Intent – Why do we teach what we teach? 

Here at Cottam Primary School, we aim to give every child the very best start possible to their education. Through our curriculum, we intend to provide our children with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive and be successful in the world. 

At Cottam Primary School we build on what our children already know and can do. Each individual child comes into school at different starting points and we aim to provide a stimulating environment to help all children develop and grow into lifelong learners. We build our curriculum around the children’s interests and provide opportunities for learning indoors and outdoors. 

In reception, we work hard to embed positive attitudes towards school and aim to foster a genuine love and enthusiasm for learning. We encourage children to be curious and ask questions, deepen their understanding of the world around them and develop and share their own opinions.  We teach the EYFS learning skills through play and our engaging environments. Play creates the conditions for children to test the world, to make sense of it and to grow the skills needed to communicate, to negotiate and to express their inner selves. 

 Implementation – How do we teach what we teach? 

Our children learn through a balance of child-initiated and adult-directed activities. The timetable is carefully planned to ensure daily high-quality inputs in English, Maths and Phonics. 

Teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage is based on securing progress towards Early Learning Goals, which indicate what is expected of most children by the end of the foundation stage. These goals are contained within the following areas of learning and development- 

Three Prime Areas 

Personal, Social and Emotional Development 

Physical Development 

Communication and Language 

Four Specific Areas 

Literacy 

Mathematics 

Understanding of the World 

Expressive Arts and Design 

In addition, there is a focus on the characteristics of Effective Learning which are: 

Playing and Exploring 

Active Learning 

Creating and Thinking Critically 

Impact – How do we know what our children have learnt and how well they have learnt it? 

Our Curriculum needs to meet the needs of our children, including our disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, so we take time looking at and evaluating how well our children are learning. We carry out regular skills audits in the provision, to ensure it is meaningful and beneficial to the children in our classes. We achieve this by talking to the children, looking at their work, observing their learning experiences and analysing data.  

At three points in the year, we update the progress the children have made on our tracker system. This information enables us to assess the impact of teaching and decide what to put in place moving forward to ensure the best outcomes for all the children. 

In addition to this we formally assess phonics termly enabling the children to be reading at the appropriate level as well as highlighting any gaps in their phonic recognition.