The Early Years Foundation Stage

Defining EYFS and The Benefits of Using this System

EYFS, or Early Years Foundation Stage, is a framework that sets the standards for learning and development, and it focuses on children from the time they are born until they are five years old. The belief is that children develop early, and how and what they learn in the first five years of their lives can have a large impact throughout the rest of their lives. You want to combine good parenting skills and high-quality early learning, so your child thrives and develops their interests, passions, and talents as they grow.

The EYFS sets the standards for learning, care, and development requirements to which we must adhere to, this ensures that every child learns in their own way, in a safe environment. The requirements follow these rules:

The staff help to nurture and develop early learning goals for each child, and the child consistently works toward achieving these goals and understanding them.

Our Setting has assessment arrangements that measure every child’s progress as they develop their interests and knowledge.  There are safeguards put in place to protect your children and ensure they have a safe learning environment to explore.

The EYFS also has several overarching principles that we use as guidelines to develop our curriculum, and this ensures that your children are getting positive, safe, and useful skills that can help them throughout their lives. These principals include:

  1. Every child is unique, and they are constantly learning. We also encourage the children to be confident, self-assured, resilient, and capable.
  2. The children learn to be both independent and strong through positive relationships with our staff.
  3. Children learn very well in an empowering environment that is safe and secure. Their individual experiences correspond to their needs. Additionally, there is a strong partnership between every child’s parental figure and our staff.
  4. Children learn and develop at different rates, and we strive to tailor a curriculum to each child’s needs.

Our planning and curriculum focus on the characteristics of effective teaching and learning and the fact that all areas of development and learning are connected and interconnected.  However, there are three main areas that are responsible for stimulating your child’s interest and curiosity. Those three main areas are:

  1. Communication and language
  2. Emotional, personal, and social development
  3. Physical development

The specific areas are:

  1. Mathematics
  2. Literacy
  3. Understanding the Works
  4. Expressive arts and design

The revised EYFS can be found below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework–2