The Early Years Foundation Stage

What is the Early Years Foundation Stage?

The Early Years Foundation Stage is the first stage of the National Curriculum focusing on the distinct needs of children aged three to the end of the reception year in primary school.

The Early Years Foundation Stage has six learning areas, these are:

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
  Successful personal, social and emotional development is critical for very young children in all aspects of their lives. It is also a pre-requisite for their success in all other areas of learning. It is crucial that settings provide the experiences and support which enable children to develop a positive sense of themselves.
• Communication, Language and Literacy
  Communication, language and literacy depend on learning and being competent in a number of key skills, together with having the confidence, opportunity, encouragement, support and disposition to use them. This area includes speaking and listening in different situations.
• Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
  This area of learning occurs as children seek patterns, make connections and make relationships through finding out about and working with numbers and counting, with sorting and matching and with shape, space and measures. Children use their skills in this area to solve problems, generate new questions and make connections with other areas of learning and development.
• Knowledge and Understanding of the World
  In this area of learning, children are developing the skill, knowledge and understanding that help them to make sense of the World. This forms the foundation for later work in science, history, geography, design and technology, and information and communications technology.
• Physical Development
  At this stage children grow rapidly. They develop confidence and control of the way they move and the way they handle tools and equipment. They need to be active and to move about in order to develop many of these fundamental skills.
• Creative Development
  Creativity is fundamental to successful learning. The aspects covered in this area of learning include art, music, dance, role-play and imaginative play. Being creative enables children to make connections between one area of learning and another and so extend their understanding.

Each learning area has early learning goals. These set out the skills, understanding, knowledge and attitudes which is hoped children will reach or succeed by the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Children will be at different stages of progress towards these goals depending on their age and stage of development.

Happy children become willing learners

Providing well planned play is central to children's learning, ensuring learning is both challenging and fun. This period of life is really important both in its own right but also in preparing children for later learning.

Giving children opportunities to learn, become independent and feel confident

Opportunities for children to learn are planned and should be based on what the children already know about and can do. Providing planned activities and resources for children to initiate their own learning and planned activities based on the learning needs and interests of the children, give opportunities for children to learn to work together and share resources and the attention of adults.

Parents have a key role

Parents working closely with the setting helps children make good progress in their learning. By sharing information about their children's interests, strengths and needs the setting can plan activities that will capture the child's interest and fire their enthusiasm. By sharing observations of children with parents, the adults who work with them can help parents to build on this at home in ways that are fun. This is done through written information, talking with the parents and parents spending time in the setting.

"How my child learns each day"

Through play pre-school will help the children to develop the necessary skills required for school life. To help us achieve this goal we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum (for further information on the EYFS please refer to the pre-school prospectus).

To enable us to give you an explanation of the learning opportunities that the children in our care receive there is a timetable of the day’s activities and an outline of the developmental aims set out below.

Our daily routine must meet the physical needs of the children. Physical needs are the biological requirements necessary for the children to grow. These needs are food, drink, rest, exercise and personal hygiene.

Food and drink are met through snack time. For children to have enough energy to play and learn they need small frequent amounts of nutritious food. Children only have small stomachs so it is important to offer healthy snacks to refuel their bodies. Any dietary requirements due to food allergies or cultural beliefs will be adhered to. Water helps to prevent dehydration and aid digestion and is the preferred drink offered.

Exercise is met through indoor and outdoor play. It helps strengthen muscles, develop lungs, prevents build up of fat. It improves co-ordination, balance, appetite, sleep and circulation. Outdoor play also promotes the absorption of vitamin D. It is equally important to provide a quiet area where the child can sit comfortably and without disturbance i.e. book corner. Rest enables the body to relax, breathing to slow down, and circulation to improve. Other activities may include story time, drawing and table top games.

Children need to learn to control bodily movements and how their movements affect others. They need to practice these movements to become more skilful thus enabling them to perform more complex tasks. One activity that encourages this physical development is our obstacle course. Riding and steering a tricycle encourages the development of large muscles (gross motor) as well as spatial awareness when missing obstacles provided. Walking along the plank improves balance, locomotion and enables children to take risks in a safe environment. Climbing over/ under/ through develops co-ordination and builds stamina. Picking up a small ball and carrying it on a spoon to drop into a bucket develops the smaller muscles (fine motor) and encourages hand-eye co-ordination. Alternative routes around the course are available for those children who require extra support or challenges.

Children need to develop the small muscles (fine motor) in their fingers, hands and arms before they are able to write. It is important not to rush this development and to remember that children develop in stages and not chronological age. To strengthen the muscles required for writing lots of painting and drawings are encouraged.

Children develop an awareness and understanding of the world through their senses. They need to be given the opportunity to express and develop their ideas through play. This intellectual development is encouraged by sand and water play. When children do this activity they begin to explore texture, colour and shape. Pouring water/sand from one cup to another allows an adult to introduce mathematical concepts and science is introduced by using objects that float or sink. Children use their imagination when building castles and are being creative when designing them.

Language gives us the ability to communicate effectively with others and whether using verbal or non-verbal communication this life skill has to be taught. Story/song time encourages the skills that promote language development. Story time allows listening skills to be developed and the storyteller to introduce new vocabulary to the children. The repetition of songs allows the children to pick up rhythm of language. Large books, use of puppets and dual language books will encourage all who attend pre-school to enjoy this activity.

Children need to learn what is socially acceptable and how to behave in the society in which they live. Play-dough supports this social development by giving children the time and the opportunities to develop relationships that promote social competence. Children learn to share tools, interact in small groups and evolve language skills vital for developing friendships. They learn to make decisions and choices regarding tools and what to make. Self-help skills such as putting on aprons and washing hands after activities are also encouraged. Scented or textured dough can be used to enhance play for those who require extra stimuli.

Children need to learn how to control and express their feelings in an appropriate way. They need to be able to name and recognize these feeling, see how they affect others as well as develop a good self-image and self identity. Emotional development is encouraged through role play. By dressing up children take on another person’s role and feelings. This enables them to explore different views and test out their own feelings. Adequate clothes and props are available to encourage all to participate and praise by staff helps to develop good self-esteem. There is usually an opportunity for role play based on the weekly theme: e.g.The fruit shop / market displays fruits from around the world to reflect different cultures as well as real fruit for sensory stimulation.

As you can see the children work hard at learning through play

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Morning Timetable

9.15	Free activities. Art & Craft work.
	Free activities includes adult led and child led activities including:
	Sand and Water play
	Art Activity / Cooking / Planting
	Large physical equipment (gross motor)
	Playdough
	Table top games
	Roleplay activities
	Puzzles
	Books
	Fine motor skills e.g. drawing, cutting, stencils
10.15	Tidy up time, the children are encouraged to help
10.30	Show and Tell & Rhyme Time
10.40	Wash hands
11.50	Snack time
11.05	Structured activities in small groups led by staff
11.20	Activity time
11.40	Story Time
11.55	Goodbye song and prayer

The timetable is flexible to adapt to the children’s needs and interests
Water is available for children to serve themselves throughout adult and child led activities.