EYFS Parents’ Information
What is the Foundation Stage?
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework is a government document that all schools and registered early years providers in England must follow.
The EYFS is from birth until the end of the reception year.
The Areas of Learning.
Within the EYFS framework there are seven areas of learning.
There are three prime areas:
• Communication and Language
• Personal and Social Development
• Physical Development
There are four specific areas:
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design
Early Years Foundation Stage Profile
The Early Years Foundation Stage finishes at the end of your child’s reception year. After that he/she moves onto the National Curriculum.
The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile is completed at the end of reception and will be shared with you. It will form part of your child’s end of year report. This will inform you of your child’s progress and whether he/she has met or is continuing to work towards the Early Learning Goals.
Early Learning Goals
There are 17 Early Learning Goals your child is expected to meet by the end of reception.
The Early Goals are spread across the seven areas of learning.
GOOD LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT (GLD)
To achieve GLD your child needs to meet the Early Learning Goals for all of the Prime Areas as well as Literacy and Mathematics.
Communication and Language
This area of learning relates to how your child:
Talks and listens to others. Makes up stories and retells them. Understands and answers how and why questions. Follows instructions. Speaks clearly, talks about things they have done and explains their ideas.
Communication and Language
LISTENING, ATTENTION AND UNDERSTANDING ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Listen attentively and respond to what they hear with relevant questions, comments and actions when being read to and during whole class discussions and small group interactions.
• Make comments about what they have heard and ask questions to clarify their understanding.
• Hold conversation when engaged in back-and-forth exchanges with their teacher and peers.
SPEAKING ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Participate in small group, class and one-to-one discussions, offering their own ideas, using recently introduced vocabulary.
• Offer explanations for why things might happen, making use of recently introduced vocabulary from stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems when appropriate.
• Express their ideas and feelings about their experiences using full sentences, including use of past, present and future tenses and making use of conjunctions, with modelling and support from their teacher.
Communication and Language
HOW TO SUPPORT AT HOME
Chat, talk, speak to and sing with your child.
Ask question about books they are reading. Act out stories. Encourage them to talk about and explain what they are doing. Talk about things they have done and are going to do.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
This area of learning relates to how your child:
Deals with new challenges, situations and experiences. Interacts with others. Deals with their emotions. Plays with other children. Makes relationships with others.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
SELF-REGULATION ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Show an understanding of their own feelings and those of others, and begin to regulate their behaviour accordingly.
• Set and work towards simple goals, being able to wait for what they want and control their immediate impulses when appropriate.
• Give focused attention to what the teacher says, responding appropriately even when engaged in activity, and show an ability to follow instructions involving several ideas or actions.
MANAGING SELF ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Be confident to try new activities and show independence, resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge.
• Explain the reasons for rules, know right from wrong and try to behave accordingly.
• Manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs, including dressing, going to the toilet, and understanding the importance of healthy food choices.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Work and play cooperatively and take turns with others.
• Form positive attachments to adults and friendships with peers.
• Show sensitivity to their own and others’ needs.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
HOW TO SUPPORT AT HOME
Play games to encourage sharing and turn taking. Play games that involve following instructions. Talk about how things make you and your child feel. Encourage your child to be independent, having a go at things themselves. Encourage your child to have a go at new things, have a try…you might like it.
Talk about the importance of a healthy lifestyle – food, sleep, exercise, hygiene.
Physical Development
This area of learning relates to how your child:
Moves using large scale movements such as running, jumping and climbing. Manipulates objects using small scale movements such as cutting, drawing and threading. Uses pencils for writing, scissors for cutting and cutlery when eating.
Physical Development
GROSS MOTOR SKILLS ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Negotiate space and obstacles safely, with consideration for themselves and others.
• Demonstrate strength, balance and coordination when playing.
• Move energetically, such as running, jumping, dancing, hopping, skipping and climbing.
FINE MOTOR SKILLS ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Hold a pencil effectively in preparation for fluent writing – using the tripod grip in almost all cases.
• Use a range of small tools, including scissors, paintbrushes and cutlery.
• Begin to show accuracy and care when drawing.
Physical Development
HOW TO SUPPORT AT HOME
Play ball games.
Go to the park, adventure playground, woodlands so your child can run, jump and climb.
Fine motor activities such as threading, playdough, small construction.
Craft activities that involve painting, gluing, cutting. Make sure they use a tripod grip when drawing or writing.
Talk about their drawings, encourage them to include details.
Make sure they are using a knife, fork and spoon correctly at mealtimes.
Literacy
This area of learning relates to how your child:
Identifies individual letters and digraphs. Reads simple words and phrases. Uses phonics to work out words. Reads some tricky words. Writes words, phrases and sentences that can be read by others. Understands what they have read or has been read to them.
Literacy
COMPREHENSION ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Demonstrate understanding of what has been read to them by retelling stories and narratives using their own words and recently introduced vocabulary.
