Early Years Foundation Stage

Introduction

Welcome to the Early Years Foundation stage (EYFS).
At Al Shohub our EYFS starts at Nursery (3-4 years) and progresses to FS2 (4-5 years). This is a time of rapid growth for young children, when they are developing physically, emotionally, intellectually and socially, and therefore we keep our class sizes small, with additional adult support. Along with our fully qualified teachers, each class in our EYFS has trained and experienced teaching assistants to ensure your child is given the guidance, support and nurturing they need to become independent and resilient learners.

Curriculum

We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework 2017 (England) that sets the standards all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well, ensures children are kept healthy and safe, and ensures that children have the knowledge and skills they need to start primary school.

In both Nursery and FS2, we observe children as they play and as we play with them, gaining a greater understanding of their interests. We use this information to plan for those interests and help them to develop, by challenging their thinking, encouraging creativity and celebrating independence. All this is done through carefully planned play experiences, alongside our teachers who work as supportive and effective play partners.

Your child will be learning skills, acquiring new knowledge and demonstrating their understanding through 7 areas of learning and development. These are:

• • Communication and language
  • Physical development
  • Personal, social and emotional development
  • Literacy
  • Mathematics
  • Understanding the world
  • Expressive arts and design

These 7 areas are used to plan your child’s learning and activities. The professionals teaching and supporting your child will make sure that the activities are suited to your child’s unique needs.

Assessment

The main form of assessment in both Nursery and FS2 is observation; this is the practice of looking at and listening to your child to find out how they are developing, what they like doing and what they are learning through their play and the experiences on offer. Observations of children are vital because each child has a unique set of abilities and talents, observations in different situations capture these first hand. Observation also provides opportunities to gauge children’s needs and so more accurately plan next steps in their learning. Observations take place on a regular basis as part of daily routines.

At the end of Early Years Foundation Stage

At the end of your child’s year in FS2, an EYFS Profile will be completed with your child. The attainment of your child will be assessed in relation to each of the 17 Early Learning Goals descriptors (ELGs), together with a short narrative describing your child’s ways of learning expressed in terms of the three characteristics of learning. For each ELG, our teacher will assess whether your child is meeting the level of development expected at the end of the Reception Year (expected), exceeding this level (exceeding), or not yet reaching this level (emerging).