Early Years Foundation Stage
THE EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE
By providing a happy, secure and stimulating environment in partnership with parents and carers, we aim to enable your child to become a confident and independent learner and give them the best possible start to their school life.
Starting school is an exciting, but also daunting time. We are here to support you and your child every step of the way. We believe communication plays a vital role in this, and work hard to foster the partnership between home and school. As well as being available at the start and end of every day, you are also able to let us know how your child is getting on via tapestry (see below), and celebrate special achievements via our ‘Wow!’ cards.
THE AREAS of LEARNING
This is the curriculum that is followed for children below five years old. It is divided into seven areas of learning and development. These are in turn split into 3 prime areas and 4 specific areas;
Prime Areas
- Personal, social and emotional development
- Communication and language
- Physical development
Specific Areas
- Literacy
- Maths
- Understanding the world
- Expressive arts and design
We use these areas of learning and development when we are observing, assessing and planning for your child’s individual needs. This ensures that we are constantly challenging your child and helping them to develop and succeed. Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking. Learning takes place both indoors, and outside in our covered learning area, gardens, woodland moat, and on trips to local places of interest. The children’s interests usually guide our topics in Reception and Nursery, although we do plan to cover certain specific themes across the year, such as seasons, festivals and celebrations.
We use the revised Development Matters as a support document for planning our EYFS curriculum. To see this document which lays out further details about the areas of learning please click here.
TRACKING PROGRESS
We constantly keep track of the progress of your child in order to know how best to support, challenge and engage them during their first year of school. Your children’s work and observations of their successes are kept in their individual file, known as a ‘Learning Journey’ in addition to an electronic version called ‘Tapestry’ which parents can access and add to at home, thus includes achievements both at home and at school. You are invited to visit your child’s class during some curriculum events, and we will keep you abreast of those. Parents’ evenings are also held in autumn and spring, and you will receive both a short mid-year report in the spring, and a full end of year report in the summer. At the end of Reception, teachers complete an assessment of the children known as the EYFS Profile. This assessment is based on what they have observed throughout the year. Please see Early Learning Goals below.