Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
- The EYFS sets the standards for all childcare, nurseries, childminders, preschool and the reception year at school.
- The EYFS specifies what a child will be learning to do and the checkpoints at certain ages. The latter provides the opportunity to help those children not attaining the checkpoints.
- Children do best when parents and professionals work together. Communication is so important. At Fizzy Fish we communicate with parents through e-mail, telephone calls and in person at drop off or collection and parents can meet with us out of hours if they wish to discuss their child's development in more detail.
- Parents are informed throughout the day by an app called Famly. The app tells parents the times the child has been dropped off and picked up, what and how much they eaten, when they have slept, when their nappy has been changed and photographs and descriptions of the activities they participated in.
- It is important to remember that parents know more about their child than anyone else. At Fizzy Fish we encourage parents to talk to us about what their child is doing away from our setting and what parents would like us to work on with their child. In turn we give parents information about their child's progress as this will help parents to notice how well their child is developing and learning.
- At Fizzy Fish we believe that the part parents play in their child's learning and the choices parents make will make a difference to their child's future.
The main aim of the EYFS is to help each child achieve the five Every Child Matters outcomes:-
- To be healthy.
- To stay safe.
- To enjoy and achieve.
- To make a positive contribution.
- To achieve economic wellbeing.
What is the EYFS?
- The EYFS is a stage of children’s development from birth to the end of their first year (Reception) year in school.
- The EYFS Framework describes how early years practitioners should work with children and their families to support their development and learning.
- It describes how your child should be kept safe and cared for and how all concerned can make sure that your child achieves the most that they can in their earliest years of life.
The EYFS is based on four important principles:
- A Unique Child - Every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
- Positive Relationships - Children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person.
- Enabling Environments - The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning.
- Learning and Development - Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of Learning and Development are equally important and interconnected.
A parents guide to the EYFS can be found at foundationyears.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/What-to-expect-in-the-EYFS-complete-FINAL-16.09-compressed.pdf.