Foundations @ Thurcroft
Based on the grounds of Thurcroft Junior Academy
We are open 07.30 - 16.30 term time only
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Our Curriculum
Young children should be provided with high quality opportunities that engage them in learning through their play. We will begin by focusing on children’s personal, social and emotional development. They will be encouraged to develop positive relationships with peers and understand the feelings of others. We aim to provide children with natural opened ended resources to use their skills and imagination to create, solve problems and take risks. We will encourage children to explore the outdoor area regularly throughout the day to develop their physical skills. Our Curriculum will reflect some topic based activities, Seasonal changes and cultural differences within the community. Our objective is to embed the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes for children to prepare them for future learning and successes.
The Early Years Foundation Stage is a statutory framework that sets the standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to 5 years old.
The framework specifies requirements for safe-guarding children and promoting their welfare.
The EYFS supports an integrated approach to early learning and development. It gives professionals a set of common principles and commitments to deliver high quality early education and experiences to all children.
The framework is made up of 7 areas of learning
Prime Areas-
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Communication and Language
- Physical Development
These three prime areas are then applied through four specific areas;
Specific Areas-
- Mathematics
- Literacy
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning identified by the EYFS are:
- Playing and Exploring - children investigate and experience things, and are willing to ‘have a go’
- Active Learning - children concentrate and keep on trying even if they encounter difficulties, children enjoy achievements
- Creating and Thinking Critically - children have and develop their own ideas, makes links between ideas and develop strategies for doing things
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Communication & Language / Literacy Development
The development of children’s spoken language underpins all seven areas of learning and development. Children’s back and forth interactions forms the foundations for language and cognitive development. Children are encouraged to develop speaking and listening skills and to think independently. These skills can be supported in the home environment, lots of discussions and asking questions as they develop their speaking and reading. To develop your child’s language skills reading frequently with them is a very important way of supporting their communication and language development. Children will take part in regular phonics sessions and we will work closely with parents to support them with helping their child apply this within the word reading process.
In Foundations we have chosen a selection of ‘Core Books’ for children in Early Years. These books are a mixture of classics and exciting new books across a range of styles and genres. During their time in the EYFS children will get to know these books inside out. This will help them use stories, language, characters and ideas as part of their role play, art work, story-telling and eventually writing. Each week children will take home a phonics book to read with their family and every Friday child will visit our school library to borrow.
Transition
Though the EYFS children are entitled to a curriculum that is based on what interests them and what they already know, can do and understand. We offer a broad curriculum that encourages children to become independent learners within our high-quality provision. Our objective is to embed the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes for children to prepare them for future learning and successes. We understand the importance of our curriculum and how first-hand experiences can have a positive impact of their attitude towards learning throughout their education. As a team, we work closely with subject leaders within the academy to influence a smooth transition into the next stages of their education and ensure children have the best possible start to their education.
Speech, Language and Communication Development
Miss Williams, who is our trained member of staff runs a booster group intervention, over a 10 week period. This programme is designed to develop the communication skills of young children with delayed speech, language and communication needs. This group also offers children the opportunity to build confidence when communicating to others. Each week children will take part in activities that will focus on developing their listening, attention and understanding skills with a particular focus on expanding vocabulary and communication.
Search the Tiny Talkers website for simple tips and activities.
Follow Tiny Talkers Rotherham on Facebook for more tips, ideas and inspiration.
Information on funding for parents
To check eligibility for funding or more information, please visit https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/
Class Dojo
ClassDojo is an educational technology company. It connects primary school teachers, students and families through communication features, such as a feed for photos and videos from the school day. Please get in touch if you want help accessing our Class Dojo page!
Important Information
Children will need to bring their book bags on Tuesdays and Thursdays for phonics books. They will also need them on Fridays for our weekly visit to the library. Our baking days are Tuesdays & Thursdays.
EYFS Stay & Play
At Foundations at Thurcroft we hold a parents stay and play session every half term. Each session focuses on one of the seven areas of learning. It gives parents an opportunity to come into our setting and be involved with their children's learning by taking part in lots of different activities.
This year our stay and play sessions will be as follows:
Term 1- Exploring Autumn & Christmas Crafts
Term 2- Literacy & Easter Crafts
Term 3- Maths & Communication and Language
Take a look at what we got up to in our stay and play sessions so far this year:
Dates for your Diary
World Nursery Rhyme Week 13th-17th November
Road Safety Week 20th - 25th November
Christmas Crafts 5th December
Christmas Sing 19th December
Big Garden Birdwatch 26th – 28th January
National Storytelling Week 29th- 5th February
Chinese New Year 10th February
Shrove Tuesday 13th February
Literacy Stay & Play 26th February
World Book Day 7th March
Mother’s Day 10th March
Easter Crafts 28th March
Maths Stay & Play 22nd May
Father’s Day 16th June
End of Year Sing 18th July
Last day 19th July
Learning from Across the Year
Our curriculum has been designed to ensure every child has the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to reach their full potential. Our creative and bespoke curriculum reflects our children are provided with the knowledge and skills they need at each stage of the Early Years. Foundations at Thurcroft is dedicated to providing children with experiences and opportunities to help them progress and achieve success.
