Early Years

Our EYFS Curriculum: Intent, Implementation and Impact 

At Cranmore Infant School, we want every child to have the very best start to their school journey. Our EYFS curriculum provides a warm, nurturing and stimulating environment where children feel safe, valued and confident to explore. Through purposeful play, direct teaching and a carefully structured environment, we help children build the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need for future success.

We follow the EYFS Statutory Framework and the Educational Programmes, ensuring that children make strong progress across the seven areas of learning. Our curriculum is inclusive and child-centred, reflecting the needs, interests and backgrounds of the children in our school community.

INTENT

Our intention is to provide a rich and ambitious EYFS curriculum that gives children the strong foundations they need for learning in Key Stage 1 and beyond. We want children to:

- develop secure language, communication and personal-social skills

- build early reading, phonics and mathematical understanding

- develop curiosity, confidence and independence through purposeful play

- experience a broad range of opportunities that build cultural capital

- feel included, supported and successful, whatever their starting point

We prioritise the Prime Areas (Communication & Language, PSED and Physical Development) as the building blocks of learning. We have identified key Golden Threads that run through our EYFS curriculum and continue into KS1:

- Oracy and vocabulary development

- Phonemic awareness and early reading

- Early number sense

- Self-regulation and emotional development

- Gross and fine motor progression

IMPLEMENTATION

Children learn best through a balance of play, exploration and high-quality adult interactions. We therefore:

- plan a sequenced, progressive curriculum for Nursery and Reception that builds year on year

- provide purposeful continuous provision that allows children to revisit, practise and deepen their learning

- offer direct teaching sessions for phonics, reading, mathematics and key curriculum content

- adapt the curriculum to reflect children’s interests, developmental needs and next steps

- provide structured routines and explicit teaching of behaviour, talk expectations and learning behaviours

- use high-quality interactions to model vocabulary, extend thinking and develop understanding

- ensure outdoor learning is available daily and is planned with equal value as indoor learning

- use skilled questioning to support children to solve problems, think critically and develop reasoning

- enrich learning through visitors, trips, Forest School and our Adventure Passports

SEND and inclusion are central to our offer. Children with additional needs are supported through pre‑teaching, visual scaffolds, targeted adaptations, precision teaching, and enhanced modelling — always accessing the same curriculum content as their peers.

Retrieval and ‘sticky knowledge’ activities are woven into daily practice through songs, stories, vocabulary routines, number talks, recall games and revisiting previously learned content.

IMPACT

Our EYFS curriculum prepares children exceptionally well for the transition into Year 1. We know our curriculum is effective because:

- children are confident, happy, independent and resilient learners

- pupils demonstrate strong early language, communication and vocabulary

- children develop secure foundations in reading, phonics and number

- assessment is ongoing and responsive — we observe, listen and adjust teaching accordingly

- we identify children at risk of falling behind quickly and provide immediate support

- children show a growing ability to self-regulate, manage emotions and interact positively with others

- outcomes at the end of Reception (EYFSP) reflect strong progress from each child’s starting point

We use:

- ongoing formative assessment

- professional knowledge of child development

- Development Matters checkpoints

- phonics assessments (Little Wandle)

- end-of-unit checks and simple retrieval tasks

- pupil voice and learning walks to ensure that children are making secure progress.

Above all, our curriculum ensures that children love learning, feel confident and capable, and are fully prepared for the next stage of their education.

 Click on the relevant year group for more information