The Early Years Foundation Stage
The EYFS is how the Government and Early Years Professionals describe the time in your child’s life between birth and age 5. This is a very important stage as it helps your child get ready for school as well as preparing them for their future learning and successes. From when your child is born up until the age of 5, their early years’ experience should be happy, active, exciting, fun and secure: support their development, care and learning needs.
The EYFS framework exists to support all professionals working in the EYFS to help your child, and was developed with a number of early years’ experts and parents.
How Will My Child Be Learning?
Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outdoors.
Your child will be learning skills, acquiring new knowledge and demonstrating their understanding through 7 areas of Learning and Development. Children should mostly develop the 3 Prime areas first.
- Communication and Language
- Physical development
- Personal, Social and emotional development
These prime areas are those most essential for your child’s healthy development and future learning. As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in 4 specific areas.
- Understanding the world
- Expressive arts and design
Your child’s keyperson will ensure that all learning activities are suited to your child’s unique skills and needs, using the EYFS to plan for their learning and next steps, based on their abilities and interests. The EYFS is designed to be really flexible so that staff can follow your child’s lead, by observing them at play, building on their experiences and where their interests lie.