Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
The seven areas of learning and development are divided into two sections: Prime and Specific.
Prime Areas:
Communication and language development 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 coordination, 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 abilities.
The above Prime Areas are those that are considered for the Progress Check at age two when we provide parents/carers with a short written summary of their child's development.
Specific Areas:
Literacy development 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 reading 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.
Staff consider the individual needs, interests and stage of development of each child in their care and plan challenging and enjoyable experiences for the children in all the areas of learning and development. Planned, purposeful PLAY is at the centre of all our activities, both adult lead and child-initiated. PLAY is essential for the children's development, building confidence, solving problems and relating to others.
We support children whose home language is not English, taking reasonable steps to provide opportunities for them to develop and use their home language in play and learning. We must also ensure they have opportunities to learn and reach a good standard in English language during the EYFS.