Water Mill Primary School

EYFS

 

The Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework sets the standards for the learning, development, care, health and safety of children from birth to five. At Water Mill, Reception provides a secure, nurturing and ambitious start to school life, supporting children to develop confidence, independence, curiosity and a strong sense of belonging.

 

Intent

At Water Mill Primary School, it is our intent that children who enter our EYFS are proud of what they achieve, become creative and independent learners, and are prepared for future learning both in and beyond school.

We work in partnership with parents and carers to encourage independent, happy learners who thrive in school and make strong progress from their individual starting points. Throughout their time in Reception, children develop a sense of belonging to our school community and are supported to transition successfully into Year 1.

Home visits are an important part of this partnership and mark the beginning of each child’s Reception journey. They allow staff to meet children and families in a familiar environment, begin to build trusting relationships, understand each child’s interests, strengths and needs, and gather valuable information that helps us plan a smooth and supportive transition into school. These early conversations help children feel known, valued and ready to learn from the very start.

Our curriculum recognises children’s prior learning, home experiences, interests and needs. Every child is recognised as a unique individual, and we celebrate and welcome difference within our school community. Our values of respect, caring, creativity and integrity sit at the heart of daily routines, relationships and learning.

At Water Mill, we recognise that oracy is a life skill. Communication and language support children’s thinking, confidence, self-regulation, resilience and empathy. Through warm, skilful adult interactions, purposeful play and meaningful first-hand experiences, children are supported to express themselves, listen to others, ask questions, explain their thinking and use ambitious vocabulary.

We believe that high levels of engagement support strong progress. Our enquiry-led curriculum provides opportunities for meaningful cross-curricular links, sustained thinking and children’s own interests and ideas. Childhood should be a happy, investigative and enquiring time, where children feel safe, secure and ready to learn.

By the end of Reception, our intent is that all children make strong progress from their individual starting points and are equipped with the knowledge, skills, confidence and learning behaviours needed for a successful transition into Year 1.

 

Implementation

At Water Mill, learning opportunities are planned across the three prime areas - Communication and Language, Physical Development, and Personal, Social and Emotional Development - and the four specific areas - Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World, and Expressive Arts and Design.

Each half term, a broad enquiry question provides inspiration for learning while still allowing flexibility for children to follow their own interests, ideas and fascinations.

Our Reception Curriculum Journey

Half term	Enquiry question	Curriculum focus
Autumn 1	What is Magical About Me?	Belonging, identity, relationships, feelings and settling into school.
Autumn 2	How Do We Use Light to Celebrate?	Celebrations, light and dark, remembrance, seasons and community.
Spring 1	Who Will You Call?	People who help us, safety, responsibility, maps and community roles.
Spring 2	What Magic Can We Find in Animals and Minibeasts?	Animals, minibeasts, habitats, lifecycles, care and scientific curiosity.
Summer 1	How Does My Garden Grow?	Plants, growing, food, healthy choices, responsibility and change over time.
Summer 2	What Lives Under the Sea and Around the World?	Oceans, maps, global awareness, environmental care and transition.

 

Children learn through a careful balance of child-initiated play, purposeful adult-guided learning and direct teaching. The timetable includes daily phonics, reading, mathematics and rich oracy opportunities, alongside regular PSED work, story times, songs, rhymes, vocabulary teaching and provision-based learning. The timetable is responsive and changes throughout the year to reflect the developing needs, interests and readiness of the children.

Indoor and outdoor learning are planned as equally important spaces for exploration, collaboration and independence. Children are provided with extended periods of time to engage in purposeful play and exploration through carefully planned provision that supports, extends and challenges their learning.

Adults play a central role in deepening learning. Staff model, question, scaffold, extend language, notice misconceptions, provide real-time feedback and engage in sustained shared thinking with children. This helps children revisit knowledge, practise skills and deepen understanding in meaningful contexts.

English / Literacy

Reading is at the heart of our curriculum and our aim is to encourage a love of reading right from the start. In EYFS, children are exposed to a carefully chosen range of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems that develop oracy, vocabulary, comprehension and imagination. These books are revisited through story sessions, role play, small world, writing opportunities and provision enhancements so that children begin to internalise new vocabulary, language patterns and story structures.

