EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE

The Early Years Foundation Stage became a statutory requirement for early years education in September 2008. It brings together care and early learning for children from birth to 5 in a single, integrated, quality framework.

This gives every child the best possible start in life and a chance to achieve the outcomes described in Every Child Matters, namely: Being Healthy, Staying Safe, Enjoying and Achieving, Making a Positive Contribution and Achieving Economic Well-Being.

The Early Years Foundation Stage comprises the following 4 themes: -

A Unique Child: Every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.

Positive Relationships: Children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person.

Enabling Environments: The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning.

Learning and Development: Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of learning and development are equally important and interconnected.

The latter theme leads directly to: -

THE EARLY LEARNING GOALS

The Early Learning Goals have been a feature of our curriculum for many years. They comprise the following six areas of learning.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Communication, Language and Literacy

Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy

Knowledge and Understanding of the World

Physical Development

Creative Development

The Early Years Foundation Stage formalises the delivery of this curriculum by laying greater emphasis on learning through play and associated observational records.

LEARNING JOURNEY

During your child’s time at pre-school, key workers observe and record evidence of their attainments within each of the six areas of learning. These records gradually build up to form their Learning Journey - an overall picture of their achievements at pre-school. You will be able to see and contribute to these records at any time during your child’s stay with us.