The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) helps to build a coherent and flexible approach to care and learning.  We use the EYFS to ensure parents can be confident that their child will receive a quality experience that supports their development and learning.  

PURPOSE AND AIMS OF THE EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE

Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential.  Children develop quickly in the early years and a child's experiences between birth and age five have a major impact on their future life chances.  A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right, and good parenting and high quality early learning together provides the foundation for children to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework provides assurances that your child will be safe and will thrive in our setting.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) seeks to provide quality and consistency in all early year's settings, so that every child makes good progress, and no child gets left behind.  A secure foundation through planning for the learning and development of each individual child and assessing and reviewing what they have learned regularly.  Working in partnership between parents and carers and equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice ensuring that every child is included and supported.

OVERARCHING PRINCIPLES OF THE EYFS

Four guiding principles should shape practice in early year's settings.

These are:

* Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured;

* Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships;

* Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers; and

* Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates.  The framework covers the education and care of all children in early year's provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

There are seven area's of learning and development that must shape educational programmes in early year's setting.  All areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected.  Three areas are particularly crucial for igniting children's curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive.  These three areas, the prime areas, are;

* Communication and Language;

* Physical Development; and

* Personal, Social and Emotional Development.

Providers must also support children in four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied.  The specific areas are:

* Literacy;

* Mathematics;

* Understanding the World; and

* Expressive Arts and Design.

Communication and Language development underpins all seven areas of learning and development.  Children's back and forth interactions from an early age form the foundations for language and cognitive development.  The number and quality of the conversations they have with adults and peers throughout the day in a language-rich environment is crucial.  By commenting on what children are interested in or doing and echoing back what they say with new vocabulary added, practitioners will build children's language effectively.  Reading frequently to children, and engaging them actively in stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems, and then providing them with extensive opportunities to use and embed new words in a range of contexts, will give children the opportunities to thrive.  Through conversation, storytelling and role play, where children share their ideas with support and modelling from their teacher, and sensitive questioning that invites them to elaborate, children become comfortable using a rich range of vocabulary and language structures.

Physical Development, physical activity is vital in children's all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives.  Gross and fine motor experiences develop incrementally throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and the development of child's strength, co-ordination and positional awareness through tummy time, crawling and play movement with both objects and adults. By creating games and providing opportunities for play both indoors and outdoors, adults can support children to develop their core strength, stability, balance, special awareness, co-ordination and agility.  Gross motor skills provide the foundation for developing healthy bodies and social and emotional well-being.  Fine motor control and precision helps with hand eye co-ordination, which is later linked to early literacy.  Repeated and varied opportunities to explore and play with small world activities, puzzles, arts and crafts and the practice of using small tools, with feedback and support from adults, allow children to de flop proficiency, control and confidence.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development, is crucial for children to lead healthy and happy lives, and is fundamental to their cognitive development.  Underpinning their personal development are the important attachments that shape their social world.  Strong, warm and supportive relationships with adults enable children to learn how to understand their own feelings and those of others.  Children should be supported to manage emotions, develop a positive sense of self, set themselves simple goals, have confidence in their own abilities, to persist and wait for what they want and direct attention as necessary.  Through adult modelling and guidance, they will learn how to look after their bodies, including healthy eating, and manage personal needs independently.  Through supported interaction with other children, they learn how to make good friendships, co-operate and resolve conflicts peaceably.  These attributes will provide a secure platform from which children can achieve school and in later life.

Literacy is crucial for children to develop a life-long love of reading.  Reading consists of two dimensions: language comprehension and word reading.  Language comprehension (necessary for both reading and writing) starts from birth.  It only develops when adults talk with children about the world around them and the books (stories and non-fiction) they read with them, and enjoy rhymes, poems and songs together.  Skilled word reading, taught later, involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words.  Writing involves transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech, before writing).

Mathematics, developing a strong grounding in number is essential so that all children develop the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically.  Children should be able to count confidently, develop a deep understanding of the numbers to 10, the relationships between them and the patterns within those numbers.  By providing frequent and varied opportunities to build and apply this understanding - such as using manipulatives, including small pebbles and tens frames for organising counting - children will develop a secure base of knowledge and vocabulary from which mastery of mathematics is built.  In addition, it is important that the curriculum includes rich opportunities for children to develop their special reasoning skills across all areas of mathematics including shape, space and measures.  It is important that children develop positive attitudes and interests in mathematics, look for patterns and relationships, spot connections, 'have a go' talk to adults and peers about what they notice and not be afraid to make mistakes.

Understanding the World involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community.  The frequency and range of children's personal experiences increases their knowledge and sense of world around them - from visiting parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of society such as police officers, nurses and firefighters.  In addition, listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will poster their understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world.  As well as building important knowledge, this extends their familiarity with words that support understanding across domains.  Enriching and widening children's vocabulary will support later reading comprehension.

Expressive Arts and Design, the development of children's artistic and cultural awareness supports their imagination and creativity.  It is important that children have regular opportunities to engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials.  The quality and variety of what children see, hear and participate in is crucial for developing their understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability to communicate through the arts.  The frequency, repetition and depth of their experiences are fundamental to their progress in interpreting and appreciating what they hear, respond to and observe.

Assessment During the EYFS

On going assessment is an integral part of the learning and development process.  Key workers observe children and respond appropriately help them make progress towards the early learning goals.

Assessments are based on practitioner's observation of what children are doing in their day-to-day activities.  Judgements are based on observational evidence gathered from a wide range of learning and teaching contexts.  An essential feature of parental involvement is ongoing dialogue and building a partnership.  We share your child's progress and achievements with parents throughout the EYFS.

Progress check at age two

When a child is aged between two and three, practitioners must review their progress, and provide parents and/or carers with a short written summary of their child's development in the prime areas.  This progress check will identify your child's strengths and any areas where your child's progress is less than expected.

Assessment at the end of the EYFS - The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP)

In the final term of the year in which your child reaches age 5, the EYFS must be completed for each child.  The profile provides parents and carers, practitioners and teachers with a well-rounded picture of your child's knowledge, understanding and abilities, their progress against expected levels and their readiness for year 1.  This assessment usually occurs once your child is in early years at their local school.