Our Early Years Curriculum

At Harehills Primary School, our Early Years curriculum is carefully designed to meet the needs of our children and provide them with the strongest possible foundations for future learning.

Our curriculum is rooted in the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and informed by Development Matters. Alongside this, we use our detailed knowledge of the children, their interests, and their individual starting points to create a bespoke curriculum that reflects our community and supports every child to thrive.

We have developed a clear skills progression for each area of learning, beginning in Nursery for children aged three and continuing through to the end of Reception, aligned with the Early Learning Goals (ELGs). This ensures learning is sequential, progressive, and builds securely over time.

Teaching and Learning

Mathematics

In Mathematics, we follow White Rose Maths, supported by Mastering Number strategies. This approach develops strong number sense, depth of understanding, and confidence with key mathematical concepts. Learning is practical, engaging, and rooted in real-life contexts, enabling children to apply their mathematical thinking during play and adult-led learning.

 

 

Literacy

Literacy is a core focus of our curriculum and is underpinned by strong language development, storytelling, and meaningful mark making.

In Nursery, children take part in Scribble Club, which supports the development of fine motor skills, early mark making, creativity, and confidence. Children explore a wide range of tools and materials, building the foundations for writing in a developmentally appropriate and joyful way.

In Reception, we follow Drawing Club, which places the 3Ms – Making Conversation, Mark Making, and Mathematics – at the heart of learning.

Each Drawing Club session begins with a high-quality text, image, or short film that captures children’s interest and imagination. Adults model rich language and support children to discuss characters, settings, events, and ideas.

Children engage daily with the 3Ms:

  • Making Conversation
    Language development is prioritised through purposeful talk. Children are encouraged to discuss their ideas with peers and adults, ask questions, explain their thinking, and use new vocabulary within meaningful contexts. This supports listening skills, comprehension, and confidence in spoken language.

  • Mark Making
    Children express their ideas through drawing, symbols, early writing, and emergent spelling. They are supported to add labels, captions, words, and sentences as appropriate, developing the understanding that marks carry meaning and communicate messages.

  • Mathematics
    Mathematical thinking is naturally embedded within Drawing Club. Children explore number, pattern, size, shape, and positional language through storytelling, drawing, and play, allowing maths to be meaningful, purposeful, and connected to their experiences.

This approach ensures that reading, writing, and mathematics are developed through play-based, child-centred learning, while meeting the expectations of the curriculum and supporting children to enjoy learning.

Phonics and Early Reading

We follow ELS Phonics to support early reading development.

In Nursery, children focus on Phase 1 phonics during the Autumn and Spring terms, developing listening skills, rhythm, rhyme, and sound discrimination. In the Summer term, children are introduced to early Phase 2 grapheme–phoneme correspondences (GPCs). Oral blending is a key focus throughout the year to support children’s readiness for reading.

In Reception, children progress through Phases 1–4, developing secure phonics knowledge and early reading fluency.

Every child in Reception is sent home with a decodable reading book each week, carefully matched to their current phonics ability, to ensure consistency between home and school.

Provision and Learning Environment

Our continuous provision is carefully planned and adapted in response to:

  • Children’s interests

  • Their current learning needs

  • Our curriculum progressions

This ensures learning is meaningful, engaging, and purposeful, while allowing children to practise and deepen their skills independently and collaboratively.

 

We are fortunate to have a large and well-resourced outdoor learning environment, which plays a vital role in our curriculum. Our outdoor provision includes:

  • A climbing frame

  • Swings and a slide

  • A covered outdoor learning space

  • A large mud kitchen

The outdoor environment supports physical development, imaginative play, problem-solving, and learning across all areas of the curriculum.

 

Our Aim

Through our carefully planned curriculum, high-quality teaching, and engaging provision, we aim to develop confident, curious, and resilient learners who are well prepared for the next stage of their education, living out our school motto:

Learn, Laugh, Love