The Early Years Curriculum
Children learning in Nursery and Reception classes are known as the Early Years Foundation Stage or EYFS for short. We follow the statutory EYFS Framework and Development matters for teaching and development. This stage is very important in a child’s life as it helps prepare for school ‘readiness’ as well as preparing them for their future learning and successes.
The EYFS framework explains how and what children will be learning to support their healthy development and provide the foundation children with the opportunities that they need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up. Within Pre-School, 'Development Matters' guidance is used to plan and promote children's learning, this ensures that children are provided with a curriculum and enviromnent that is developmentally appropriate as well as providing challenge and inspiration for each individual child.
Children learn skills, acquire new knowledge and demonstrate their understanding through 7 areas of learning and development, these are split into Prime and Specific areas.
Children start developing in the 3 prime areas first. These are:
- Communication and language;
- Physical development; and
- Personal, social and emotional development.
These prime areas are those most essential for a child’s healthy development and future learning, these weave through our Early Years Curriculum
As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in 4 specific areas. These are:
- Literacy;
- Mathematics;
- Understanding the world
- Expressive arts and design.
All 7 areas of learning are used to plan children’s learning and activities. We make sure that the activities are suited to your child’s unique needs. This is a little bit like the curriculum in the rest of the school but it's suitable for very young children, and it's designed to be really flexible so that staff can follow your child's unique needs and interests, while also teaching them the most important skills and knowledge to prepare them for future learning.
Within Havannah Early Years, we have worked hard to develop a curriculum which is; progressive across the phase, flexible in order to take account of individual needs and interests, aspirational and promotes a sense of awe and wonder. We work together across the phrase to share a book led approach and a play centred ethos allowing all children the opportunity to explore and grow.