The practise within the Early Years Foundation Stage is shaped around four main principles:

There are seven areas of Learning and Development:

The seven areas of Learning and Development are further divided into aspects – a grid showing all seventeen aspects within these seven main areas can be found overleaf.

The ways in which the child engages with other people and their environment underpin learning and development across all areas and support the child to remain an effective and motivated learner. These are called ‘Characteristics of Learning’.

Children will be assessed as not yet reaching expected levels (emerging) or meeting the expected level for each of Early Learning Goals in the seventeen strands above. If a child meets the Early Learning goals in the strands contained within Communication and Language; Personal, Social and

Emotional Development; Physical Development; Literacy and Maths then they will have achieved a ‘good level of development’ – an indicator that they will continue to achieve well throughout their school journey.

You will receive a written report at the end of Foundation Stage detailing your child’s achievements in each area as well as a statement about how they learn through the characteristics of learning and personal comments about their achievements, attitude and interests in school.