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14/03/25

Year 1 Willow class had a wonderful time exploring their 5 senses yesterday. They used their senses to identify different tastes, textures, smells, sounds, and how objects look! pic.twitter.com/k4JXJf5lDW

14/03/25

Year 1 are enjoying every moment of their History and D.T. learning. We have been learning about The Great Fire of London in History. We will a create our very own Tudor houses with hinge joints, wooden beams, small windows and many other interesting architectural features. pic.twitter.com/OOfFlZhyXG

14/03/25

Elm Class have worked incredibly hard to become poets this week! Here is a range of writing from our publishing lesson. If you read the riddles, can you guess what is being described? pic.twitter.com/1yXlVpR0F9

14/03/25

Thank you to who put on a 1-hour session for our girls football team today. The girls have all been invited to trial for the player development squad which they are all extremely excited about! pic.twitter.com/MJ69t2jcbW

14/03/25

A huge congratulations to Zhilab in Year 6 who has joined development squad following a successful trial. This was after he was invited from the 1-hour session that took place during school last term. pic.twitter.com/mkPPRFuLuE

14/03/25

Thank you to ⁦⁩ who put on a 1-hour session for our girls football team today. The girls have all been invited to trail for the player development squad which they are all extremely excited about! pic.twitter.com/S13unm3MWY

13/03/25

Year 6 have demonstrated their culinary prowess today and made the Italian appetiser, Bruschetta, as part of our DT topic! pic.twitter.com/S1dcZi5IPH

11/03/25

A massive congratulations to Elsie in Mulberry Class for achieving her Level 1 award at gymnastics. Keep up the great work! pic.twitter.com/pKXeOPjtjB

11/03/25

Mulberry Class have been learning about different habitats and what they provide to animals in Science. We cannot wait to get outside and start investigating 🔎 pic.twitter.com/GQUnbfOMQA

07/03/25

Our Year 5 girls had a brilliant time the Kings School Netball Tournament today. They had some tough games but showed fantastic resilience and gave it their all! Well done girls! pic.twitter.com/O4P6A2dyOe

07/03/25

Year 1 have had a wonderful world book day. We have written book reviews, read wonderful stories and showed off our fantastic costumes! pic.twitter.com/qSJw92yCAT

07/03/25

Enjoying a love of books for World Book Day in Sycamore Class! pic.twitter.com/izIRkoqg4y

07/03/25

Year 5 love World Book Day! pic.twitter.com/5BoVyM5Aqb

07/03/25

To celebrate International Women’s Day tomorrow, some Year 3-6 girls took part in a footballing festival . The event was part of the FA’s Biggest Ever Football Session to show girls can and should play football! pic.twitter.com/qGTosYQU4I

06/03/25

Thank you to for organising our books. The teachers were delighted to receive their class set this morning and the children were excited to take home their choice of book at the end of the day. pic.twitter.com/IKZslD4WIL

06/03/25

Fantastic entries to the Book in a Jar competition this week from Ollie and Elsie in Birch Class! pic.twitter.com/UOP7qHwnh1

06/03/25

With World Book Week in full swing, year 4 have dropped everything and grabbed their books to read in the sunshine! pic.twitter.com/j1Tp5rRP6k

04/03/25

Year 6 have been learning about blood and the circulatory system in Science. They made their own blood samples to help them understand its components and what their functions are. pic.twitter.com/B5O7sQCJM9

04/03/25

Year 3 have been working on developing their oracy skills in English. Today, we worked in groups of 4 to write a 4 - verse poem about winter. This links to our class text Ice Palace. pic.twitter.com/vkNa5BsAfO

04/03/25

Huge congratulations to Frank in Year R who received this trophy at the weekend for his achievements in his first ever football session! Well done! pic.twitter.com/4jKgUb7kqK

03/03/25

Year 3 began their Art learning sequence last Friday, where their final piece will be a collage based on the Arctic or Antarctic. They loved looking at the artwork of Frances Hatch! pic.twitter.com/vLDc1bNs18

28/02/25

Another huge thank you to for their very kind donation! Year R have transformed the shop into Grandma's cottage from Little Red Riding Hood. pic.twitter.com/orzfMjFXb9

28/02/25

Year 5 had their first lesson on databases this term. They were able to sort, group and search answers to complete the Alien Quiz. pic.twitter.com/UcHQd2rFZw

28/02/25

Year 5 had their first lesson on Databases this term. They were able to sort, group and search answers to complete the Alien Quiz. pic.twitter.com/IK99vEZ3fj

28/02/25

Today some of our Year 5/6 boys had the opportunity to take part in a training session led by . It was a great learning experience for the boys, who came away full of enthusiasm! pic.twitter.com/AWuhVk3GWQ

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

Our Vision for Early Years

In Early Years at Aylesford, we want parents and carers to feel secure in the knowledge that their child is well cared for and happy at school.

We want our children to be excited and motivated to learn through our rich and challenging learning experiences.

We have high expectations for all our children and recognise that children have different starting points to their learning. We plan according to children’s interests and stage of development so all can thrive and develop.

We aim for children to be well-rounded individuals who are independent, resilient, and confident in themselves and with others.

