Early Years Foundation Stage 

At Danson we have high academic ambition for all our pupils, regardless of their backgrounds, circumstances or needs. Our EYFS curriculum provides rich, varied and stimulating experiences that enthuse children to learn and achieve highly. The curriculum is carefully sequenced to enable children to build on their learning over time and provide foundation for  their learning journey across the school. 

We provide a wealth of meaningful learning opportunities through a mixture of high-quality play and adult-led sessions across all seven areas of the Early Years Curriculum, enabling children to make links within their learning and to the wider world. Our learning environment encourages a positive attitude to learning and reflects the individual’s interests, passions and abilities. We use materials and equipment that reflect both the community that the children come from and the wider world. 

There is a sharp focus on children’s Communication and Language skills with core texts, language rich environment and high quality interactions with adults used to immerse children in language and stimulate development of vocabulary and language skills. 

Teaching of phonics is a key part of the EYFS provision. Read Write Inc scheme is used to ensure phonics are taught systematically. Sounds are taught in a particular order so that children can begin to read VC (vowel/consonant) and CVC (consonant/ vowel/consonant) as soon as possible and experience success. The learning is delivered through discrete phonics lessons as well as having ongoing opportunities to explore and apply phonics within the learning environment.

At Danson we have a strong commitment to the holistic development of each child. We understand that children develop in different ways and at different rates and we strongly believe every child is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured. All children are encouraged to achieve their personal best and planning is adapted to meet the needs of all groups and abilities. 

At Danson we use Development Matters guidance to support the learning of our children as part of daily observations, assessment and planning and as a guide to making best-fit summative judgements. 

Danson EYFS Handbook

Starting School Books

DfE Development Matters