• Anticipate – where appropriate – key events in stories.
• Use and understand recently introduced vocabulary during discussions about stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems and during role-play.
WORD READING ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Say a sound for each letter in the alphabet and at least 10 digraphs.
• Read words consistent with their phonic knowledge by sound-blending.
• Read aloud simple sentences and books that are consistent with their phonic knowledge, including some common exception words.
WRITING ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed.
• Spell words by identifying sounds in them and representing the sounds with a letter or letters.
• Write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others.
Literacy
HOW TO SUPPORT AT HOME
Read every day with your child.
Read for a purpose – follow a recipe or instructions together. Visit the library. Let your child help to write shopping lists, birthday cards etc. Visit the parents section on Little Wandle website.
Practise letter formation and use the letter formation rhymes. Make it fun – with sticks in mud or sand, using different coloured felt tips, chalking on the ground.
Mathematics
This area of learning relates to how your child:
Counts to 20 and beyond. Orders and compares numbers. Recalls number facts to 5. Subitises. Understands how numbers are composed. Compares quantities. Show an awareness of odds, evens, doubles and halves.
Mathematics
NUMBER ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Have a deep understanding of number to 10, including the composition of each number.
• Subitise (recognise quantities without counting) up to 5.
• Automatically recall (without reference to rhymes, counting or other aids) number bonds up to 5 (including subtraction facts) and some number bonds to 10, including double facts.
NUMERICAL PATTERNS ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Verbally count beyond 20, recognising the pattern of the counting system.
• Compare quantities up to 10 in different contexts, recognising when one quantity is greater than, less than or the same as the other quantity.
• Explore and represent patterns within numbers to 10, including evens and odds, double facts and how quantities are distributed equally.
Mathematics
HOW TO SUPPORT AT HOME
Watch Numberblocks together and talk about the maths.
Use numbots.
BBC Bitesize – Early Years Maths has lots of activities.
Practise saying numbers to 20 and beyond. Make it into a game.
Teen numbers can be tricky – practise these.
Play games – board games, cards, dice games, skittles.
Sing number rhymes. Talk about what has happened in the rhyme. For example 5 little monkeys, ask how many have fallen off, how many are on the bed?
Helpful phrases ‘what do you notice, what can you see?’ and ‘__is made from __ and
.
and
make
. ’
__
__
__
__
GLD
If your child meets the expected standard in all of the ELGs discussed so far then they achieve a Good Level of Development.
Understanding the World
This area of learning relates to how your child:
Talks about events in their own lives.
Notices similarities and differences between the past and now. Explores the world around them. Notices patterns and change. Makes observations about animals and plants. Enjoys and participates in festivals, relating to their own and other cultures.
Talks out about life in other countries.
Understanding the World
PAST AND PRESENT ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society.
• Know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.
• Understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling.
PEOPLE, CULTURE AND COMMUNITIES ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Describe their immediate environment using knowledge from observation, discussion, stories, non-fiction texts and maps.
• Know some similarities and differences between religious and cultural communities in this country, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.
• Explain some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries, drawing on knowledge from stories, non-fiction texts and – where appropriate – maps.
THE NATURAL WORLD ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants.
• Know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.
• Understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter.
Understanding the World
HOW TO SUPPORT AT HOME
Talk to your child about your family, culture and traditions.
Talk about what you see, hear, smell, taste and touch. Notice changes, for example when cooking. Notice the weather, relating this to the seasons.
Go on a minibeast hunt.
Look for similarities, differences and changes on the walk to school, for example the blossom on the trees.
Expressive Arts and Design
This area of learning relates to how your child:
Enjoys messy activities; exploring what happens. Pretends and role plays things they have seen and experienced. Participates on musical and dance activities. Has their own ideas and uses drawing, painting and model making to show them.
Expressive Arts and Design
CREATING WITH MATERIALS ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.
• Share their creations, explaining the process they have used.
• Makes use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories.
BEING IMAGINATIVE AND EXPRESSIVE ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Invent, adapt and recount narratives and stories with peers and their teacher.
• Sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs.
• Perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and – when appropriate – try to move in time with music.
Expressive Arts and Design
HOW TO SUPPORT AT HOME
Keep old clothes – shoes, hats, gloves, scarves – to create a dressing up box. Join in with your child’s role play. Be a child at their school, a passenger on their train or a customer in their café! Make musical instruments – pots and pans, dried pasta or rice in a pot. Draw and paint together.
Sing songs and dance. Use construction kits or empty boxes to make models.
What Next?
The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile is completed at the end of reception and will be shared with you. It will form part of your child’s end of year report. This will inform you of your child’s progress and whether he/she has met or is continuing to work towards the Early Learning Goals.
Moving into Year 1 and the National Curriculum. The profile will inform your child’s next teacher about your child’s stage of development and learning needs and help them to plan the Year 1 curriculum to meet the needs of all children.