The EYFS

The EYFS

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS, DfE, 2017) is the statutory framework for all Early Years settings (including nurseries, playgroups, pre-schools, reception classes) that work with children aged between 0 and 5 in England. It sets the standards for learning, development and care.

You can find out more at www.foundationyears.org.uk – including the ‘Parents’ Guide to the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework’

Effective practice in the EYFS is built on four guiding themes which are:

• A Unique Child recognises that every child is a competent learner who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.

• Positive Relationships describes how children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person.

• Enabling Environments explains that the environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning.  

• Learning and Development recognises that children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates.
Within the theme of Learning and Development are three prime areas of learning most essential for children’s readiness for future learning and healthy development. We will be placing significant emphasis on these areas, particularly for our under-threes:

Personal, Social and Emotional Development or PSED – this involves children being supported to make relationships, develop self-confidence and self-awareness, and manage their own feelings and behaviour.

Physical Development or PD – this involves encouraging children to be active learners and to make the most of their developing physical skills. Children will also be supported to have an understanding of health and to develop their self-care skills.

Communication and Language or CL – this involves children gaining competence in communicating, speaking and listening. At Bertie’s this involves taking the time to have meaningful conversations with children, fostering a love of books through reading and telling stories, and encouraging listening games.

There are also four specific areas of learning which build on the prime areas. We will focus on these alongside the prime areas as we feel children become developmentally ready:

Literacy – this involves the beginnings of reading and writing. At Bertie’s this means fostering a love of books and an awareness of print through reading and telling stories, and providing lots of opportunities to ‘make marks’ – for example with chalks outside on the floor, with shaving foam, or using pencils and paper.

Mathematics – this involves providing plenty of opportunities for practicing and developing skills around numbers, shape, measures and being really creative with problem solving - for example, trying out many ways of building a tower with wooden blocks so that it doesn’t fall over. At Bertie’s we sing lots of number rhymes, go on shape hunts and learn about capacity through water play or cooking.

Understanding the World – this helps children to make sense of the world, promotes their natural curiosity and encourages them to become explorers and investigators. At Bertie’s we aim to reflect the diversity of society so that children begin to know about their individual cultures and those of others. We will also promote the use of technology.

Expressive Arts and Design – children’s creativity is supported through lots of opportunities to explore and share their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a wide variety of experiences and materials. At Bertie’s this involves imaginative and role play (such as in the home corner), art, messy play, music and singing.
In addition to this, the revised EYFS includes three ‘characteristics of effective learning’. They describe the most effective ways in which children learn and develop. At Bertie’s we pay as much attention to how children are learning as what they are learning. The characteristics are:

• Playing and exploring – at Bertie’s we want children to be willing to ‘have a go’, find out and explore what they come across indoors and out.

• Active learning – this includes children becoming involved, persisting in their challenges and enjoying achieving what they set out to do. We encourage children to move around, making the best use of the space and resources as they play and learn.

• Creating and thinking critically – at Bertie’s we encourage children to have their own ideas, to make connections in their learning and choose the best way to do things. We will support the children to develop these dispositions and skills.
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