EYFS

Early Years

At Benton Dene School we understand that building positive and secure relationships with children and their families is key to maximising learning opportunities for each and every child in our setting. We pride ourselves in understanding and following children’s interests and provide an engaging and rich curriculum that supports learning, consolidates and deepens knowledge and ensures that children achieve their next steps. We set the foundations for our children to have a ‘love of lifelong learning’ as well as preparing them with the knowledge and skills needed for the next stage of their learning journey in KS1. 

Within our early years curriculum, there are three prime areas of learning:

• Communication and language
• Physical development
• Personal, social and emotional development

There are four specific areas of learning, through which the prime areas are strengthened and applied:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design

We value all areas of learning and development equally and understand that they are inter connected. A range of teaching and learning styles are incorporated across the day to meet the different needs of each child, which fully foster the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning:

• Playing and exploring: - Children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’. Children who actively participate in their own play develop a larger store of information and experiences to draw on which positively supports their learning
• Active learning: - Children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties. They are proud of their own achievements. For children to develop into self-regulating, lifelong learners they are required to take ownership, accept challenges and learn persistence. 
• Creating and thinking critically: - Children develop their own ideas and make links between these ideas. They think flexibly and rationally, drawing on previous experiences which help them to solve problems and reach conclusions.

Our thematic units in EYFS provide a theme through which the developmental curriculum is taught to ensure the students receive a breadth of experience and age appropriate content to enable them to progress to their next steps across the school, strengthening the prime areas of learning. The thematic units are as follows:

Our Sensory Garden

Our staff have access to advice from Occupational Therapy and Speech and Language Therapy in Yellow 3 and 4.

Find out more about  Occupational Therapy.

Back to Our Curriculum