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Autumn 2025 Learning Web		EYFS Newsletter Autumn 2025
Spring 2026 Learning Web		EYFS Newsletter Spring 2026
Summer 2026 Learning Web		EYFS Newsletter Summer 2026

 

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement

Context

Our Early Years setting encompasses both Nursery (ages 2–4) and Reception (ages 4–5) classes. We provide a nurturing, inclusive, and stimulating environment where all children—whatever their background, starting point, or need—can thrive as confident, curious, and capable learners. Our provision is guided by the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), Development Matters and the Characteristics of Effective Learning (CoEL), ensuring that every child is supported to develop holistically.

Intent

Our intent is to provide all children with the best possible start to their education by developing the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for future learning success.

We aim to:

• Foster a love of learning through play-based, purposeful, and engaging experiences.
• Build strong foundations in communication, language, and literacy, as well as in mathematical thinking.
• Develop children’s personal, social, and emotional well-being, promoting resilience, empathy, and self-regulation. Children thrive in positive relationships in which they feel secure, valued, listened to and understood.
• Ensure that every child, regardless of background or language, has equitable access to learning opportunities.
• Celebrate and value diversity, embedding a curriculum that reflects and respects the range of cultures, languages, and family experiences in our school community.

We want children to leave the EYFS as independent, motivated learners who are ready for the challenges of Key Stage 1.

Implementation

Curriculum design:

Our curriculum is carefully designed to include the EYFS seven areas of learning, with a strong focus on the Prime Areas (Communication and Language, Physical Development, and Personal, Social and Emotional Development) as the foundations for later learning. Key elements of the Philosophy for Children (P4C) approach are embedded in children’s learning, with strong links to both the CoEL and the Enquiry-led curriculum.
The Specific Areas (Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World, and Expressive Arts and Design) are introduced through meaningful contexts that build upon children’s interests and experiences. The Talk for Writing approach is followed within the Literacy curriculum, with the Read, Write, Inc programme used to teach phonics. Additionally, we offer a range of reading and writing opportunities in the wider curriculum, through adult and child-initiated activity, indoors and outdoors. 

The White Rose scheme is used as the framework for maths teaching and learning and is supplemented by supporting resources as required.

Practitioners are keenly observant of how children learn as well as what they learn. The Characteristics of Effective Learning provide the framework for this:

• Playing and Exploring – children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’.

• Active Learning – children keep on trying if they encounter difficulties and enjoy their achievements.
• Creating and Thinking Critically – children develop their own ideas, make links, and develop strategies for doing things.

We follow an enquiry-led approach to learning in our school. The links between the Characteristics of Effective Learning and Enquiry-led learning are clear: 

Children are engaged in:

• Active rather than passive learning
• Wonder, experimentation, curiosity and discovery 
• Intrinsic motivation and perseverance through meaningful, self-directed activity
• Independent, reflective thinking, making decisions and connections
• Social learning, communication, and shared meaning-making
• Reflection and continuous growth rather than fixed outcomes
• Consideration of ‘Big Questions’

Teaching and Learning

• • We use a balance of child-initiated and adult-led learning to ensure our children are challenged and supported appropriately, both inside and in the outdoor environment. Children have opportunities to explore nature and experience the joy of the different seasons. 
  • Active learning through ‘hands on’ real experiences is how we believe that young children learn best.
  • Observation and assessment are ongoing, allowing practitioners to respond dynamically to each child’s needs and next steps. Our long-term planning ensures coverage so that all children have opportunities to work towards and achieve the Early Learning Goals (ELGs) that define the expectations for most children to reach by the end of the EYFS.
  • Planning is flexible and responsive, incorporating children’s ideas, fascinations, and cultural backgrounds. Children develop skills, knowledge and understanding appropriate to their age, stage, needs and interests and the requirements of the EYFS curriculum.
  • Continuous provision and enhanced learning opportunities encourage exploration and problem-solving.
  • Language development is central: staff model rich vocabulary, use effective questioning, and promote dialogic talk.

• We integrate the Characteristics of Effective Learning into daily practice by providing opportunities for children to explore, make decisions, persevere, and reflect on their learning.
• We are a Values led school and have twelve core values, which were voted for by our whole school community. These are very much linked to the British Values which we embed into the whole of our curriculum. In EYFS we teach these values in our provision in an age-appropriate way.
• Children’s developing self regulation is vital to positive behaviour in group settings. We recognize that behaviour stems from emotions and that we cannot help children to behave well by making them feel bad about themselves. We talk about choices that children can make and help them to understand the consequences of their behaviour. We encourage children to develop empathy, tolerance and kindness towards their peers by helping them to understand that everyone has needs, thoughts and feelings, which may be different from their own. 
• We teach the children about Zones of Regulation (a visual system that codes emotions as colours) and help them to identify how they are feeling. We co-regulate with children to enable them to learn to self-regulate. We also follow ‘Emotion Coaching’ techniques when talking to children about their feelings and behaviour.

Inclusivity and Diversity

• The environment and curriculum reflect our diverse community, featuring books, displays, and resources that represent a range of cultures, languages, and family structures. Children experience and celebrate cultural diversity and develop a sense of belonging.
• The provision is developed in response to individual children’s interests, strengths and needs. 
• SEND support is tailored through individual learning plans, close collaboration with parents, and work with external professionals.
• EAL learners are supported through visual aids, consistent routines, and rich opportunities for communication.

Partnerships

• We build strong relationships with families, valuing them as partners in their child’s learning journey.
• Regular parent workshops, home learning opportunities, and communication platforms ensure consistency between home and school.
• We work closely with outside agencies to support children with additional needs and transitions.

Impact

By the end of the EYFS, we aim for all children to be confident, capable, and curious learners who are ready to move into Year 1.

The impact of our provision is evident through:

• Children’s progress and attainment against the EYFS Early Learning Goals (ELGs).
• The development of independence, resilience, and curiosity as demonstrated through the CoEL.
• Positive attitudes towards learning and strong social and emotional well-being.
• High levels of engagement and motivation, with children who are active participants in their learning.
• Effective communication and collaboration between families and school.
• A learning environment where every child feels represented, respected, and included.

We continually evaluate our practice through data analysis, learning walks, observations, and discussions with staff, children, and parents to ensure our provision remains ambitious, inclusive, and reflective of our diverse community.

Conclusion

Our Early Years setting is a place where every child is valued as a unique individual, where play and exploration drive discovery, and where diversity is celebrated as a strength. Through an inclusive, carefully structured, and nurturing environment, we ensure that all children have the strongest foundations—academically, socially, and emotionally—to flourish in the next stage of their education and beyond.