporting them in their learning. We provide a rich, stimulating and varied environment in which our children develop their own learning, interests and play. Children have access to different 'provision areas' and we value the importance of our outdoor environment including our forest school, believing that it offers children the opportunity to develop thinking and problem-solving skills.
Examples of Learning at Hamstead
Key skills are introduced, developed and extended. Teacher time activities include:
Phonics; story time, library time (reading bus on site) and guided reading activities;
White Rose Maths and Maths Mastery;
Handwriting; singing and music;
In addition, we offer our continuous provision time which covers all seven Areas of Learning through many different experiences and tasks based on six topics across the year. Skills are also introduced and developed during our Learning time (child Initiated) when children can independently access our different provision areas and enhancements (e.g. cooking, gardening, investigations, role play, games, problem solving activities, PE skills) Children experience many things for the first time and develop their skills and interests. They all have the opportunity to go to Forest school and go on local trips through our seasonal walks, trips to the library and end of EYFS trip to the farm or zoo. The children participate in special events and activities such as Diwali Day, Eid celebrations, the Nativity play and Easter activities.
EYFS overview
At Hamstead we want our children to be inquisitive, independent learners, so that every child can achieve and no child is left behind. We recognise that children’s personal, social and emotional development is crucial for children to lead healthy and happy lives, and it is fundamental to their cognitive development.
Our curriculum is a rich mixture of different approaches. These include: child-initiated learning, alongside adult guided and adult led learning to ensure that children not only develop their own ideas, but also receive ambitious, carefully sequenced learning to help them progress and meet age-appropriate milestones.
Our dedicated EYFS staff team help to create strong, warm and supportive relationships which enable children to thrive and experience a rich curriculum. We are proud to nurture and grow the children of the next generation.