Children are encouraged to mark make and write for meaningful purposes through labels, lists, captions, cards, story maps, simple sentences and child-initiated writing opportunities. Talk is central to writing; children orally rehearse ideas before writing and are supported to express their thinking clearly.

Phonics and Early Reading

Reading is at the heart of our EYFS curriculum. We want children to develop a love of reading through listening to adults read aloud, joining in with stories, rhymes and poems, talking about books, and choosing texts to enjoy with others.

We teach daily systematic synthetic phonics using Little Wandle Letters and Sounds. Children practise reading books that are fully decodable and carefully matched to their phonic knowledge. In school, children take part in three Reading Practice sessions each week, focusing on decoding, prosody and comprehension. This helps children apply their phonics knowledge, develop confidence, read with expression and understand what they have read.

After children have read the book in school, it is sent home so they can continue to practise and celebrate their reading with their families. Big Cat reading scheme books, linked to the phonics children are learning, support our early reading offer.

Children also have opportunities to choose books to share with their family, helping to develop vocabulary, imagination and a love of reading beyond school.

Mathematics

Mathematics is taught through daily direct teaching, practical exploration and meaningful application in provision. We use the NCETM Mastering Number programme to support children in developing strong foundations in early number, including subitising, cardinality, ordinality and counting, comparison and composition. The programme supports children to develop good number sense, fluency, confidence and flexibility with number.

Alongside this, we use the White Rose Maths scheme to support progression in pattern, shape, space and measures. High-quality learning environments and meaningful interactions with adults support children in developing mathematical thinking, vocabulary and discussion.

Children use manipulatives, games, ten-frames, counting collections, real objects and problem-solving tasks to explore mathematical ideas. These concepts are revisited, rehearsed and applied within child-led exploration, helping children notice patterns, explain their thinking and address misconceptions over time.

Each child is also provided with an individual NumBots login when they start school. NumBots is provided by school as a paid subscription to support further maths practice at home. It helps children build confidence, understanding and recall in early number, including number bonds, addition and subtraction. We encourage children to use NumBots little and often at home to continue developing their fluency and confidence with maths.

Further information can be found here: NCETM Mastering Number at Reception and KS1
https://www.ncetm.org.uk/maths-hubs-projects/mastering-number-at-reception-and-ks1/

 

Wider Curriculum

Our wider curriculum is taught through Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design. Children begin to think like scientists, historians, geographers, artists, designers, performers and responsible citizens through first-hand experiences, stories, investigation, creativity, visits, visitors and subject-specific vocabulary.

Exciting, purposeful and contextual activities are planned to build on children’s natural curiosity. Children use maps, globes, real objects, artefacts, stories, non-fiction texts and practical investigations to make learning meaningful. Outdoor learning is valued as strongly as indoor learning and supports exploration, movement, wellbeing and problem solving.

Building further on our oracy focus, children are encouraged to use subject-specific vocabulary in play, discussion and adult-guided learning. Adults model vocabulary clearly and provide opportunities for children to retell, explain, predict, reason and reflect across the curriculum.

 

Characteristics of Effective Learning

The Characteristics of Effective Learning are an important part of all areas of learning and are reflected in how children play, explore, concentrate, make links and develop their own ideas.

Playing and Exploring - children investigate, experience things and are willing to have a go.

Active Learning - children concentrate, keep trying if they encounter difficulties and enjoy their achievements.

Creating and Thinking Critically - children develop their own ideas, make links between ideas and choose ways to do things.

 

Inclusion and Adaptive Teaching

Our inclusive approach means that all children learn together within a broad and ambitious curriculum. Visuals, real objects, pre-teaching, repetition, modelling, scaffolded practice and targeted support enable all children, including those with SEND and EAL, to access learning successfully.

We provide additional support for children who may need help to keep up, as well as challenge for children who show a greater depth of understanding. This may include Wellcomm screening, social communication support, fine motor intervention, phonics support, mathematics support, or targeted adult interaction within provision.

Monitoring and Professional Development

Regular monitoring of teaching and learning by SLT and the EYFS leader helps ensure consistency, strong subject knowledge and high-quality provision. The EYFS leader supports staff through discussion, modelling, CPD and reflection on effective practice, including high-quality interactions, observation, assessment and next steps for learning.

