The period of time from birth until a child is 5 years old is described as the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).
This is a very important stage in a child’s life as it aims to provide children with a broad range of knowledge and skills to provide the right foundation for ‘school readiness’ and good future progress through school and life. As an Early Years provider we have a legal requirement to meet the standards set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework. Children can join us from the age of 3 months and can stay with us until they join nursery school or can stay until they leave us to move onto primary school to complete the EYFS in the reception year.
This framework sets out:
There are four principals which underpin the EYFS and shape practice in Early Years they are :
The EYES is split into 3 sections:
Learning and Development
We aim to provide a high quality early learning environment that is happy, active, exciting, fun and secure and which supports children’s development and we work to help children achieve these are:
There are seven areas of learning that shape our environments and we work to help children achieve these, they are:
Communication and Language, Physical Development, Personal Social and Emotional Development are considered prime areas as they form the fundamental basis of all areas of children’s learning and development. Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the world, and Expressive Arts and Designs are specific areas which build on and strengthen the prime areas in addition to developing children’s skills and understanding.
The learning environment is organised to allow children to explore all these of learning securely and safely. There are areas where the children can be active, be quiet and rest. Setting has an outdoor area. Being outdoors offers opportunities for doing things in different ways and on different scales than when indoors. If offers children the opportunity to explore, use their senses and be physically active and exuberant.
Through play children explore and develop learning experiences, which help them make sense of the world. They practice and build up confidence, ideas and learn how to control themselves and understand the need for rules. They have the opportunity to think creatively alongside other children as well as on their own and learn to communicate with others as they investigate and solve problems. Children can express fears or re-live anxious experiences in controlled and safe situations. There is a balance between activities led by children and activities led or guided by staff. As children grow and develop this balance will gradually move towards more activities being led by adults helping children prepare for a more formal way of learning at school.
Staff will implement a range of teaching strategies to ensure that every child receives enjoyable and challenging learning experiences, tailored to meet their needs. We reflect on the different ways that children learn and reflect these in our planning and teaching methods. There are three different characteristics of effective teaching and learning, these are:
Praise and encouragement is used to encourage children to develop a positive attitude to learning. We educate children on boundaries, rules and limits and help them understand why they exist. Children are given choices to help them develop this important life skill. We allow children to take risks in a safe environment, teaching children how to recognise and avoid hazards.
Active learning occurs when children are motivated and interested. Children need to have some independence and control over there learning. As children develop their confidence they learn to make decisions. It provides children with a sense of satisfaction as they take ownership of their learning. Adults can support children’s thinking and help them to make connections by showing genuine interest, offering encouragement, clarifying ideas and asking open questions. Children can access resources freely and are allowed to move them around the setting to extend their learning.
We value the diversity of individuals and do not discriminate against children because of ‘differences’. All children and their families are valued and treated fairly regardless of race, religion or abilities. We give the children every opportunity to achieve their best by taking account of our children’s range of life experiences when planning for their learning. We also provide children with a rich environment to promote cultural capital. We plan to meet the needs of boys and girls, children with special educational needs, children who are able, children from all social and cultural backgrounds, children of different ethnic groups and those from diverse linguistic backgrounds. We use resources which reflect diversity and are free from discrimination and stereotyping. We have a long term plan alongside short term (weekly and daily planning), which is based around the individual children’s needs and interests. These plans are used and implemented by the key person who has a good understanding of their children. We make regular assessments of children’s learning and we use this information to ensure that future planning reflects indentified needs and that build upon and extend children’s knowledge, experience and interests, and develop their self-esteem and confidence.
We aim to develop caring, respectful, professional relationships with the children and their families. We recognise that parents are children’s first and most enduring educators and we highly value the contribution that parents make. We build strong home links in order to enhance and extend children’s learning both within the nursery environment and in the child’s home. Each child is assigned a key person. The key person will consider the individual needs, interests, and stage of development of each child in their care, and will use this information to plan a challenging and enjoyable experience for each child in all areas of learning and development. The key person will engage with and support the parents and / or carers in guiding their child’s development at home and will help families engage with more specialist support if appropriate. However we have a system in place to ensure all staff will be aware of all children’s needs and requirement so in case of key person’s absence child’s needs are still met.
Assessment
Assessment in the EYFS takes the form of observation, and this involves all staff. These observations are recorded on Babysdays by the key person which are available to parents all the time. Parents can comment and add to their child’s learning Journey through Babysdays. This personalised record of each child’s development is maintained, showing their abilities, progress, interests and the areas that may require further interventions or support. We will keep parents and / or carers up to date with their child’s progress and development and will address any learning and development needs in partnership with parents and / or carers and any relevant professionals(with parental consent). We develop and maintain good links with local nurseries and schools. When a child moves to another setting the key person will liaise with the staff to ensure a smooth transition.
2 Year Old Check
When a child is aged between two and three we will review their progress and give parents and carers a short written summary of their child’s development. We will identify the child’s strengths, and any areas where the child’s progress is less than expected. If we feel there are significant emerging concerns, or an identified special educational need or disability, practitioners will develop a targeted plan to support the child’s future learning and development involving other professionals as appropriate.
Safeguarding and Welfare
Children learn and develop best when they are healthy, happy safe and secure, with their individual needs met. We aim to provide high quality provision which is welcoming, safe and stimulating with caring/ skilled practitioners. We will do this by:
Key Person
We promote the role of the key person as the child’s primary carers in our nursery and allocate a key person to each child before they start to attend. Children settle best when they have a key person to relate to, who knows them and their parents well, and who can meet their individual needs. The key person welcomes and looks after the child and family during the settling in period to ensure the family has a familiar contact person to assist with the settling in process.
The key person acts as the key contact for the parents and works with them to plan and deliver a personalised plan for the child’s well being, care and learning. We provide a buddy key person so the child and parents have a key contact in the absence of the child’s key person. They key person is responsible for the child’s developmental records, and for sharing information on a regular basis with the child’s parents to keep those records up to date, reflecting the full picture of the child in our nursery and at home. They will build links with carers involved with the child, such as a child minder, and co ordinates the sharing of appropriate information about the child’s development with those carers.
Self Evaluation
The Cradle Nursery has it’s own self evaluation process. Management works alongside all staff to evaluate practices and provision to ensure we are complying with all the statuary requirements. We also evaluate our educational programmes to ensure children’s interests are taken into account and that the continues provision is effective and appropriate for all children.