Our EYFS topic curriculum is designed to give children opportunities to learn and develop through a wide range of meaningful adult-led and child-initiated activities.
Activity runs throughout the whole afternoon alongside permanent areas of learning and other independent child-led activities. All children have free-flow access to the outdoor area and are actively encouraged to initiate their own learning opportunities through play.
Activities link strongly with the half-termly topic and core book of the week. As such, all activities provide a rich context for children to explore and develop key skills in expressive art and design (EAD), understanding the world (UW), personal, social and emotional development (PSED) and physical development (PD) as well as consolidating their communication and language, maths and literacy skills.
Enrichment lessons
Children have Physical Education lessons twice a week, one of which uses the outdoor facilities at the nearby Petchey Academy. Other weekly enrichment activities as part of our topic curriculum include musical theatre and Spanish.
We follow a forest schools ethos and our topic curriculum also includes fortnightly outings to nearby Hackney Downs, where the children explore and interact with the natural environment through playful investigations and activities such as mud painting, puddle splashing, shelter building and woodland walks.
Lastly, we schedule Learning Weeks where children’s activities take a specific focus on art, science and pupils hone their investigation skills by focussing on a specific topic.