Intent, Implementation, Impact

At Bramley Park Academy we offer a curriculum rich in real life and practical experiences. We work hard to provide a stimulating environment that provides exciting opportunities, promotes challenge, exploration, adventure and a real love of learning.

It is our intent that all children develop physically, verbally, cognitively and emotionally in an environment which values all cultures, communities and people. We aim for our children to be confident and independent, to believe in themselves and interact positively with others.

We understand that play is an integral part of learning and this is at the heart of our early years curriculum. We believe that the correct mix of adult directed and uninterrupted child initiated play ensures the best outcomes for pupils.

Warm and positive relationships between staff and children, consistent routines and strong relationships with parents are key.

We recognise the crucial role that early year’s education has to play in providing firm foundations upon which the rest of a child’s education is successfully based. 

Implementation

At Bramley Park Academy we meet the welfare requirements laid down in the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and actively safeguard and promote the welfare of all of our children.

The timetable is carefully structured so that children have rigorous directed teaching in English, maths and phonics everyday.  These sessions are followed by group work where children work with a member of staff to develop their individual targets.  This focused group time means the teacher can systematically check for understanding, identify and respond to misconceptions quickly and provide real-time verbal feedback which results in a strong impact on the acquisition of new learning.   

Children are provided with plenty of time to engage in ‘exploration’ throughout the variety of experiences carefully planned to engage and challenge them in the provision. The curriculum is planned for the inside and outside classrooms and equal importance is given to learning in both areas. This provides time for quality interactions between adults and between peers in self selected activities and allows staff to follow children’s interests and use targeted next steps to pinpoint learning opportunities in play. Staff ensure that interactions are positive and progressive, allowing children to flourish and gather words at pace in order to become confident communicators.

 Children are encouraged to become early readers through enjoyment of books and the systematic teaching of phonics. The curriculum is taught through topics which are enriched with classroom enhancements, trips and visitors. Topics are supported by quality key texts and  children are encouraged to learn nursery rhymes and develop their mathematical thinking through direct teaching and exploration. We follow White Rose Maths to ensure that children learn via a mastery approach that will enable them to become confident mathematicians who can apply what they have learnt to real life experiences.

We have built our school environment to enable our children to strengthen their core muscles through physical play, children spend time outdoors in their natural environment in all weathers. They develop through wonderful, exploratory, sensory experiences in our mud kitchen, squiggle sessions and in our forest school. Our learning environment is adaptable in order to reflect children’s interests and progression. The children are supported to learn to work together, manage their feelings and ask questions through skilled adult facilitated play. In early years our environment and all our interactions and routines are intentional and purposeful to support children with their next steps. 

We are an accredited Spread the Happiness school and their gross and fine motor programmes and firmly embedded in our daily routine with children taking an active role in Dough Disco, Squiggle Whilst You Wiggle and Plan, Do Review. This process is a valuable tool to ensure engagement in free flow play and to develop children’s understanding of speaking in full sentences. 

We understand the importance of parental engagement and believe that our parents have a crucial role to play in their children’s education. We work hard to create strong partnerships between home and school.  Parents receive  knowledge organisers to inform them of what their child is learning each half term and through our Google Classrooms they have access to age related games and ideas to support learning at home. . Parents enjoy using Tapestry to engage in their child’s learning and we have had stay and play sessions; inviting parents into school. 

Our curriculum and its delivery ensure that children, from their own starting points make good progress; particularly in the Prime areas. Children in our early years, on average, arrive with much lower starting points than national. During their time with us children make good progress towards the national expectation for a good level of development at the end of the year.This is increasing year on year due to our dedicated and experienced EYFS team. Pupils also make good progress toward their age-related expectations both academically and socially, developing a sense of themselves before transitioning into Year One. 

Children develop their Characteristics of Effective Learning and are able to apply their knowledge to a range of situations making links and explaining their ideas and understanding. Children are confident to take risks in their learning and play. 

 We believe our high standards are due to our carefully planned environment, enriched play-based curriculum, quality first teaching and the rigour of assessment.

Our curriculum is planned to be progressive  and is reflected upon to ensure coverage and relevance to the cohort of children. Our curriculum is therefore the cultural capital we know our pupils need so that they can gain the knowledge, skills and understanding they require for success