It sets out:
Through a child’s Early Years journey they will learn skills, acquire knowledge and demonstrate their understanding and this is characterised into seven areas from an assessment point of view. Initially, children should mostly develop in 3 prime areas.
The prime areas are:
This area is broken down into three aspects which ensure that through positive relationships children respond to eye contact, verbal and non-verbal interaction; they anticipate and initiate communication with others, learning to respond in many ways. Understanding what has been said to them, saying things to others, being treated as a communicator and sharing in talk with others is all part of the communication process. With this in mind children are helped to become effective and skilful communicators based on the store of words that they build up, developing ways to express themselves based on their own ideas and experiences.
Understanding the World is about how children get to know about other people, the place where they live and about all aspects of the environment. Children love to explore and investigate how and why things work and to test out their ideas of what will happen in certain scenarios. Technology has become commonplace for many families and children often see and use it quite naturally when they activate a toy such as an ambulance or police car to make a siren sound. Recognising the role of technology at home or in a setting is important because this helps children to identify the different types of technology and what they are useful for.
In order to allow our children the time they need to learn new skills, become competent and then transfer those skills into other areas of their life, we encourage them to keep on trying at everything they do and ask our parents to allow them to do this too.
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
All 7 areas are split into 6 bands by age. However the EYFS clearly reminds practitioners that “Children develop at their own rates, and in their own ways. The development statements and their order should not be taken as necessary steps for individual children. They should not be used as checklists. The age/stage bands overlap because these are not fixed age boundaries but suggest a typical range of development” Quite often a child will develop at different rates in different areas influenced by a variety of things, likes and dislikes, place in the family and opportunity. All these things are taken into consideration by the skilled Little Meadow Staff when reflecting on progress and at that point should it be felt a child would benefit from some additional support, with parents approval, this early intervention will be applied.
Each area culminates in an Early Learning Goal (ELG) which children strive to achieve by the time they complete their Reception year.
Interested to read more ? http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/files/2015/04/4Children_ParentsGuide_2015_FINAL_WEBv2.pdf
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Registered office: Little Meadow Group, Elmore Lane East, Quedgeley, Gloucestershire. GL2 4LX