Early childhood is the foundation on which learners build the rest of their lives. At Pilgrim Academy we greatly value the important role that the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) plays in laying the foundations for future learning and development.

The EYFS is for children from birth to five years of age. All learners begin school with a variety of experiences and learning. It is the privilege of the practitioners working in the EYFS to take on the task of building upon that prior learning and experience.

Pilgrim Academy provides learners with an outstanding start to their educational journey.  We aim to support learners to become independent, inquisitive and collaborative learners. We provide a broad and balanced curriculum that enables learners to develop personally, socially, emotionally, spiritually, physically, creatively and intellectually to their full potential.

We teach phonics using the Letters and Sounds scheme and we reinforce sounds with 'Letterland' sound cards.

We were delighted with our EYFS good level of development of 80% for 2018/2019. Thank you to our EYFS families for their support.

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The Early Years Curriculum

In the Early Years Foundation Stage children learn best when they experience learning first hand, through meaningful interactions with others, through physical activity and through play. Our Early Years practice is based on on-going observation and assessment of the children and their interests.

Prime areas of Learning

• Personal, social and emotional development
• Communication and language development
• Physical development

Specific areas of learning

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design

Characteristics of learning

• Playing and exploring
• Active learning
• Creating and thinking critically

Our Early Years principles are based on EYFS statutory guidance and the four overarching principles of good practice:

• Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
• Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
• Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between school and home.
• Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates. The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Links with Key Stage 1 and Key stage 2

Curriculum knowledge and skills in KS1 & KS2 build on the work completed in Early Years. Please see the 'Curriculum Subject Areas' tab to see how Early Years links with other key stages for each curriculum area.