Care & Education
The provision for children’s development and learning is guided by The Early Years Foundation Stage (DfE 2014). Our provision reflects the four overarching principles of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage.
A Unique Child – Every child is a unique child who is constantly learning and can be resilient capable, confident and self assured.
Positive Relationships – Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
Enabling Environments – Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners, parents and carers.
Learning and Development – Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates. The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision including children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Children start to learn about the world around them from the moment they are born. The care and education offered by our setting helps children to continue to do this by providing all of the children with interesting activities that are appropriate for their age and stage of development. Learning through play
Learning through play
Play helps young children to learn and develop through doing and talking, which research has shown to be the means by which young children learn to think. Our setting uses the ‘Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage’ guidance to plan and provide a range of play activities which help children to make progress in each of the areas of learning and development. In some of these activities children decide how they will use the activity and, in others, an adult takes the lead in helping and encouraging the children to take part in the activity. In all activities information from ‘Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage’ has been used to decide what equipment to provide and how to provide it.
Characteristics of Effective Learning
We understand that all children engage with other people and their environment through the characteristics of effective learning that are described in the ‘Development Matters the Early Years Foundation Stage’ guidance as:
- playing and exploring – engagement;
- active learning – motivation and
- creating and thinking critically – thinking
We aim to provide for the characteristics of effective learning by observing how a child is learning and being clear about what we can do and provide in order to support each child to remain an effective and motivated learner.
Assessment
We assess how young children are learning and developing by observing them frequently. We use information that we gain from observations, as well as from photographs of the children, to document their progress and where this may be leading them. We believe that parents know their children best and we ask them to contribute to assessment by sharing information about what their children like to do at home and how they as parents are supporting development.
We make periodic assessment summaries of children’s achievements based on our ongoing development records. These form part of children’s records of achievement. We undertake these assessment summaries at regular intervals as well as times of transition, such as when a child moves into a different group or when they go on to school.
The progress check at age two
The Early Years Foundation Stage requires that we supply parents and carers with a short written summary of their child’s development in the three prime areas of learning and development: personal, social and emotional development; physical development; and communication and language; when a child is aged between 24 – 36 months. The key person is responsible for completing the check using information from ongoing observational assessments carried out as part of our everyday practice, taking account of the views and contributions of parents and other professionals. This assessment is shared with your child’s Health Visitor.
Key workers and your child
Our setting uses a key worker approach. This means that each member of staff has a group of children for whom they are particularly responsible. Your child’s key worker will be the person who works with you to make sure that what we provide is right for your child’s particular needs and interests. When your child first starts at the setting, they will help your child to settle and throughout your child’s time at the setting, they will help your child to benefit from the setting’s activities and monitor your child’s progress.