Learning in the Hercules Class follows the Early Year Foundation Stage Curriculum (EYFS) and is hands-on with a focus on learning through play, exploration and investigation.

At Langley Fitzurse, we work closely with our families to create an inclusive, friendly, church school that supports our children to become confident, happy and resilient learners, so that they can reach their full potential.

The EYFS Curriculum at Langley Fitzurse immerses the children in a fun, creative and enabling environment that inspires children to explore their interests, while also expanding and challenging their understanding of the world to create opportunities to enable the children to take their next own steps in their own learning journey.

Each day includes teacher-led inputs (both indoors and outdoors) in Literacy, Phonics and Maths that focuses on the EYFS curriculum needs of children in our class. We also have the advantage of being flexibility linked to KS1 Pegasus Class topic learning offering opportunities for the school community to share joint experiences such as class trips, school experiences and Field and Forest outdoor learning together. While, our outdoors and continuous provision provides purposeful, supportive and independent learning opportunities within each of the seven areas of development of the EYFS curriculum.

Within the EYFS Curriculum, the seven areas of learning and development are split into Prime and Specific areas of learning. These are:

Prime Areas of Learning

• Communication and language
• Physical development
• Personal, social and emotional development

Specific Areas of Learning

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

The Prime Areas are the foundation of Early Years Learning, nevertheless each area is as important as each other and they are all inter-connected. It is our intention that these areas of development are taught in meaningful and stimulating ways that instil in children a passion for knowledge and life-long learning.

Playing and exploring, active learning and creating and thinking critically, underpin the long-term plan to ensure all KS1 (who still need the play-focused environment) and EYFS children make good or better progress from their starting points. We offer child-focused interventions as and when they are needed to fill gaps and support their learning as individuals.

Communication and Language

The development of children’s spoken language, listening skills and understanding is the basis of all areas of children’s learning and development. Children develop these language skills at Langley Fitzurse through taking part in rich experiences, roleplay, singing songs and storytelling inspired by the wide range of texts and stories we share with them.  The adults in class work to support the children to use and embed new vocabulary, express their ideas, thoughts and feelings, enabling them to participate in discussions and conversations to help them to express themselves to others.

Personal, Social and Emotional development

Children’s personal, social and emotional development are fundamental for their cognitive development to allow them to feel safe and secure in their school environment and ready to learn.

The EYFS Curriculum at Langley Fitzurse works to nurture and support children as they form new relationships, play and co-operate with others, become more independent and explore and manage their own emotions. Children are encouraged to set their own goals, take risks, have confidence in their own abilities and develop a positive sense of self, so they can form productive and understanding relationships with adults and peers. 

Physical Development

Children’s gross and fine motor skills are key in building core strength, stability, balance, coordination and agility that will enable the children to have the muscle strength and dexterity to be creative in their learning. They will take part in activities that will keep them healthy, both mentally and physically. Langley Fitzurse’s offers provides daily opportunities to develop their fine and gross motor skills across our continuous provision and outdoor area, as well as taught PE lessons, including balance bikes, ball skills, athletics, gymnastics and dance, dough disco, and squiggle while you wiggle sessions.

Literacy

Language, vocabulary and reading is at the heart of our curriculum, and it is our desire to enthuse the children’s love of reading and acquiring knowledge through our text-inspired curriculum. We use good quality texts from a range of genres, including poetry. We encourage children to participate in story telling by developing imaginary worlds of play and adventure. We encourage their comprehension and use of story language from their reading to implement into their writing. Children are encouraged to use their mark-making and then their phonics skills in their independent play and are celebrated as it turns into independent writing.

Daily phonics teaching follows the Sounds Write scheme, firstly learning the Initial Code. Children use their phonic knowledge in their reading and writing. With support from adults they learn to blend for reading and segment to spell in small group sessions. Letter formations are taught through letter families using a range of multi-sensory methods including Squiggle While you Wiggle sessions to the more formal rainbow writing.

Mathematics

Langley Fitzurse’s daily Maths — No Problem lessons are teamed with our continuous provision giving our children frequent opportunities to practise, review and consolidate their learning of mathematical concepts using concrete materials that are link to visual and symbolic representations of numbers and signs. We use the Workbook Journals alongside a wide range of picture books to focus on numbers to 20, developing a deeper understanding of numbers to 10, the relationships between these numbers and the patterns within them as well as shape, capacity, height, weight and mass ready for Y1.

This interactive approach to Maths teaching and learning is used to spark children’s interest in mathematics and to develop a positive attitude, where children can learn from their mistakes to develop their own understanding of Maths.

Understanding the World

Langley Fizurse’s Early Years curriculum is designed to reflect and follow the seasons in the natural world and the Christian yearly cycles. We are very fortunate to provide an indoor –outdoor classroom, once a week Field and Forest sessions and regular visits from our Christian and wider communities such as Energy Sparks, Scarecrow Trail and Godly Play.  These opportunities and experiences allow children to develop a wider understanding of their world around them by exploring, learning to reflect and responding to the diverse world we live in.

Hercules is also very much connected to the wider school community through taking part in whole-school events and activities, having Y6 buddies with whom we share some of our learning. We also enjoy joining our Pegasus peers who we regularly get to know through our shared outdoor learning experiences together. We regularly welcome parents into school to share their experience and expertise with the children.

Expressive Art and Design

Imagination and creativity is crucial to self-expression and directly linked to building positive self-image and self-confidence. At Langley Fitzurse, we work to inspire the children’s artistic talents through the development of their cultural awareness. We support their imagination and creativity to grow and flourish. Alongside this, we allow them to experience a wide range of media, materials and opportunities to explore, create and build on these experiences, both independently and supported. We provide opportunities for the children to look at the world around them and to use contemporary culture that we find in picture books, films/TV and art for inspiration.