Assessment and Impact

Assessment in Reception is purposeful, light-touch and rooted in practitioners’ professional knowledge of each child. Practitioners build a clear picture through observation, interaction, child-initiated play, adult-guided learning, children’s work, floor books and pupil voice. Assessment informs responsive teaching and helps practitioners identify next steps without creating unnecessary paperwork.

Children’s starting points are identified through information from parents, previous settings, transition conversations, home visits, the Reception Baseline Assessment, Wellcomm screening and early observations. The Reception Baseline Assessment is a short statutory assessment completed within the first six weeks of Reception, while Wellcomm helps us identify children who may need additional support with speech, language and communication. Phonics assessments, Wellcomm reviews, maths observations, writing evidence, pupil progress discussions, termly tracking and the EYFS Profile support professional judgement across the year.

Floor books are used to capture photographs, children’s work, shared experiences and children’s voices. Children revisit floor books to talk about past learning, retrieve knowledge, reflect on progress and make meaningful links across the curriculum.

By the end of Reception, children are supported to become confident communicators, reflective learners and curious thinkers who are ready for the next stage of their education. They make progress from their individual starting points, develop secure foundations across the prime and specific areas of learning, and transition into Year 1 with confidence and a strong sense of belonging.

Partnership with Parents and Transition

We recognise that children learn and develop well when there is a strong partnership between practitioners, parents and carers. Parents and carers are valued as children’s first educators, and we share curriculum information, reading and phonics guidance, home learning ideas and opportunities for families to contribute to their child’s learning journey.

Transition into Reception is supported through communication with families, information from previous settings, home visits or transition conversations, stay-and-play opportunities where appropriate, and carefully planned settling-in routines. This helps children feel known, safe and ready to learn.

Transition into Year 1 is supported through professional dialogue between Reception and Year 1 staff. We share assessment information, strengths, interests, learning behaviours and next steps, alongside visits and transition activities, so children move forward with confidence.

Talking with Your Child

Research shows that speaking, listening and understanding are central to children’s learning and development. Families can support communication by talking with children throughout the day, sharing stories, introducing new vocabulary and encouraging back-and-forth conversations.

Helpful link:

NHS Best Start in Life – Early learning and development
https://www.nhs.uk/best-start-in-life/early-learning-development/

BBC Tiny Happy People – Language advice
https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/language-advice

Maths at Home

Children develop early mathematical understanding through talk, play, noticing patterns, counting, comparing and problem solving in everyday life.

Useful links:

NCETM Mastering Number at Reception and KS1
https://www.ncetm.org.uk/maths-hubs-projects/mastering-number-at-reception-and-ks1/

BBC Numberblocks
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/numberblocks

Phonics and Early Reading at Home

Reading is a vital life skill. Children who are regularly read stories, rhymes and poems have opportunities to develop vocabulary, imagination and a love of books. Families can support early reading by reading daily, talking about books and accessing a wide range of texts at home, in school, at the local library and through online resources.

Useful links:

Little Wandle – For parents
https://www.littlewandle.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

National Literacy Trust – Words for Life
https://wordsforlife.org.uk/

CBeebies Bedtime Stories
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/bedtime-stories

Additional Guidance and Links for EYFS Parents

The following links may help families support learning, communication, independence and development at home:

50 Things To Do Before You’re 5 – Birmingham
https://birmingham.50thingstodo.org/app/os#!/welcome

What to expect in the Early Years Foundation Stage: a guide for parents
https://foundationyears.org.uk/files/2021/09/What-to-expect-in-the-EYFS-complete-FINAL-16.09-compressed.pdf

Statutory Framework for the EYFS
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2

Further Information

For more detailed information about our Early Years curriculum, please see the Reception class page and the curriculum documents shared on the school website, including the Reception Long-Term Curriculum Plan, EYFS Curriculum Overview, Phonics at Water Mill and parent guidance for EYFS.

Ofsted previously recognised that ‘children get off to a good start’ in Reception ‘because the effective provision in the early years helps them make good progress.’

Updated 2026