The Early Years Foundation Stage in England: Themes, Principles and Commitments The overarching aim of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is to help young children achieve the five Every Child Matters (ECM) outcomes.

Creating the EYFS: the consultation process 2005: ‘Direction of Travel’ document was published and many practitioners and organisations attended meetings and gave their views. May - July 2006: Formal consultation on a draft document. Questionnaires used and several thousand responses from the full range of providers, practitioners and national organisations. Those responses have been taken into account as fully as possible in the final version.

20 local authorities shared the document with parents, children and practitioners Telephone survey by a national organisation Throughout the process of putting the final EYFS package together drafts have been trialled with many different groups and early years experts.

A principled approach These principles underpin the whole EYFS. Theme: A Unique Child Principle: Every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured Theme: Positive Relationships Principle: Children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person. Theme: Learning and Development Principle: Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of learning and development are equally important and interconnected. Theme: Enabling Environments Principle: The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning. These principles underpin the whole EYFS. The four themes These are the headings that summarise what each principle is about. The four principles These four principles summarise the twenty-odd principles that informed Birth to Three Matters and Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage. (Feedback from practitioners was that they welcomed a principled approach but wanted the principles to be short and memorable, otherwise they could not readily use them to inform practice.) There is more about the principles and commitments on subsequent slides. Each principle is supported by four commitments which describe how the principle can be put into practice. They are all explained and explored in more depth on the Principles into Practice cards and the CD-ROM.

(This may be hard to read (This may be hard to read! It might be useful to ensure that people use the actual card or give everybody a photocopy.) These are the commitment statements. Note: on the poster there is not space for these so you just get the headlines. There is a Principles into Practice card for each commitment. The next slides give an example of one card from each theme.

What is in the pack ? The EYFS adopts a principled approach to meeting its aim. All these parts of the pack are informed by the same four overarching themes and principles.

Showing this card could be a good opportunity to highlight the three important elements of the learning environment. In the Statutory Framework booklet it is stated: ‘Wherever possible, there should be access to an outdoor play area, and this will be the expected norm for providers. In settings where outdoor play space cannot be provided, outings should be planned and taken on a daily basis (unless circumstances make this inappropriate, e.g. unsafe weather conditions).’ In the Practice Guidance booklet: ‘Play underpins the delivery of all of the EYFS. Children must have opportunities to play indoors and outdoors. All early years providers must have access to an outdoor play area which can benefit the children. If a setting does not have direct access to an outdoor play area then they must seek to make arrangements for daily opportunities for outdoor play in an appropriate nearby location.’

Ages and stages Birth to 11 months 8 to 20 months 16 to 20 months 22 to 36 months 30 to 50 months 40 to 60 + months Each area of learning and development is organised in broad phases of development. The age ranges overlap to create broad developmental phases. This emphasises that each child’s progress is individual to that child and that different children develop at different rates. A child does not suddenly move from one phase to another, and they do not make progress in all areas at the same time. However, there are some important steps for each child to take along their own developmental pathway. Effective practice means being aware of these and supporting the child in achieving them. 60+ months: note that not all children will have met the early learning goals by the time they are five or by the end of Reception class. The faces are always the same – they represent the ages and stages of development throughout the EYFS. They replace previous icons of Birth to Three Matters and stepping stone colours in Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage.

Here is the first page of Communication, Language and Literacy – Language for Thinking (the second page is on the next slide). Note the broad phases with children’s faces down the left-hand side. The four headings across the top will be familiar to practitioners who have been using Birth to Three Matters. These headings are explained in the practice guidance. Development matters The Development matters column identifies the developing knowledge, skills, understanding and attitudes that children will need if they are to achieve the early learning goals by the end of the EYFS. It is important to note that children will not necessarily progress sequentially through the stages, which do not represent age-related goals. Some elements may appear to have been achieved very quickly, others will take much longer. As children move from one element to another, they take with them what they have already achieved and continue to practise, refine and use their previous development and learning. Look, listen and note Practitioners’ observations of children help them to assess the progress which children are making. Observations help practitioners to decide where children are in their learning and development and to plan what to do. This is an essential part of daily practice in any setting, regardless of the age of the baby or child. Use assessment to plan the next steps in a child’s developmental progress and regularly review this approach. Effective practice By using the information on learning and development to support continuous observational assessment practitioners will form a view of where each child is in their learning, where they need to go, and the most effective practice to support them in getting there. The guidance on effective practice to support children’s development is based on the EYFS Principles and the examples given illustrate just some of the possibilities. The column provides ideas on activities and initiatives that practitioners can engage in to support and extend children’s learning and development, based on their interests and needs. Planning and resourcing Good planning is the key to making children’s learning effective, exciting, varied and progressive. It enables practitioners to build up knowledge about how individual children learn and make progress. It also provides opportunities for practitioners to think and talk about how to resource a successful learning environment. Planning should include all children, including those with additional needs. However, it is important to remember that no plan written weeks before can include a group’s interest in a spider’s web on a frosty morning or a particular child’s interest in transporting small objects in a favourite blue bucket, yet it is these interests which may lead to some powerful learning. Plans should therefore be flexible enough to adapt to circumstances.

This slide is the next page of Communication, Language and Literacy – Language for Thinking. Within the Development matters column the early learning goals are indicated in bold print. The statutory early learning goals establish expectations for most children to reach by the end of the Reception year. By the end of the EYFS, some children will have exceeded the goals, while others will be working towards some or all of them. The next slides explore how Birth to Three Matters and Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage come together in the EYFS areas of learning and development. The whole of Birth to Three Matters and Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage have been reviewed very carefully in making the EYFS. Almost all the statements from Birth to Three Matters appear in the areas of learning and development. Almost all the stepping stones are also there – although not always in the same order as in Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage. Many of the Birth to Three Matters and Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage statements are an exact match with the original documents, though some have been reworded slightly. Where there were gaps or weaknesses statements have been added, for example in Knowledge and Understanding of the World: Designing and Making.There was little in Birth to Three Matters about observing babies and very young children beginning to build structures and make things happen, so these processes have been added.