Intent

At Cherry Tree Academy, our philosophy is to value every child as a unique individual, who enjoys learning and thinking for him or herself. Our aim within the Early Years Foundation Stage is to provide a happy, safe and stimulating environment, which allows all children to feel secure and valued and therefore ready and eager to learn. We provide a supportive and secure environment in which every child can flourish and learn at their own pace and in their own individual way. Our role is to stimulate and encourage their development and enjoyment of learning through a variety of different activities, both adult directed and child initiated in secure indoor and outdoor situations. 

At Cherry Tree Academy, this is underpinned by:

• High expectations- all children are expected to succeed and make good progress from their starting points.
• The development of a high quality continuous provision, which allows children the freedom to take ownership of their play and learning, whilst also encouraging problem solving and teamwork.
• The use of higher order questioning to encourage the children to think deeper and challenge themselves.
• Being a language rich environment with words and labels on everything. This encourages early reading, segmenting and blending through children’s play based activities. 
• Children in the EYFS being part of the wider school family. They take part in assemblies, and represent the School Council and Eco Council.

Implementation

Continuous Provision is how we plan our learning environment. The purpose of continuous provision is "to continue the provision for learning in the absence of an adult".  Each and every part of our learning environment has been carefully planned to meet and challenge the development needs of our children.

Learning opportunities are carefully planned around the interests of the children so they can lead, take ownership and become immersed in their learning. We support the children to develop their skills progressively in exciting, fun and creative ways to achieve the highest standards possible. We also provide 'hooks' or 'scenarios' to support their ideas and to really engage the children in their new learning experiences.

As well as our indoor provision our outdoor provision provides varied and exciting experiences.

Tapestry

Observations of the children are uploaded and assessed using the online Tapestry Learning Journal. These independent observations, along with adult directed group work, provide a deep understanding of all of our children. These assessments are meaningful and are used to determine next steps which are personalised and challenging. Parents are actively encouraged to use the Tapestry app to comment on their child’s observations, and to add observations of their own which are celebrated and shared in the classroom.

Impact

• Children make good progress and speak happily and confidently about their learning experiences.
• Observations cover all areas of the curriculum.
• Our children leave EYFS with a good growth mind set, a hunger to learn and are ready to enter Year 1.

By the end of EYFS: We expect the children to have achieved GLD. Children with gaps in their learning receive appropriate support and interventions.

Please see the links below for the EYFS statutory framework, development matters document (which informs our assessments) and the long term planning.