Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the statutory framework that all early years settings must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well.  In school, this refers to both the Nursery and our three Reception Classes.  It promotes teaching and learning to ensure children are ready for school and gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life.

Key Stage One (Years 1 and 2)

The Curriculum for Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2) in all maintained schools has been reformed by the current government. We aim to teach as much curriculum content as possible through our topic themes, however, some subjects are taught discretely where this is not possible. Our curriculum and topics are enhanced each term as much as possible through visits, Creative Practitioners, visitors and visits out of school.

Subjects covered within the curriculum are:

English; Mathematics; Science; Computing; History; Geography; Music;  Physical Education; Art and Design; Design Technology and Religious Education.

Detailed information on how we deliver each subject can be found on the subject pages of our website.

The National Curriculum can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-primary-curriculum

Within each subject there are a range of skills and knowledge to be taught, as well as teaching the application of basic skills in English and Maths through other subjects, i.e. reading in all subjects, measuring and recording methods in Science etc. At the beginning of each new topic we gather the children’s ideas through mind mapping and plan our teaching according to their interests and gaps in knowledge and understanding.

For additional information please see our Curriculum Overview for each year group.

Phonics

At Whitefield Infant School and Nursery we follow the Red Rose Letters and Sounds systematic programme.  Children are grouped in their class according to the phase/group of sounds which they are learning.  Children’s progress is tracked regularly and catch-up intervention is put in place for children who require the extra support. We have a systematic and rigorous approach to the teaching of our phonics. 

Reading

At Whitefield Infant School, we aim to develop a love of reading and children that read for enjoyment.  During the week, all children will take part in guided reading, independent reading and follow-up reading activities, involving comprehension and understanding of the text.  All teachers read to their classes on a daily basis and have inviting and relaxing reading corners with a selection of genres and text types for the children to choose from. All reading books sent home are matched the the phonic ability of the children, to allow them to practise and consolidate their phonics teaching. We have a high-quality reading spine that lies at the heart of our curriculum, you can view this on the English page of our curriculum area.

For more information on any of our reading or phonics provision, please do not hesitate to contact the school and see the subject specific pages of our curriculum area.