Early Years Curriculum

Our vision …

• To work in partnership with families to provide an exceptional education underpinned by evidence based theories, a holistic understanding of our children’s complex learning needs on an individual level and strong relationships.
• To allow our children to thrive by offering an engaging and multi-sensory indoor and outdoor provision which is rich in language and communication and developmentally appropriate for each individual child.
• To champion remarkable children by ensuring that our children feel valued, respected and appreciated for who they are and their learning journey so far.
• To ensure that children leave the Early Years Foundation Stage as happy and confident learners with excellent outcomes that are personal and meaningful to them.
• To advocate for our children and ensure that they have a voice in which they feel heard and know that they make a difference.
• To showcase our children’s achievements to all stakeholders.

In Brambles we aim to do this by creating a community which promotes learning as an exciting and lifelong activity in a safe, caring environment which values diversity and which is well equipped to meet children’s specific learning needs.

The EYFS at The Orchards is made up of all learning pathways. All of our children have very different and specific learning needs. We meet those needs whilst still providing a fun and stimulating learning experience based on the EYFS principles.

A Unique Child

Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.

We recognise children’s unique qualities and strengths and use these to set personalised targets. Children make progress across a highly differentiated and individualised EYFS curriculum.

Every child has an individual voice, this is led by them and supported by their speech and language therapist, family and class team.

Children develop into confident, resilient and independent learners. When they leave EYFS, they are ready and well prepared for the next stage of their learning.

Positive Relationships

Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.

Quality interactions are personalised for each child, using the principles of Intensive Interaction.

We foster strong and collaborative family partnerships – this looks different for each family.

• Communication
• Transition into school
• Family support, including referrals to outside agencies
• Involving families in target setting and approaches to learning, behaviour, etc

Enabling Environments

Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs.

Children feel safe in their learning environment and are able to navigate it independently.

Our EYFS units is made up of distinct areas of learning, in line with the EYFS curriculum. Our areas are clearly defined and consistent to support children’s understanding. When children come to school, they know what to expect, this helps them to feel safe and calm.

Our environment is visually rich and supports communication at all levels.

We also have a well-equipped outdoor area, which children access continuously throughout their school day. We recognise the importance of taking learning outside and supporting children to generalise skills they have acquired in the indoor provision.

Learning & Development

Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates.

Structure of provision and curriculum model (adapted from Early Excellence layered approach):

Children learn through a mixture of child-initiated play and adult-led learning. We pride ourselves on high quality interaction and the use of different specialised approaches to learning:

• Intensive interaction
• Attention Autism
• Sensory integration / sensory circuits
• TACPAC
• Sensory stories
• Small group or 1:1 teaching