Planning in the Moment

Planning in the Moment

Learning through play is one of the key principles of Early Years education, which is supported by a wealth of research. Play gives children the opportunity to explore their own interests, enquire, plan and take risks. It is in play that children can concentrate deeply, sustain concentration for long periods, and communicate most effectively with others and it is in play that we see the highest levels of engagement and involvement from our pupils. During EYFS, the children enjoy COOL time- Child Ownership Of Learning- which allows for this learning through play to take place. 

‘Planning in the Moment’ means staff will observe and interact with children as they pursue their own interests. The written account of these interactions and the teachable moments the adults use during their interactions becomes a learning journey for the child.

When children show high levels of involvement, that is when there is progress and development occurring – when the brain is at its most active. High-level involvement occurs most often when children are able to pursue their own interests in an enabling environment supported by skilled staff. Planning in the moment helps to make this possible.

Whilst we believe in the child-led approach with purposeful interactions to move learning forward, we are very aware of specific skills  our children need to develop in order for learning to take place. Therefore we will still have pre-planned carpet learning inputs  for Phonics, Drawing Club, Maths, PSHE and other teachable moments, including celebrations such as Chinese New Year and Christmas. This is to ensure children are exposed to all areas of the EYFS curriculum and are able to then apply these through their own enquiry and exploration. As the year progresses, we will slowly add more pre-planned inputs and group and whole class activities, to prepare the children gently for their transition into Year 1.

How you can support at home 

Each week we will choose a percentage of the class to be ‘focus children’ for the following week. Every child will have the opportunity to be a focus child three times a year, once a term. By adopting the focus children approach, we will be giving each child the opportunity to have the spotlight shone on them to truly follow their individual interests for that week. 

If your child is selected as a focus child, a parent consultation sheet will be sent home the week before. We ask that you fill in the sheet with as much detail as possible and add some photos to Tapestry of recent activities and events which are significant for your child.  Your feedback and photos will help to guide the planning for the following week. We will then meet with you the week after your child’s focus week to discuss your child’s next steps and how you can best support at home.