High quality education for a brighter future
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 experience between birth and age six have a major impact on their future. Good parenting and high quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.
What is the Early Years foundation stage (EYFS) ?
At Papakidz preschool we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) as defined in the English national curriculum. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework is a set of standards which all Early Years providers must meet to make sure children are given the optimum opportunity to progress and develop, in a safe and healthy environment. At its core, it recognises that all children are unique and that learning and development must be planned around each child’s individual needs and interests.
The EYFS provides safety and welfare guidelines, goals that child care providers must help children achieve, an outline of specific areas of learning and development that are important for each age, and assessment measures for calculating children’s progress. EYFS aims to provide a stable and healthy foundation for a love of learning, equality of opportunity for all children, and a strong partnership between child care providers and parents.
Overarching principles
Children are born ready and eager to learn. They actively reach out and interact with other people and the world around them. EYFS framework recognises that an effective learning and development process depends on each child having opportunities to interact in positive relationships and in enabling environments.
At Papakidz, there are four guiding principles which shape our practice :
A UNIQUE CHILD
– Children develop individually and at their own pace
– Children are treated fairly regardless of race, religion or their abilities
– Children are constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP
– Parents are recognized as the children’s first educators
– We like to work in partnership with parents for the children’s benefits
– We aim to develop caring respectful, professional relationships
ENABLING ENVIRONMENTS
– The environment play an important role in supporting children’s development
– Classrooms are set up so children can explore and learn safely, and access resources independently
LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT
– We respect the fact that ‘play’ is children’s work
– We believe that through play children make sense of their world and grow both emotionally, intellectually and physically
SEVEN AREAS OF LEARNING
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides us with a play-based framework to offer your children a broad and balanced curriculum, based on Prime and Specific areas of learning. We use these identified areas of learning when planning, observing and assessing within adult led or child initiated learning. These areas also aid us in providing a challenging and constantly evolving learning environment.
The prime areas are crucial for igniting children’s natural curiosity, building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive. These three prime areas form the foundation for the remaining four specific areas of learning. The three prime in the EYFS are :
Self-Confidence and Self-Awareness
Children are confident to try new activities, and say why they like some activities more than others. They are confident to speak in a familiar group, will talk about their ideas, and will choose the resources they need for their chosen activities. They say when they do or don’t need help.
Managing Feelings and Behaviour
Children talk about how they and others show feelings, talk about their own and others’ behaviour and its consequences, and know that some behaviour is unacceptable. They work as part of a group or class, and understand and follow the rules. They adjust their behaviour to different situations and take changes of routine in their stride.
Making Relationships
Children play cooperatively, taking turns with others. They take account of one another’s ideas about how to organise their activity. They show sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings and form positive relationships with adults and other children.
Moving and Handling
Children show good control and coordination in big and small movements. They move confidently in a range of ways, safely negotiating space. They handle equipment and tools effectively, including pencils and pens for writing.
Health and Self-care
Children know the importance for good health, physical exercise, and a healthy diet, and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe. They manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs, including dressing and going to the bathroom independently.
Listening and Attention
Children listen attentively in a range of situations. They listen to stories, accurately anticipating key events and respond to what they hear with relevant comments, questions or actions. They give their attention to what others say and respond appropriately, while engaged in another activity.
Understanding
Children follow instructions involving several ideas or actions. They answer ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions about their experiences and in response to stories or events.
Speaking
Children express themselves effectively, showing awareness of listeners’ needs. They use past, present and future forms accurately when talking about events that have happened or are to happen in the future. They develop their own narratives and explanations by connecting ideas or events.
Specific areas of learning enhance learning and development alongside the Prime areas. They provide a range of experiences and opportunities for children to broaden their knowledge and skills. These are as follows :
Reading
Children read and understand simple sentences. They use phonic knowledge to decode words and read them aloud accurately. They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read.
Writing
Children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways that match their spoken sounds. They write simple sentences that can be read by themselves and others.
Numbers
Children count reliably with numbers from 1 to 20, place them in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number. Using quantities and objects, they add and subtract two single-digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer. They solve problems, including doubling, halving and sharing.
Shape, Space and Measures
Children use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money to compare quantities and objects and to solve problems. They recognise, create and describe patterns. They explore characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.
People and Communities
Children talk about past and present events in their own lives and in the lives of family members. They know that other children don’t always enjoy the same things and are sensitive to this. They know about similarities and differences between themselves and others, as well as among families, communities and traditions.
The World
At Papakidz, children learn about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things. They talk about the features of their own environment and how environments might vary from one another. They make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.
Technology
Children recognise that a range of technology is used in places such as homes and schools. They select and use technology for particular purposes.
Exploring and Using Media and Materials
Children sing songs, make music and dance, and experiment with ways of changing them. They safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.
Being Imaginative
Children use what they have learnt about media and materials in original ways, thinking about uses and purposes. They represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through design and technology, art, music, dance, role-play and stories.