Early Years and Foundation Stage Curriculum

There are 3 Prime areas▪ Communication and Language▪ Physical Development▪ Personal and Social Education

There are then 4 specific areas:▪ Literacy▪ Mathematics▪ Understanding of the world▪ Design and Expressive Arts

National Curriculum

The National Curriculum consists of 10 statutory subjects and RE

Literacy, Numeracy and Science are ‘core’ subjects History, Geography, Music, Art, Design and Technology,

ICT, PE are ‘foundation’ subjects RE is a statutory subject which follows different agreed

syllabuses. At Gosfield we use the Essex agreed syllabus as a basis for our RE teaching.

Personal, Social and Health Education and Modern Foreign Languages are also mentioned in the national curriculum although they are not statutory. We teach both; PSHE being inherent within the curriculum and the ethos of the school and MFL taught in KS1 and KS2 in French and Spanish respectively.

Themes and Topics

We believe that children learn best when they are immersed in a subject. We have therefore taken the decision to build our curriculum around topics that will inspire and engage children, thus ensuring their interest and depth of learning.

The curriculum ensures coverage of the National Curriculum and EYFS requirements but at the same time is stimulating and exciting.

The topics are developed around a central theme of either history, geography or science. We also look for ways to take learning out of the classroom or present it in different ways.

This includes use of DVDs, ICT support, Forest school and Enterprise projects amongst many other things.

We try to give children the best experiences we can, including trips and visitors to school, multi-cultural weeks, parental involvement and community support.

As much of our work is taught through the topic as possible. There are, however, some aspects of teaching that we recognise need to be taught specifically sometimes, e.g. phonics. grammar, spelling, maths, RE and PE.

Specific teaching

Phonics is taught from Reception to year 3. There are ‘sets’ for phonics so we are only teaching children of similar

ability. We hear every child read on a daily basis. Grammar is taught as a specific subject at least once a week and is

then integrated into the writing for the rest of the week. Maths is taught as a separate lesson with a heavy emphasis on

Number and the ability to manipulate number. Where RE can not be linked to a topic it is taught as a separate

subject. This may be as a weekly lesson or it could be a ‘mini’ topic in its own right.

PE is taught weekly and there are indoor and outdoor sessions. We encourage two hours of PE a week.

There are many after school clubs which enhance our curriculum provision from netball to ICT, Rugby to eco-club.

Whole school topic planClass Autumn A Spring A Summer A Autumn B Spring B Summer B

Class 1 (Year R)

Me, Me, Me Space, The Final Frontier

Once Upon a Time Bricks and Mortar What’s in the box (Toys)

Creepy Crawlies

Celebrations Supermarket Sweep Wheels Bollywood and Bahjis Jurassic Park Animal Magic

Artist Lowry Henri RousseauComposer Vivaldi Saint-SaensReligions Judaism & Hinduism & Christianity Judaism & Hinduism & Christianity

Class 2(Years 1 & 2)

All about me New Life Party Planners Gosfield Past and Present

Frozen Planet Weather

Light and Dark Events Town Mouse and Country Mouse

Carribean Jack & the beanstalk Toys

Artist Achimboldo PicassoComposer The Beatles MozartReligions Islam & Sikhism & Christianity Buddhism & Sikhism & ChristianityClass 3

(Years 2 & 3)Roman Invaders Water, Water

everywhereUp, Up and away Awesome Egyptians Food, glorious food Living and Growing

Artist Van Gogh CezanneComposer Handel HolstReligions Buddhism & Judaism & Christianity Hinduism & Islam & ChristianityClass 4

(Years 4 & 5)Victorian Britain Extremes Material world Anglo-Saxons Environmental

changesHuman Body

Artist Henry Moore Andy GoldsworthyComposer Haydn Isaac AlbenizReligions Sikhism & Judaism & Christianity Buddhism & Sikhism & ChristianityClass 5

(Years 5 & 6)Metropolis Infinity and Beyond Conservation in action The world at war Double O Seven Come Hither

Artist Lichtenstein BanksyComposer Bob Marley John WilliamsReligions Islam & Hinduism & Christianity Buddhism & Hinduism & Christianity