Ambition

Our Early Years curriculum provides children with an exceptional foundation, which fosters a life-long love of learning. Through our themed learning experiences, children are encouraged to take an active role in their learning, resulting in creative, resilient learners. Our passionate team have the child at the centre of everything they do, providing a caring, supportive environment where children feel safe to develop as an individual. We believe that this provides our children and families with an exceptional start to school.

Implementation

At Parklands, you will find our children fully immersed in their learning, with creative opportunities, centering round themed learning experiences that form our rich curriculum.

Reading and Phonics is a central part of our EYFS, with daily, whole-class phonics sessions, individual reading and class story time. We foster a love of reading in the children, by exposing them to a wide variety of books in their literacy sessions. Each week, parents and carers are invited into school to share a story with their child as part of our “Friday Reading”. Our children and families also have access to our Book Swap “Red Phone Box”, as frequently as they wish.

Literacy and Maths sessions are embedded into our curriculum, with exceptional experiences where children can consolidate their learning in both indoor and outdoor settings.

The importance of early number and  the opportunity to write is evident throughout our setting, with key learning planned into all areas, forming a strong foundation. With the addition of our Maths and Writing shed in the outdoor classroom, Literacy and Maths flows into the outdoors for children to access independently.

We believe our children’s physical development as just as important as their intellectual development and our classrooms, outside classroom (which children can explore for sustained periods of time) and other outdoor areas, allow learning opportunities to develop the whole child.

The children’s learning is enriched through our weekly Wild Walk, where our children have a forest school session which enables our children to take risks, learn how to whittle, make fruit dyes, and explore nature – complete with a hot chocolate around the camp fire to end the session!

Impact

Our approach leads to happy children, with a love for learning and school and families that feel at the heart of their school community and who truly believe that Parklands is their school.

The proportion of children nationally achieving a Good Level of Development in Year R in 2019 was 72%. In 2022, at Parklands, 82% of children achieved a Good Level of Development.