Our EYFS provision offers a broad and balanced bespoke curriculum to nurture the potential of all our students. At Hulme, we apply and work within the Early Years Foundation Stage framework which outlines the standard for children’s learning, development and care to enable them to have the best start and flourish with us.
Our Thornycroft site offers a welcoming and positive environment for our children to feel comfortable and happy which in turn enables them to develop educationally, personally and socially. Our classrooms and outside areas provide the basis for playing, creating, exploring, investigating and developing resilience and curiosity in the world around them.
Within the Early Years at Hulme, children’s learning is interactive and play based, enabling them to develop into learners who seek to achieve their full potential. Our curriculum is bespoke to each year group and their needs and interests. It is based on the seven areas of learning within the EYFS framework: Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Communication and Language, Physical Development, Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World and Expressive Art and Design.
The Three Prime areas of learning are:
Within our environment at Hulme, our children develop a positive sense of themselves and others. This ranges from positive relationships and respecting others to developing their social skills and learning how to manage their feelings and behaviour.
Our children are immersed in our language rich environment giving them opportunities to develop their confidence and skill in expressing themselves. This in turn encourages them to speak well and listen in a wide range of situations. In addition to the classroom, these may be in assemblies, events and our concerts.
Within our provision, children are provided with optimal opportunities to develop physically. These include active and interactive play to develop control and coordination of both fine and gross motor skills. Our children have an awareness of factors which contribute to their health and are encouraged to make healthy food choices and participate in a range of physical activities ranging from building, running and races, group games, balancing, climbing, obstacle courses and using small equipment.
We recognise the value of these areas of learning and development and understand how they are interconnected and not taught in isolation, with the prime areas underpinning all we do in four specific areas of Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World and Expressive Art and Design.
As part of our curriculum at Hulme we have Music, PE and Forest Specialists that also enrich our EYFS offer. We have several outdoor areas each with various learning opportunities on offer ranging from improving physical skills of climbing, bike riding and ball skills to our quieter garden space where children take part in gardening throughout the year.
Parental involvement
At Hulme, we understand the importance of parental involvement and pride ourselves on open communication. Each child has their own Key Worker. We currently use Tapestry within our Early Years to keep parents up to date with learning and development including photos, comments and targets as well as parents adding photos and information from home to extend learning. Parents and relatives are invited to participate in various events throughout the year, including sing-alongs, concerts and other informal occasions.