The Early Years Foundation Stage 2012

1. The Early Years Foundation Stage2012

2. What is the Early Years Foundation Stage? • The EYFS is a statutory framework that sets the standards for all Early Years settings. • The EYFS prepares children for learning in their future school life. • The EYFS begins when a child attends a nursery or pre-school setting or if they are cared for by a childminder. • The final stages of the EYFS are planned for when your child is in a Reception class of a primary school.

3. The ideas behind the Early Years Foundation Stage • To ensure quality and consistency between all settings, helping children make good progress and ensuring no one is left behind. • To provide a secure foundation for your child's future learning and development, which is planned around your child’s individual needs and interests. • To form and maintain working partnerships between practitioners (including your child’s pre-school) and parents. • To provide equality of opportunity ensuring every child is included and supported.

4. The overarching principles of the EYFS • Every child is a unique child who is constantly learning. • Children learn to be strong and resilient through positive relationships. • Children learn and develop well in enabling environments which establish their needs and develop their interests. • Children learn and develop at different rates.

5. The areas of learning and development within the EYFS There are seven areas of development. Three Prime Personal social and emotional development Physical Development Communication and language Four Specific Literacy Mathematics Understanding the world Expressive arts and design

6. Personal, Social and Emotional Development • Helping children develop a positive sense of themselves. • Helping children to manage and understand their feelings. • Encourage children to be independent and to interact with other children and adults. • Helping children to become confident, safe, secure and ready to learn from new experiences.

7. How can you help at home? • Support your child to respond to different activities and events talking about their feelings. • Play games which encourage sharing and turn taking which will help your child to build their social skills. • Encourage discussions about achievements and goals.

8. Physical Development • Supports children’s understanding of a healthy and safe development. • Provides opportunities for using a range of large and small equipment. • Helps children to develop a sense of space around themselves and others. • Encourages children to explore balancing travelling and climbing equipment. • Develops children's practical skills such as dressing, undressing and using the toilet.

9. How can you help? • Give your child time to run, jump, climb and play outdoors. • Share stories about being healthy, choosing the right food, drinking water and getting plenty of sleep. • Encourage your child to participate in activities such as building, drawing, threading beads, playing with water, malleable materials and construction. • Encourage and support your child to independently use the toilet.

10. Communication and Language • Encourages children to develop conversational skills. • Will help children to develop listening and concentration skills. • Develops children's abilities to respond to and follow instructions. • Provides opportunities to extend and develop their vocabulary. • Provides opportunities to recreate experiences and roles through play.

11. How can you help? • Encourage your child to listen and respond appropriately • Encourage your child to engage in conversations with new people. • Encourage your child to pose questions that use why , how, where, what, when and who. • Take time to listen to your child talking about things they’ve done and answering their questions.

12. Literacy • Naming and recognising letters of the alphabet. • Learning strategies to decode new words for reading and writing. • Learning to hear, recognise and say strings of rhyming words. • Enabling children to read words and sentences. • Enabling children to write simple words and phrases. • Encouraging children to use their imagination in response to stories and experiences. • Sharing and discussing familiar books.

13. How can you help? • Share stories and books at home discussing the characters and sequence of events. • Sing simple familiar rhymes. • Have fun with chalks, crayons, and whiteboards. • Play imaginative games and dress up as different characters. • Look out in the environment for familiar letters and words. • Make up stories with your child and act out the different roles and plots.

14. Mathematics • Teaches children to count up to 20 and beyond. • Encourages children to recognise, write and order numbers to 20. • Teaches the skills and understanding for adding and take away. • Encourages children to use mathematical words when talking about capacity, position, distance, time and money. • Supports children’s understanding of shape and size including 2D and 3D shapes.

15. How can you help? • Talk about the shapes you can see in the environment. • Comparing things which are heavy and light or long and short. • Look out for numbers in and out of the home. • Singing counting songs and rhymes. • Counting, adding and subtracting anything and everything - socks, cars, shopping, cutlery, fingers and toes! • Cooking!!

16. Understanding the World • Helps children to gain an understanding of their world. • Finding out about other people and places. • Encourages children to look at changes in their life • Encourages them to explore and investigate. • Make observations of animals, plants and talk about changes and differences.

17. How can you help? • Talk with your child about the places they go and things they see in the world around them. • Answering and encouraging questions - What if…? Why do you think…? How did you…? • Letting children join in with everyday activities - washing up, cooking, shopping, helping in the garden... • Lots of opportunities to explore inside and outside in a variety of environments.

