EYFS Curriculum

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is how the Government and early years professionals describe and access 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 and allow them to be confident lifelong learners From when your child is born up until the age of 5, their early years’ experience should be happy, active, exciting, fun and secure; and support their development, care and learning needs. The EYFS frameworks aims to take account of the whole child, their welfare needs, learning needs, interests, strengths and areas for development. It is important to remember that this framework should be used only as guidance with recognition that every child is unique and will develop at a pace that is right for them.  

Nurseries, pre-schools, reception classes and early years settings registered to deliver the EYFS must follow a legal document called the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework.

The EYFS sets the standards that schools must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. It promotes teaching and learning to ensure ‘school readiness’ and gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good progress through school and life. The EYFS also allows professionals to monitor any concerns and provide children with early support that helps them to reach their full potential.

The children are given opportunities to play and explore, to investigate and experience things and to ‘have a go’. They are active and develop their own ideas. They are all unique and will have different interests and abilities. The areas of development have been divided into 2 groups:

3 Prime areas: 

• 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:

• Literacy
• Mathematics       
• Understanding the world     
• Expressive arts and design     

These 7 areas are used to plan your child’s learning and activities according to their unique needs. This is a little bit like a curriculum in primary and secondary schools, but it's suitable for very young children, and it's designed to be really flexible so that staff can follow your child' needs and interests.