Prospectus
The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum (EYFS)
The EYFS will be the stage your child is in when they attend a setting between birth and the age of five.
It describes how Early Years Practitioners, in Pre-School, will work with children and their families to support their learning and development, and how children are kept safe and cared for to ensure that they achieve the most that they can in the earliest years of their life.
The overarching principles of the EYFS are:-
- A Unique Child
– every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured; - Positive Relationships
– children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships; - Enabling Environments
– 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 - Learning and Development
– 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.
Our EYFS curriculum involves activities and experiences for children along the seven learning and development areas, as follows:
- Communication and Language – 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 – 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 and emotional development – 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.
- Literacy – involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Children must be given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems and other written materials) to ignite their interest.
- Mathematics – 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 measures.
- Understanding the World – 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 and design – 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.