As an Ofsted registered setting we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum.
Whilst the children’s lead and interests form the themes and topics, the activities are all underpinned by a sensitive curriculum that allows staff to individualise their delivery to meet the unique needs of all the children. Whether a child is an active learner, is beginning to engage in critical thinking whether creatively or cognitively or enjoying exploring through play it is the awareness of these characteristics of their learning that allow staff to ensure they motivate each and every child.
The Early Years Foundation Stage is often referred to as the EYFS. It applies to all children from birth to 5 and must be followed by all schools and Ofsted early years providers including Childminders, Playgroups, Pre schools, Nurseries and Reception classes. It sets standards for the learning development and care and supports an integrated approach to Early Years.
It provides all practitioners with a set of common principles and commitments to ensure they deliver quality early education and experiences to ALL children. As well as reassuring parents and carers that regardless of who they choose to provide their child’s early education the learning and development will be underpinned by the same statutory requirements.
It is for this reason at Little Meadow when we have children who are working with other professionals, with parent permission we share our children’s journey in order to offer continuity and embrace their successes.
What does it include?
- The legal welfare requirements that everyone registered to look after children must follow to keep every child safe.
- The 7 areas of learning and development which guide professionals engaged in the children’s play and activities as they learn new skills and acquire knowledge.
- Assessments that will inform you about your child’s progress. It states that “ Parents/carers will receive written information at age 2 (24-36 months) and age 5 ( end of reception).
- Definitions of expected levels that your child should reach at age 5 usually the end of Reception, these statements are referred to as Early Learning Goals (ELG’s).
- The latest review in 2014 also places greater emphasis on a parent/carers role in helping their child develop.
What does it mean for my child?
Ensuring safety. The welfare standards within the EYFS have been well constructed to ensure your child is as safe as possible. They include directions regarding the numbers of staff a setting need, carrying out risk assessments and administering medicines.
Quality. Ofsted the government’s official inspection body for Early Years judges the quality settings provide in relation to the EYFS framework. In 2011 Little Meadow was judged outstanding in all 17 areas. Our report along with all settings can be viewed on the Ofsted inspection report site. Louise can we put a feed here to ours as well as the Ofsted outstanding logo? We are also regularly inspected by the Food Hygiene Standards Agency and have been awarded 5 stars in their Food Hygiene scheme.
What are the 7 areas of Learning & Development?
Through a child’s Early Years journey they will learn skills, acquire knowledge and demonstrate their understanding and this is characterised into seven areas from an assessment point of view.
Prime Areas
Personal, Social and Emotional Development is recognised as one of the building blocks of success in life. It supports children’s development by helping them to interact effectively and develop positive attitudes to themselves and others. However, this does not happen in isolation and relies on influential adults such as parents and carers providing them with positive feedback and modelling appropriate behaviour
This area is broken down into three aspects which ensure that through positive relationships children respond to eye contact, verbal and non-verbal interaction; they anticipate and initiate communication with others, learning to respond in many ways. Understanding what has been said to them, saying things to others, being treated as a communicator and sharing in talk with others is all part of the communication process. With this in mind children are helped to become effective and skilful communicators based on the store of words that they build up, developing ways to express themselves based on their own ideas and experiences.
We often take for granted the way we move about in a crowd avoiding all the people around us – yet little children have to learn skills such as walking, balancing and not bumping into things. As well as developing the gross motor skills required to move about, children also need to develop control of all the smaller muscles which move when we pick something up or put it down – these take time to develop and come through.
The Health and Self-care aspect supports children exploring the effects of a healthy life style on their bodies. This includes all the factors that affect healthy development including making healthy choices in relation to food. It also includes managing their personal needs.
These prime areas are recognized as being the most essential for a child’s healthy development and future learning. It is these three areas that underpin a large majority of children’s play and experiences in Rising 3’s to ensure that these are secure when we build on the next four Specific areas.
Specific Areas
Being literate is essential in almost every aspect of adult life whether we are planning a holiday, selecting a DVD or delivering parcels. Literacy is often thought of as the ability’ to read and write’ but it also includes being able to speak and listen effectively. It is broken into 2 key aspects, the complex process of reading which takes time – it is based on building a wide vocabulary through listening and talking; the more words a child understands the better they will be able to make sense of what they read..
Understanding the way the spoken language works and how words can be broken into sounds and how sounds are put together to make words is part of the process which children who have opportunities to play with language develop over a period of time. Writing can seem deceptively simple to competent writers but it is highly complex because it involves many skills. It begins with talking, listening and mark-making and develops over time as children acquire an understanding that spoken words can be represented in signs and symbols.
Mathematics is all about understanding and using shape, space, measures and numbers to solve everyday problems. Helping children to enjoy Mathematics is probably one of the most important things that practitioners can do so that children realise that mathematics is a way of finding things out and solving problems. When something has real meaning for a child they will learn about it so experiences and activities should always be enjoyable if young children are to become the mathematicians of tomorrow.
Understanding the World is about how children get to know about other people, the place where they live and about all aspects of the environment. Children love to explore and investigate how and why things work and to test out their ideas of what will happen in certain scenarios. Technology has become commonplace for many families and children often see and use it quite naturally when they activate a toy such as an ambulance or police car to make a siren sound. Recognising the role of technology at home or in a setting is important because this helps children to identify the different types of technology and what they are useful for.
In order to allow our children the time they need to learn new skills, become competent and then transfer those skills into other areas of their life, we encourage them to keep on trying at everything they do and ask our parents to allow them to do this too.
All 7 areas are split into 6 bands by age. However the EYFS clearly reminds practitioners that “Children develop at their own rates, and in their own ways. The development statements and their order should not be taken as necessary steps for individual children. They should not be used as checklists. The age/stage bands overlap because these are not fixed age boundaries but suggest a typical range of development” Quite often a child will develop at different rates in different areas influenced by a variety of things, likes and dislikes, place in the family and opportunity. All these things are taken into consideration by the skilled Little Meadow Staff when reflecting on progress and at that point should it be felt a child would benefit from some additional support, with parents approval, this early intervention will be applied.
Each area culminates in an Early Learning Goal (ELG) which children strive to achieve by the time they complete their Reception year.
Helping children to be creative is as much about encouraging attitudes of curiosity and questioning as about skills or techniques. Children notice everything and closely observe the most ordinary things that adults often take for granted. Building on children’s interests staff can support them create amazing inventions or making marks on paper that represent for the child an experience or something they have seen. Encouraging children to choose and use materials and resources in an open-ended way helps them to make choices and to have confidence in their own ideas. Retaining childhood confidence in their ideas and skills can easily be lost if others ‘take over’ and try to suggest what the child is making, thinking or doing. Just expressing an interest in the process a child has gone through is often enough or asking open questions such as ‘Can you tell me about it – that looks interesting’ may be all that is required to help a child hold on to their remarkable creativity.