The Early Years Foundation Stage

The Early Years Foundation Stage is the period of learning in a child’s life that starts at birth and ends when the child is five.

During this time of extraordinary development we see massive changes and the Reception year at school is the last of the phase. Children are encouraged to learn through play and discovery while practitioners are keen to watch how children do this using the “characteristics of effective learning”.

Characteristics of Effective Learning
Playing and Exploring	children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’
Active Learning	children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements
Creating and Thinking Critically	children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things

In order for us to be able to see these qualities, children are given plenty of time to play, explore and practise their skills through carefully provided provision. Opportunities to communicate, increase and extend vocabularies, use and develop language skills and social skills are nurtured by playful class teaching and adult interaction and extension while children are busy within the classroom provision. The class team is quick to pick up on children’s curiosities, interests and ideas and will as swiftly as possible scaffold and provide extensions to their learning by providing extra materials, resources or support as to how to investigate further.

In Oppie Class we follow the school curriculum which has been carefully crafted to build on children’s prior knowledge and interests. As the children are just beginning their learning journey, we have chosen themes of which most of our children will have had experience and children will contribute to this by adding their own thoughts and ideas about what they want to learn using floor book sessions. After we have been learning about a theme we will generally then return to our initial fascinations and review what we have learnt. We follow a two year rolling programme of topics as we are a mixed age class:

Year A	Year B
All about me and my village	All about me in Autumn time
Inventions and Machines	Celebrations
Staying Healthy	The Senses
Old to New	Animals All Around Us
Animals and Lifecycles	Gardens Around Us
Great Britain	Around the World

The Early Years Foundation Stage is based on 7 areas of learning, 3 “Prime” areas and 4 called “Specific”. These are the current areas. Please see the second table for areas of learning that will be relevant for children starting school in September:

Areas of learning (Current)
Prime Areas
Personal, Social and Emotional Development	Making Relationships
	Self-Confidence and Self-Awareness
	Managing Feelings and Behaviour
Physical Development	Moving and Handling
	Health and Self-Care
Communication and Language	Listening and Attention
	Understanding
	Speaking
Specific Areas
Literacy	Reading
	Writing
Maths	Numbers
	Space, Shape and Measures
Understanding of the World	People and Communities
	The World
	Technology
Expressive Arts and Design	Exploring Media and Materials
	Being Imaginative

Areas of learning (from September 2021)
Prime Areas
Personal, Social and Emotional Development	Self-Regulation
	Managing Self
	Building Relationships
Physical Development	Gross Motor Skills
	Fine Motor Skills
Communication and Language	Listening, Attention and Understanding
	Speaking
Specific Areas
Literacy	Comprehension
	Word Reading
	Writing
Maths	Number
	Numerical Patterns
Understanding of the World	Past and Present
	People Culture and Communities
	The Natural World
Expressive Arts and Design	Creating with Materials
	Being Imaginative and Expressive

At the beginning of the year all children starting school will take part in a relaxed, stress free statutory baseline assessment and at the end of the year teachers will assess children against the 17 aspects of learning (shown on the left hand side of the table) and complete the statutory assessment “The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile”. For more information about the current Early Years Foundation Stage Early Learning Goals:https://www.gov.uk/early-years-foundation-stage

For Information about the revised Early Years Foundation Stage Early Learning Goals for 2022: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-adopter-schools-eyfs-framework

Parent meetings are held every term where parents are invited to discuss all aspects of the child’s learning, developments and school life. Assessments are shared with parents at the end of the summer term in a written report including a summary of their learning and how the children learn, using “the characteristics of effective learning”.