Our Early Years

Children settle quickly into our Early Years setting at Aylesford. In the summer term, teachers visit nurseries to spend time with the children in a familiar setting and find out more information from key workers. The parents and children have the opportunity to visit our EYFS setting, where they can meet the practitioners and their new peers. The PTA provide our new entrants with a ‘welcome learning pack’ which contains resources, activity ideas and information which support starting school. In September, practitioners complete home visits to see the children in another familiar setting and for parents and teacher to have time to ask questions and find out more information. The children have a gradual start to the term with part time hours in the first full week and then increase to full time hours in the second week.

Every day in our Early Years, there is an opportunity for every child to learn, make links and apply their knowledge.

Termly topic lead learning provides opportunities for children to receive high quality teaching to secure basic skills. There is an equal amount of both adult and child lead learning allowing children to gather new skills and knowledge, then consolidate their understanding through play.

Our Early Years Learning Environment

We are immensely proud of our learning environment and are privileged to have large and mature outside natural areas as well as our Year R Garden.

We take pride in our classrooms, and the children learn to respect their environment.

Our learning environment provides children with carefully planned opportunities which allow them to explore, create and learn through exciting, stimulating, interactive and accessible resources. It also facilitates child-initiated play both inside and outdoors.

About the Early Years Foundation Stage

The EYFS is a very important stage in a child’s life as it helps prepare for school ‘readiness’ as well as preparing them for their future learning and successes. Children’s EYFS experience should be happy, active, exciting, fun and secure; and support their development, care and learning needs.  Children develop quickly; experiences before the age of five will have a major impact on their future life chances.

The EYFS framework explains how and what children will be learning to support their healthy development and provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.

The EYFS specifies requirements for learning and development and for safeguarding children and promoting their welfare. 

Children will learn skills, acquire new knowledge and demonstrate their understanding through 7 areas of learning and development.

Children should mostly develop the 3 prime areas first. These are:

  • Communication and Language;
  • Physical Development;
  • Personal, Social and Emotional development.

These prime areas are those most essential for a child’s healthy development and underpin a child’s future learning.

As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in four specific areas. These are:

  • Literacy;
  • Mathematics;
  • Understanding the World;
  • Expressive Arts and Design.

All 7 areas of learning are used to plan children’s learning and activities. The professionals teaching and supporting your child at school will make sure that the activities are suited to your child’s unique needs. It is designed to be responsive and flexible so that staff can follow your child's unique needs and interests. Opportunities to develop a number of skills and concepts across several areas of learning is also crucial.

Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outside. It is very important that they develop social skills, such as turn-taking, sharing and independence, which help them greatly in the next stages of their learning. 

The guiding principles that shape our practice in the Early Years are that children are born ready, able and eager to learn. They actively reach out to interact with other people, and in the world around them. Development is not an automatic process, however. It depends on each unique child having opportunities to interact in positive relationships and enabling environments.

Phonics teaching and learning are a key part of the Foundation Stage and help to develop early reading and writing skills. We use a proven, systematic phonics programme called Read Write Inc. You can find about more about how we teach phonics here:

https://www.aylesford.viat.org.uk/2240/early-reading-read-write-inc-rwi

You can read more about Read, Write Inc itself here:

https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/read-write-inc-phonics-guide/

Early Learning Goals

The EYFS curriculum consists of 17 aspects of learning and final Early Learning goals.

Children are assessed at the end of the EYFS (end of Reception year) against these Early Learning goals. From September 2021 onwards, each child’s level of development will be assessed against the Early Learning Goals (ELGs).  Practitioners will indicate whether children are meeting expected levels of development:

  • Emerging = not yet reaching expected levels of development for age;
  • Expected = reached expected levels of development for age.

At Valley Invicta Primary School at Aylesford, we provide our pupils with the opportunities to meet the Early Learning Goals in all these aspects.

Assessment plays an important part in helping parents, carers and practitioners to recognise children’s progress, understand their needs and to plan activities and support. Ongoing assessment is an integral part of the learning and development process.  It involves practitioners observing children to understand their level of achievement, interests and learning styles. Then using this to shape learning experiences for each child reflecting observations made.

To this end, we make systematic observations and assessments of each child's achievements, interests and learning styles.  We then use these observations and assessments to identify learning priorities and plan relevant and motivating learning experiences for each child.

At Valley Invicta Primary School at Aylesford, we use Tapestry to capture assessment detail and track progress towards the Early Learning Goals. We further strengthen this with detailed Maths and Literacy commentary and recordings of children’s work within their ‘My Learning’ books.

Year 1 teachers will communicate closely with Reception practitioners about each child’s skills and abilities in relation to the three key characteristics of effective learning. These will inform transition meetings to plan for learning needs and ensure all children can continue to flourish as they move into KS1.

To find out more about the EYFS framework please visit:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-the-early-years-foundation-stage-eyfs-framework/changes-to-the-early-years-foundation-stage-eyfs-framework

Early Years Curriculum at Aylesford

To find out more about our curriculum at Valley Invicta Primary at Aylesford, please click here.

Find out more by watching our video: