Early Years Foundation Stage

We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage national framework, which sets out:

• Welfare requirements that everyone must follow to keep your child safe
• The 7 areas of learning and development
• Assessments that will tell you about your child’s progress through the EYFS.
• Expected levels that your child should reach by the end of their Reception year, which are called Early Learning Goals (ELG)

These are the 7 Areas of Learning and Development that we teach.

All of our teaching and play is planned so the children can access and achieve a broad and balanced curriculum. At the end of Reception we aim for the children to achieve Early Learning Goals in 7 areas. The 7 areas are broken down into 17 sub areas.

If you click on the links you can download the Early Learning Goals for each area.

There are 3 prime areas, these areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive.

Communication & Language: Listening and Attention, Understanding and Speaking

• development involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment; to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves; and to speak and listen in a range of situations.

Physical Development: Moving and Handling and Health & Self Care

• involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive; and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food.

Personal, Social & Emotional Development: Self confidence and Self Awareness, Managing Feelings & Behaviour and Making Relationships

• involves helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others; to form positive relationships and develop respect for others; to develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behaviour in groups; and to have confidence in their own abilities.

There are four specific teaching areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied.

Literacy: Reading and Writing

• development involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Children will be given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems, and other written materials) to ignite their interest.

Mathematics: Numbers and Shape, Space & Measure

• involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shapes, spaces, and measure.

Understanding the World: People and Communities, The World and Technology

• involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment.

Expressive Arts & Design: Exploring and using Media and Materials and Being Imaginative

• involves enabling children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, and design and technology.

Characteristics of Effective Learning

Children in the EYFS learn in different ways, they learn by Playing and Exploring, Being Active and through Creative and Critical Thinking. These are referred to as the ‘Characteristics of Effective Learning’. When planning we think about how your child can achieve these different aspects.

Playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’;

Active learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements; and

Creating and thinking critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.

Files to Download