Early Years Foundation Stage
The Early Years Foundation Stage begins when children are born and continues until the end of the Reception year at school. Children are constantly encountering new experiences and seeking to understand them in order to extend their skills. The Early Years Foundation Stage outlines some early learning goals which children are working towards, and on their way to achieving, at the end of their first year at school.
The Early Years Foundation Stage is broken down into six areas as follows:
- Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy (PSRN)
- Creative Development (CD)
- Knowledge and Understanding of the Word (KUW)
- Communication, Language and Literacy (CLL)
- Physical Development (PD)
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSE)
These areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage provide the basis for our long, medium and short term planning. These plans ensure that, alongside regular observations and detailed individual planning, all the children in our care are having a range of experiences within the framework.
Our planning sheets are working documents and are adapted throughout the year according to the needs and interests of the children.
A child's curiosity and imagination are developed in a variety of ways at Freshfields. We encourage children to talk to us about what excites them and what captures their imagination, and then the staff plan activities around this. We use observation methods and close discussions with parents / carers to ensure that the younger children have suitable exciting experiences planned to stimulate them.
Our staff provide activities and experiences to help the children achieve the outcomes and learning intentions they have planned, always ensuring that they are appropriate for the age and stage of the children they are working with.
The value of play has come very much to the fore in recent years and there has been a misconception amongst careres as well as parents that this is not "educating" children enough. If the children believe they are playing, they are open to a range of learning experiences that the staff can provide without the children realising that they are learning. The staff put a huge amount of thought into the types of activities and experiences which they provide on a daily basis in the form of "play". Each activity / experience has been thought through and has at least one specific goal that the child will achieve as they "play" either with support and guidance from a staff member, with a peer or on their own.
As part of the basis of the Early Years Founation Stage, harnessing the children's independence is vital. The children are provided with an environment which encouages them to make choices and become independent but being safe in the knowledge that the staff are there for support at any time.
At Freshfields we firmly believe that it is the process that a child goes through during an activity, not the end product, which is important. A child can learn so much with the help and support of our staff and even though they may not have a recognizable product at the end of the session, or week, the child will have had valuable experiences and been exposed to plenty of language and new vocabulary.
The importance of play is vital to a child's development and this is how they learn best. A child's confidence and independence is encouraged at all times and staff ensure that the expereiences and activities are appropriate to develop these attributes.