Early Years Foundation Stages and Goals
The Early Years Foundation stage (EYFS) begins from birth. Children aged between birth and five are constantly encountering new experiences and seeking to understand them in order to extend their skills. The foundation stages outline early learning goals which most children are expected to achieve by the end of their reception class year at school.
The aim of the nursery is to plan a curriculum using the foundation stages with Montessori to provide the children with learning experiences of the highest quality, considering both children’s needs and achievements and the range of learning experiences that will help them to make progress towards (and, where appropriate, beyond) these goals.
The Early Years Foundation Stage areas of learning are as follows:
Prime areas
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Personal, Emotional and Social Development
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Physical Development
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Communication and Language
Specific areas
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Literacy
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Mathematics
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Understanding the World
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Expressive Arts and Design
Play (work) and Learning
All the activities engaged in at the nursery have been planned to cover certain areas of a child’s development within the foundation stage. During the structured day the staff interact with all the children to encourage play activities that contribute to the planned learning outcomes for each individual. Staff continually observe and record the children's activities and use the information gained to assess each child’s developmental stage and sensitivity. This information is used to direct the child towards the next step in their learning.
Key Person
Every child at Monique’s is assigned a Key Person.
When the parent and child attend their settling in sessions they meet the Key person (see policy on settling in new children)
The parent and Key person talk about the child and the Key Person explains that their role is:
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To help the child become familiar with the setting and develop a settled relationship with the child
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To build a relationship with the child’s parents
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To help the child meet his/her learning goals (both EYFS and Montessori)
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To ensure that the child’s needs are met.
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Give support with the child’s development at home
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Help families engage with more specialist support if appropriate
As well as a Key person a Buddy is also allocated. The role of the buddy is to support the key person and to fill in if the Key Person is ever away.
