 |
The Early Years Foundation Stage
From September 2008 all childminders, pre-schools, nurseries and reception
classes in schools will be required to follow the Early Years Foundation Stage
(EYFS), and will be inspected under this framework by OfSTED. The EYFS
has been designed to provide support and guidance to all those working with
children up to the age of 5 in how best to enable children to feel safe and
supported and to extend their learning and development.
Throughout the EYFS stress is placed upon understanding that each child
and their family is unique, with different needs and concerns. Children’s
learning and development is presented in 6 areas (personal social &
emotional development; communication, language and literacy; problem
solving, reasoning and numeracy; knowledge and understanding of the world;
creative development; physical development) which bring together the skills,
knowledge and experiences appropriate for babies and children as they grow,
learn and develop.
 
Why is the way my child learns at playgroup going to change?
The government have recently combined the ‘Birth to Three Matters
Framework’, ‘Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage’ and ‘The
National Standards for under 8’s Day-care and Childminding. These
three frameworks will be replaced by a statutory [legal] framework called
‘Early Years Foundation Stage’ [EYFS]. All ‘Early years settings and
reception classes will be using the frame work by September 2008, when
it becomes a statutory requirement.
The Early Years Foundation Stage [EYFS] is based around four Themes:
· A Unique Child
· Positive relationships
· Enabling Environments
· Learning and Development
Each theme is linked to an important Principle:
A Unique Child
· Every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient,
capable, confident and self assured.
Positive Relationships
· Children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving
and secure relationships with parents and/or key person
Enabling Environments
· The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending
children’s development and learning
Learning and Development
· Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates
and all areas of Learning and Development are equally important and
interconnected.
|
|
|
|
