Early Years Foundation Stage

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum structures the learning within our Reception environment.

The EYFS is crucial in every child’s development and during these first years basic skills and attitudes to learning and socialising are established.

Four guiding principles shape out practice in the early years. These are:

  • every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured
  • children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships
  • children learn and develop well in enabling environments with teaching and support from adults, who respond to their individual interests and needs and help them to build their learning over time. Children benefit from a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers.
  • importance of learning and development. Children develop and learn at different rates

Aims and objectives

Our Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum has recently been fully reviewed in line with the government’s Early Years Foundation Stage Framework 2021. This is the guidance document that underpins children’s early learning. It contains:

Three prime areas:

  • communication and language
  • physical development
  • personal, social and emotional development

And four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied. The specific areas are:

  • literacy
  • mathematics
  • understanding the world
  • expressive arts and design