At Mount Hawke Academy, we place great value on the development of children as individuals, providing them with the skills, knowledge and understanding they need to prepare them for the challenges in Key Stage One and beyond. Our aim in the EYFS (Year R) is to build strong foundations, rooted in academic success, as well as supporting our children to achieve to their full potential socially and emotionally, so that ultimately our pupils go on to be active citizens of society, and become happy and curious life-long learners.
Our curriculum is the cultural capital we know our pupils need so that they can gain the knowledge, skills and understanding they require for success. They can only do that if we embed the right habits for learning through the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning – Play and Exploration, Active Learning and Creative and Critical Thinking. This all takes place in the context of a safe and nurturing school environment where each individual child is known.
Our priority is to enable the children to succeed by providing a rich, relevant and exciting curriculum. In doing so the children will develop a lifelong love of learning. Developing oracy, talk and vocabulary skills to be able to express themselves, reading for information and pleasure, writing for different purposes and being able to apply their maths skills to real life situations, being able to explain, analyse and persuade is at the heart of what we do. Embedded in this learning, children are taught how to behave, work together and be kind in order to meet the high expectations for behaviour.
Our enabling environment is well equipped and organised both indoors and outside. It is a calming space, leading to effective and meaningful learning. Alongside this, warm, skilful adult interactions support the children as they begin to link learning to their play and exploration. As the pupils move through the year, we invest time into helping them set and reflect on their own goals by aiming high and developing a love of reading, writing and number. Teaching and learning is delivered through an holistic curriculum, maximising opportunities for meaningful cross-curricular links and learning experiences, as well as promoting the unique child by offering extended periods of play and sustained thinking following children’s interests and ideas. We value imagination and creativity and seek to create a sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning through a vibrant continuous indoor and outdoor provision, alongside our trips, visitors and regular outdoor learning.
At MHA we know and appreciate the value of an active collaboration between home and school. In addition to regular homework, such as reading, spelling and learning number facts, we encourage parents to become involved in project work and topics, and welcome the teamwork that ensures success for all.
