Early Years Foundation Stage

Over the next few weeks we are changing our practice slightly to embrace the new Early Years Foundation Stage which must be in place in ALL settings from 1^st September 2008.

At present, we use two separate frameworks – Birth to Three Matters for 0 to 3 year olds and the Foundation Stage for 3 to 5 years olds.  These frameworks will be replaced by the EYFS to ensure consistency of practice across all settings in the UK for the 0 to 5 years age range. Staff are working hard to put together parent information boards and EYFS packs to look at. If you are particularly interested in the framework we are happy to lend you our CD Roms.

You will see very few changes visible in the nursery. The main change is to the way we plan for children. The ethos of getting to know our children well through observation, and interaction, and planning accordingly to facilitate their learning will largely remain the same. The change will be that we will be planning for individual children, rather than for the whole group. We will focus on what interests your child and setting up our rooms in response to these interests. As there is a greater emphasis on observation and response to these observations, it will allow us to reflect on activities and our practice on a daily basis and plan the next steps for the individual child.  This means that rather than always having a set topic or theme each week, our planning will be more fluid, able to change quickly with the children’s needs and be more based on the children’s interests rather than those imposed by us as adults.  Of course, if a group of children express an interest in a theme we will go with it and have some fun!

We recognise that parents are the child’s primary educators and information gathered from them is vital to support their child’s learning. We will therefore appreciate any information you can give to us regarding your child’s life experiences outside of nursery eg. special events, holidays, meeting new people, going to a new place, trips out – anything of interest which we can talk to your child about and possibly extend their learning from that experience. This can be done verbally as you normally would but expect a few more questions!

There will be sheets available for parental input to their child’s planning which of course can be taken away and completed at home and talked through with other significant carers, so the child has as many people as possible contributing to their nursery experience.

If your child attends another setting or has a childminder or au pair etc, it is important to let us know so we can begin to work with them to best facilitate your child’s learning.

Another change you will notice is in the children’s display boards. Over the years we have sent home some wonderful artwork, for example, pictures from a theme we have chosen such as cars, animals etc and have produced displays your feedback shows you enjoy. However, the boards and artwork under the EYFS is set to change. The children will be given free choice of what they like to do rather then be given, for example, a pre-determined shape to print or stick on, and a range of artistic media will be available to them so they can make wonderful creations from their own imaginations, allowing them to be truly creative.

Of course all the wonderful art techniques the children learn with us will remain the same from inking to table printing to cornflour painting etc and the messy activities will still be as exciting and gloopy. Children will be able to select their own materials and paper and during these artistic activities staff will support your child, look, listen and note what they are doing and take photos. The notes, quotes and photos will be displayed alongside your child’s masterpieces, so the displays will look different but be just as valuable to you and your child.

It is important that you are aware that from September it is a requirement of the EYFS that children will play outside regardless of the weather. This means that parents need to provide a waterproof coat for rainy days and warm clothes for cold weather. We will continue to provide suncream and hats during warm weather. If anyone has any spare umbrellas they could donate that would be very helpful.

Nursery Room groupings will be changing to follow the EYFS “ages and stages” format, which acknowledges that there can be a big difference between children’s development rates at similar ages. The ages are as follows:

Birth to 11 months – Blue Group
8 to 20 months - Blue and Yellow Groups
16 to 26 months – Yellow Group
22 to 36 months – Yellow and Green Groups
30 to 50 months – Green and Red Group
40 to 60 months – Red Group

Please note how the age ranges overlap. This means that children will be able to develop at their own rate and spend more time with the same group of children with the same key persons. This cuts out the expectation that children must move rooms because they have reached a birthday. They will move groups based on their development, their friendships, their confidence and their ability to do so.
The transition periods between the groups will be at a slower pace and as planning is based on individual children and their interests, there is no need to worry about when your child needs to move group or room – their activities will always be at the right level for them.

Birth to Three Scrapbooks/Profiles and Celebrating Achievements/Stepping Forward Profiles will be replaced by a Universal Learning Journal with planned observations, photos of your child achieving, copies and original artwork, spontaneous observations and contributions by parents/carers, which gives a wonderful insight into your child’s development and their ‘wow’ moments.

Finally, we would like to point out the box in the hallway. This is for busier parents who don’t have much time in the mornings and evenings to contribute ideas for their child’s planning and activities, and for any other information that could contribute to their enjoyment of the day. This information will be read daily – please remember to write your child’s name on the information so we can use it effectively. Please note this box is for ideas only and we will use those which are appropriate and achievable within a nursery environment. Please do not use this box for anything else!

The staff team have been receiving training on the EYFS over the past few weeks and months and will continue to attend training courses during the next year. In addition, we are informed of changes and information on an almost daily basis from the CEYC, CfBT and Ofsted. We will endeavour to keep you up-to-date and, once everything is up and running, we will hold a Parents Evening to show you more about what we have been doing.

Please do not hesitate to contact your manager or any of the staff if you would like more information about the EYFS. There are posters and planning sheets around the nursery for you to read.