EYFS Curriculum - All children in Reception will follow The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage – a stage that caters for all children under 5 years of age. Our EYFS Curriculum is at the heart of our learning journey approach and is reviewed in the light of national developments, new thinking and research and development. It includes a balance of child-led and adult-led learning within a child centred approach. This year we will continue to embed the updated EYFS curriculum with a greater focus on communication and language.

There are 7 areas of the curriculum and they are split into prime and specific areas.

The Prime Areas

The prime areas begin to develop quickly in response to relationships and experiences and run through and support learning in other areas. They are fundamental in the EYFS and are:

• Communication and Language
• Personal, Social and Emotional development
• Physical Development

The Specific Areas

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

Characteristics of Effective Learning

All children engage with other people and their environment in different ways and we recognise that children have individual needs, interests and develop at different rates. In our planning and teaching, we reflect on our knowledge of each individual and encompass the characteristics of effective teaching and learning:

• Playing and Exploring – children are given opportunities to investigate, experience new things and are encouraged to ‘have a go’.
• Active Learning – we encourage children to persevere if they encounter difficulties and to enjoy their achievements.
• Creating and Thinking Critically – we support children to have and develop their own ideas, encouraging them to make links and develop their own strategies for doing things.

These characteristics underpin learning and development across all areas and support children to remain effective and motivated learners.

Early Learning Goals

The Early Learning Goals (ELGs) are the goals or targets children are expected to achieve at the end of their reception year. These are an end point measure of what a child should be demonstrating at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage. There are 17 ELGs across all the areas of learning. As shown below.