The Early Years Foundation Stage

Curriculum

What is the Early Years Foundation Stage?

•Statutory framework that begins when a child attends a nursery or pre-school setting or if they are cared for by a child-minder – this can begin at birth. (Birth to Five)

•Final stage of EYFS is Reception. Using data from pre-schools and baseline assessment, we plan a suitable curriculum for your child.

7 Areas of learning and development within the EYFS

Prime :

Personal, social and emotional development

Physical Development

Communication and languageFundamental as run through all areas of learning.

Specific:

Literacy Mathematics

Understanding the world Expressive arts and designTeach specific skills and knowledge.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

• Become confident, safe, secure and ready to learn.

• Play co-operatively and choose their own activities.

• Manage and understand their feelings and to understand how their actions affect others.

• Develop a positive sense of themselves e.g “I am good at making things”.

• Have a go at new activities.

How can you help at home?

• Sharing games/turn taking games.

• Talk about how you feel and why e.g “I am pleased with you for tidying up the toys. You have made me feel happy because you listened to me”.

Physical Development• Opportunities to develop gross and fine motor skills to

hold a pencil effectively to write and draw.

• Using a range of large and small equipment – PE equipment, small sequins, tongs, tweezers.

• Explore balancing travelling and climbing equipment.

• Practical skills such as dressing, undressing and using the toilet.

• Teaches them about keeping healthy.

How can you help?• Time to run, jump, climb and play outdoors.

• Share stories about being healthy, choosing the right food, drinking water and getting plenty of sleep.

• Participate in activities such as building, drawing, threading beads, playing with water, malleable materials (Playdoh) and construction.

• Encourage and support to independently use the toilet and dress and undress themselves.

Communication and Language

• Develop conversational skills.

• Develop listening and concentration skills.

• Ability to respond to and follow instructions.

• Extend and develop their vocabulary.

• Recreate experiences and roles through play.

How can you help?

• Take time to listen to your child talking about things they’ve done and answering their questions.

• Show interest in what they say.

• Add comments or ask questions.

Literacy• Naming and recognising letters of the alphabet.

• Strategies to decode new words for reading and writing – phonics.

• Hear, recognise and say strings of rhyming words.

• Read words and sentences.

• Write simple words and phrases.

• Use their imagination in response to stories and experiences.

• Sharing and discussing familiar books.

How can you help?

• Share stories and books at home discussing the characters and sequence of events.

• Sing simple familiar rhymes.

• Look out in the environment for familiar letters and words.

• Model different forms of writing – shopping lists, letters, ‘to do’ lists, card writing.

Mathematics• Count up to 20 and beyond.

• Recognise, write and order numbers to 20.

• Skills and understanding for adding and take away.

• Use mathematical words when talking about capacity, position, distance, time and money.

• Understanding of shape and size including 2D and 3D shapes.

How can you help?

• Talk about the shapes you can see in the environment.

• Look out for numbers in and out of the home.

• Singing counting songs and rhymes.

• Counting, adding and subtracting anything and everything - socks, cars, shopping, chips on a plate, legs, eyes, ears, fingers and toes!

• Cooking!! Language – add, more, too much, take some away, count, shape – ate one, one less.

Understanding the WorldHistory, geography, science, ICT and technology.

•Gain an understanding of their world.

•Finding out about other people and places.

•Finding out about the past.

•Explore and investigate.

•Make observations of animals, plants and talk about changes and differences.

How can you help?• Talk with your child about the places they go

and things they see in the world around them.

• Letting children join in with everyday activities - washing up, cooking, shopping, helping in the garden...

• Lots of opportunities to explore inside and outside in a variety of environments.

Expressive arts and design

• Explore and play with a variety of art materials and media.

• Explore colour and colour changes.

• Explore shape and texture using all of their senses.

• Opportunity for children to share their thoughts, feelings and ideas.

• Develops an interest in music, singing and imaginative play.

.

How can you help?

• Talk with your child about their imaginative play and join in if possible!

• Have junk modelling sessions and see what you can create.

• Have drawing equipment available.

• Dance to your favourite music.

Characteristics of effective learning

• Playing and exploring – Are they willing to ‘have a go’? Do they explore and find out new things?

• Active learning – Do they get involved and concentrate? Do they persevere?

• Creating and thinking critically – Do they have their own ideas? Can they suggest how to do things? Do they make links across their learning?

Assessment

• 17 Early Learning Goals across the Early Years curriculum which your child will be working towards in their Reception year.

• At the end of the year, teachers judge whether children are emerging, expected, exceeding.

Making judgements• Throughout the year, class teacher will collect evidence

towards Early Learning Goals by observing the children in adult-led activities and in play.

• Information will be collated in your child's Learning Diary.

• Final judgement will be made at the end of the academic year using all the evidence collected.

• Judgement will then be used to inform the Year 1 teacher and the Local Education Authority of your child's achievements.

• Parents updated at regular intervals throughout the year on their child’s progress – parent’s evening, sharing learning diaries, end of year report.

How can you help us?• Talk to us – partnership with parents.

• Parents know their children best - Photos of activities at home – WOW labels.

• Children learning all the time – out-of-school learning - Awards/certificates - swimming, gymnastics, football, rugby,

Rainbows, Beavers.

Phonics• Promoted by the government as the best way to boost

reading standards. Not new (1850!)

• Decode words by sounds. Words broken up into the smallest units of sound (phonemes).

• Children taught the letters (graphemes) that represent these phonemes and also learn to blend them into words. So, at its most basic, children are taught to read the letters in a word like c-a-t, and then merge them to pronounce the word cat.

• Systematically taught around 40 phonic sounds and the combination of letters used to represent each sound (er, ur, ir for example)

• Graphemes are grouped together and children progress from one group to the other and will be tested at the end of year one, when they are six years old.

• Always used in combination with other methods e.g. meaning of sentence, pictures, context.

• We will provide a phonics workshop for parents if you request it.

And Finally…

We look forward to working with you and your child for the rest of the year.