Early Years

A warm welcome to the class page for EYFS. Here you will find the Curriculum Overview for the year for both Nursery and Reception. Any relevant information will be added when appropriate. 

If you have any queries or questions please don't hesitate to ask. Thank you for all of your support!

Miss Brennan, Mrs Jones and the EYFS Team

 Ideas for helping at home 

 Here are a few ideas to help you to support your child's learning at home.

Personal, Social, Emotional Development

• Encourage your child to say please and thank you.
• Encourage your child to take his/her own coat on and off - independence skills.
• When playing with your child, support them in sharing toys.
• Allow them to choose some toys themselves and reflect on opinions about these toys; e.g. this is my favourite doll/car.
• Ensure that your child is able to go to the toilet unaided.
• Try to support your child in taking turns with others.
• Encourage your child to talk about their feelings.

Physical development

• Encourage your child to handle small and large equipment.
• Allow your child to use scissors and develop their skills.
• Allow your child to run, hop, skip, jump and find different ways of travelling.
• Play games such as follow the leader and change actions to develop motor skills and coordination.
• Discuss changes to their bodies after exercise; heart beating faster, feeling hot

Communication and language

• Talk to your child, ask them about their day at school, who they have played with, what they have done.
• Talk about rhymes and rhyming words.
• Read and share stories together. 
• Listen and talk about different sounds in the environment.
• When reading stories use different voice sounds.
• Read repetitive stories so that your child can join in with repeated refrains.
• Play games such as Simon says... or I can hear with my little ear... to encourage listening skills.

Mathematics

• Practise counting groups of objects in pictures and stories; pose questions such as how many altogether? Which number is one more?
• Count out loud with your child saying the names of numbers clearly.
• Show numbers to your child (perhaps on number cards).
• Sing songs or rhymes with numbers in them; 10 In The Bed, 5 Little Ducks, 10 Fat Sausages etc.
• Read stories with numbers in them, e.g. The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
• Use mathematical language; add, take away, number names, how many, one more/less, altogether
• Count using fingers to represent amounts.
• Point to and say numbers around the house, street
• Encourage your child to identify shapes around them; do a circle spotting hunt, square spotting etc.
• Apply mathematics to real life; shape, money, amounts of objects etc.

  Literacy

•  Allow your child to select books for themselves; ones that interest him/her. Picture books with repetitive and basic language such as those by Julia Donaldson.
• Encourage your child to ‘read’ what is happening in the pictures. Prompt them to tell you a sentence about what is happening or what might happen next.
• To increase vocabulary and identify sounds, play word games such as I spy.
• Sing alphabet songs and talk about the names of the letter and the sounds that they make.
• Make shapes of letters out of play dough, write them in sand, write their own name in the air etc.

Understanding the World

• Talk to your child about special times; birthdays, baptism, parties, holidays and other key events in their lives and the lives of others they know.
• Encourage them to explore their surroundings; particularly in the outdoor area.
• Allow your child to observe animals and describe them.
• Allow them to use simple tools; such as a small hand trowel, knife and fork, spade etc
• Encourage them to feel different textured objects and describe; rough, smooth, soft etc.

Expressive Arts and Design

• Allow your child to listen to and sing songs and nursery rhymes.
• Explore and play musical instruments.
• Engage in role play with your child.
• Explore different media, paint, pencils, crayons.
• Use scissors and glue, encourage cutting and sticking activities.
• Dance to songs and make up actions to go with them e.g. wheels on the bus.