18. Expressive arts and design • Provides an opportunity for children to share their thoughts, feelings and ideas. • Enables children to explore and play with a variety of art materials and media. • Inspires children to explore colour and colour changes. • Helps them to explore shape and texture using all of their senses. • Develops an interest in music, singing and imaginative play.. .

19. How can you help? • Talk with your child about their imaginative play and join in if possible! • Have junk modelling sessions and see what you can create. • Paint a picture and not necessarily on a piece of paper. • Play musical instruments. • Dance to your favourite music.

20. Foundation Stage Profile • Throughout the coming year your child will be working towards achieving theses Early Learning Goals. • Your child’s class teacher will collect evidence of their achievement towards each of the areas of development. • This information will be collated in your child's Learning Journey • A final judgement will be made at the end of the academic year using all the evidence collected. • This judgement will then be used to inform the Year 1 teacher and the Local Education Authority of your child's achievements.

21. Foundation Stage Profile • If your child has attended a setting before coming to school they will have provided us with an overview of their achievements. • This information will be used to inform our planning, and will be the basis of how we determine the next steps. • We will also be using the information you provided us with during your parent interviews to help us plan and shape our teaching to best fit the needs and interests of the children. • We will regularly re-visit the children interest s to ensure our teaching is stimulating and relevant for the children in each class.

22. Foundation Stage Profile • By the end of Reception some children will have achieved some of the ELG goals. • For those children who are still working towards achieving these the Foundation stage will continue into Year 1. • Parents will be updated at regular intervals throughout the year on their child’s progress. • Parents will be given regular opportunities to view their child's learning journey. • Parents will receive an end of year report in Summer detailing their child’s progress and next steps.

23. Lets take a break.

24. A typical day in Reception… • Within a typical Year R classroom you can expect to see children participating in a variety of child initiated and teacher led sessions. • Your child's Class Teacher and Teaching Assistant will be observing the children and documenting their achievements. • At different points throughout the day your child will work directly with the Class Teacher or Teaching Assistant in a small group activities or whole class activity.

25. A typical day in Reception… • Each class has its own webpage which will be frequently updated with details about what the children have been doing and are planning to do. • Over the next few weeks we will update our web pages with a daily routine so you can begin to see what your child is most likely to be doing at different times of the day. • If you have any questions about your child's day at any point throughout the year please do come and ask your class teacher or TA.

26. Food and Drink • Allergies and food intolerance – please ensure we are kept informed of any changes. • Daily fruit – daily fresh fruit is on offer for all children. • Water – is readily available throughout the day, please send your water bottle in with a clear label and ensure it is empty. • Milk – Is available free for children who are 4 and for a small cost once they turn 5, this scheme is provided by cool milk.

27. Interventions • Termly additional support or extension work. • Specific and targeted. • Led by either the class teacher or TA. • Parents will be kept informed. • Teachers use their planning and assessment to inform them and use this as the basis for their decision when planning interventions and selecting children. • Should you have specific concerns about your child’s development please speak to your class teacher or make an appointment to see our school SENCO.

28. PE Days • Each week your child will participate in two PE sessions • Your class teacher will display the days on their classroom door. • Please ensure no ear-rings are being worn on PE days • Please help your child by putting them in clothes that they can easily get in or out of. • Buttons/zips/tights.

29. How can you help us? • Home school link book • Photos • Awards/certificates

30. Stay and Play • Come and spend some time with us. • Flexible days throughout the year. • An opportunity for you and your family to see your child in their classroom setting. • A chance for you and your family to contribute to your child’s learning journey. Details to follow.

31. Handwriting • Letter formation handout. • Capitals for names and places. • Letter names taught through phonics alongside the letter sounds. • Phonic workshops details to follow later in the term. • Learning to correctly write their name.

32. And Finally… • If you would like to come into school to help out we are always grateful for volunteers. • If you have any worries or concerns please come in and see us and we will do our best to help you • We look forward to working with you and your child for the rest of the year

33. And Finally… Tea and Coffee is available and please feel free to stay and ask any questions.

34. Follow up. Should you wish to explore some of what we have talked about today in more detail you can access the Department for Education website. http://www.education.gov.uk/schools or the school website http://www.loose-infant.kent.sch.uk/default.aspx