EYFS at Holmesdale
At Holmesdale, we believe that children learn best when they feel happy, safe, and secure. Building positive relationships with every child and family lies at the heart of our EYFS provision. When children feel valued and understood, they develop the confidence and curiosity needed to explore, take risks, and achieve their full potential.
We recognise that every child is unique, with their own interests, experiences, and ways of learning. Our curriculum and provision are designed to respond to children’s individual needs, ensuring that learning is meaningful, engaging, and appropriately challenging. We plan around children’s fascinations and use their interests as a starting point for deep, purposeful learning.
We firmly believe in the importance of play as a powerful vehicle for learning and development. Play offers joyful, open-ended opportunities for children to explore, experiment, collaborate, and problem-solve. Through play, children develop language, imagination, social skills, and resilience. Because play allows for freedom and creativity, children can take risks and challenge themselves without fear of failure.
Our enabling environment, both indoors and outdoors, is carefully planned to be stimulating, inclusive, and language-rich, offering a balance of adult-led and child-initiated experiences. It promotes independence and autonomy, encouraging children to make choices, follow their interests, and extend their own learning.
At Holmesdale, we aim to nurture thinkers, creators, and future makers. Children who are curious about the world, eager to ask questions, and confident in their ability to make a difference. Through an approach that values exploration, imagination, and reflection, we equip our children with the skills and dispositions they need to become confident, resilient, and independent learners who are well prepared for the next stage of their education and for life beyond school.
Implementation
Our EYFS curriculum is carefully designed to ensure breadth, balance, and progression across all areas of learning, providing a strong foundation for future success. It is built upon the EYFS Statutory Framework and is closely aligned with the school’s whole-curriculum vision.
- We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme for phonics, ensuring systematic and consistent teaching of early reading and writing skills. Reading books are carefully matched to each child’s phonic knowledge to build confidence and fluency.
- Our curriculum for Art, Music, and Geography is enriched and supported by Kapow Primary, offering a coherent, skills-based approach that encourages creativity, exploration, and curiosity about the wider world.
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) is supported through the Jigsaw programme, which provides a consistent, whole-school approach to wellbeing, emotional literacy, and relationship building. Jigsaw lessons help children develop self-awareness, empathy, and resilience while reinforcing our ethos of kindness and respect.
- Our provision is underpinned by the Characteristics of Effective Learning, ensuring children are active, motivated, and deeply engaged in purposeful play.
- Practitioners plan and adapt learning based on children’s interests and next steps, ensuring teaching is responsive and inclusive for all learners, including those in the lowest 20%.
- We use a balance of adult-led teaching, guided group work, and child-initiated play, ensuring opportunities for structured learning as well as open-ended exploration.
- When appropriate, activities are modelled using gradual release (I do, we do, you do).
- Teachers have high aspirations for children and teaching is carefully scaffolded to support all children to fulfil their potential.
- Sustained periods of play with support allow children to practise new learning and deepen their taught skill and knowledge development.
- The environment, both indoors and outdoors, is organised to promote independence, communication, collaboration, and curiosity.
- Staff work closely with parents and carers through regular communication and sharing of learning to strengthen the home-to-school partnership and ensure continuity of support for every child.
Impact
Our curriculum enables all children to make strong progress from their individual starting points. Ongoing assessment informs planning and ensures that learning builds cumulatively across the year. Children leave the EYFS as confident, capable, and curious learners, ready for the demands of Year 1
- Assessment data reflects consistently strong outcomes, with a higher percentage of pupils achieving a Good Level of Development (GLD) compared to national averages.
- Children demonstrate high levels of engagement, independence, and resilience, showing curiosity and creativity in their approach to new challenges.
- Children can communicate effectively, using a broad vocabulary and expressing ideas confidently — reflecting our strong focus on oracy, language, and comprehension.
What our reception children have said:
"I like going in the book corner. I loved learning about spring and the lambs.
"I like learning shapes, cuboid the most, and learning how to read. Finn's Little Fibs is my favourite."
"I like the music wall and pretending to make marmalade sandwiches."
"I love drawing flowers, love hearts and numbers."
"I like playing football in the big area."
"I like playing with my friends"
"I like all the learning that we learn."
"I like doing our sentence in phonics."
