Welcome to EYFS at Belvedere British School
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the first year of your child’s learning. However, FS2 is a crucial stage in any child’s life as this is where they grow and develop in all areas of education. These include the main areas of Social, Emotional and Physical development. Teachers in FS2 are here to support your child and guide them to become more independent. During FS2, teachers carefully plan exciting topics to ensure children are fully engaged and give them the best experiences to support their learning. These activities are well researched and adapted to all areas of the EYFS, so children have the best opportunity to learn, mainly whilst playing. Teachers encourage play throughout the day, especially during continuous provision. As a result, children can access the areas and scaffold their learning.
FS2 is developing communication and language skills. Children will be exposed to the English language throughout the day and begin to learn new vocabulary. This gives children more opportunities to feel confident listening and speaking. In addition, we encourage children to be more independent throughout the year, such as dressing, undressing and going to the bathroom alone. These skills are all skills parents can help with at home.
What is EYFS?
At Belvedere British School, we follow the British EYFS Framework, which includes the four guiding principles and seven areas of learning discussed below. These are carefully planned for teachers and form our EYFS curriculum. BBS follows the principles of the EYFS while extending and enriching the curriculum for our children.
The four Guiding Principles
1. A Unique Child- At BBS, we recognise each child is an individual and competent learner. We encourage children to become capable, resilient, and confident and to become self-assured by ensuring each individual is valued for their unique character, abilities, interests and cultural heritage.
2. Positive Relationships- Each child in the EYFS at Belvedere British school has a Key Person who respectfully acknowledges
and supports their learning, needs and feelings and those of their family. Usually, the key person for children is their class teacher
3. Enabling environment- A rich and varied environment is carefully planned to ensure all children learn and develop well, are engaged, and progress at their own pace. Children develop the confidence to explore in the safe yet challenging environment Belvedere British School offers.
4. Development and Learning- The EYFS curriculum comprises seven areas of learning and development. At BBS, we plan for each of the seven areas and are committed to supporting each child to learn through play and exploration and setting appropriate tasks to challenge each child in their learning journey.
EYFS: The Seven Areas of Learning and Development
Seven areas of learning and development shape educational programmes in the Early Years, all of which are important and interconnected.
Three areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning and building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive.
These three areas, the prime areas, are:
Communication and Language
Physical Development
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Teachers support children in four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied.
The specific areas are:
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding the World
Expressive Arts and Design
We welcome parents’ involvement in their children’s education, for example, through frequent discussions (formal and informal), their contribution to the EYFS Profile, and by providing photographs and information about their children’s home life, which we can build upon at school. The curriculum is reviewed annually to ensure that it remains
fresh and up-to-date.
Subjects:
English
Phonics/Read, Write, Inc
Mathematics
Science
Topic
Arabic
Islamic
Circle time
Digital Literacy
Continuous provision
Music, Art, Drama (MAD)
PE
Phonics
There has been a considerable shift in UK schools in the past few years in how we teach reading. This has a significant impact and helps many children learn to read and spell. Phonics is recommended as the first strategy children should be taught to help them learn to read. It runs alongside other teaching methods such as Guided Reading and Shared Reading to help children develop all the other vital reading skills and hopefully give them a genuine love of reading. For example, we use Ruth Miskins’ Read Write Inc program at Belvedere British School.
Assessments
The school has a rigorous continuous assessment cycle and robust tracking systems to track progress in all subjects. These are kept under constant review and scrutiny by the Senior Leadership Team.
Pupil progress meetings are conducted with all class teachers to discuss progress and early action is taken to address any areas where a pupil’s progress is giving cause for concern. Parents also have an essential role in ensuring their child achieves their full potential. Parents will receive progress cards and are invited to attend performance review meetings covering their child’s academic progress, attendance, and behaviour.
There are ongoing informal assessments to move children’s learning daily in all lessons.
Co-Curricular Programme
Although Belvedere British School has academic excellence at its core, we firmly believe that a high-quality co-curricular programme enhances the learning experience beyond the curriculum and is an essential part of school life. A comprehensive programme of enrichment opportunities is offered for all our pupils, aimed at developing key personal skills, aptitudes, and specific interests and talents. They provide opportunities for pupils to try new things and are an excellent medium to foster good relationships between staff, pupils, and parents. They develop children’s social skills by providing a forum for interaction between children of different ages. In addition, our team offers various out-of-school activities such as football, swimming, gymnastics and art and crafts. The Co-Curricular Program changes every term to cater to all pupil’s interests.
More details will be provided before each new term.