The Willows EYFS Curriculum is play based and responsive to the children within our setting. We value play and know it is essential for children’s development. We strive to build children's confidence and resilience through his approach.

             As stated in the Statutory Guidance for EYFS

             ‘Play is essential for children’s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, relate to others, set
              their own goals, and solve problems. Children learn by leading their own play, and by taking part in play and
              learning that is guided by adults.’

Our curriculum is set out to allow children time to develop through their play. Central to our curriculum are the characteristics of effective teaching and learning and as such they are at the forefront of everything we do…

                                       • Playing and exploring - children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’.

                                           • Active learning - children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy
                                             achievements.

                                           • Creating and thinking critically - children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and                                                     develop strategies for doing things.

              As our learning is focused around the individual child, their learning ‘wow moments’ are documented through online learning journeys. These are continuously accessible to parents and their contributions actively encouraged. We build strong relationships between parents and school from the outset of school life, including parents as partners in this journey.
 

             In EYFS each individual class creates a floor book for the year which contains evidence of the activities and creates a journey of the learning that has taken place. These are available for children to revisit and contain children’s voice through annotated notes of their comments during activities and comments made when the children reflect and recall previous learning. Subject leaders can access these to see evidence of their subjects in EYFS and can use them to talk to the children about their experiences within EYFS.
 

             Every child has a display space in the classroom referred to as their ‘locker’ this is their individual space to display what they have achieved or are currently proud of and would like others to see. Children can request to put items on display in their own lockers and in time they will then take home the contents to share with their adults at home.