Early Years and Foundation Stage

EYFS 

Foundation Stage

The Foundation Stage is the centre of learning for the school. Programmes start and continue throughout the entire process of Education. The ethos of the Foundation Stage is that children learn through play. All our staff working in this stage have the passion to provide our students with an energetic and exciting experience for the start of their school days. Students who are engaged with the learning process learn quicker and more effectively, developing their love of learning.

Well planned activities involve creativity and fun, we want parents to feel free to come and visit our foundation stage at any time, but please be prepared as you are more likely to find us, looking for buried treasure, creating a puppet theatre or lost in story time than sitting at our desks writing our ABC’s.

At BICC we follow the UK’s EYFS – Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. The early years are critical in a child’s development and children develop rapidly during this time – physically, intellectually, emotionally, socially and aesthetically. The Foundation Stage is about developing key learning skills such as listening, speaking, concentration, persistence and learning to work cooperatively.

There are 3 Prime areas of learning;

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development (making relationships, self-confidence and self- awareness and managing feelings and behaviour)
• Physical Development (moving, handling, health and self-care)
• Communication and Literacy (listening, attention, understanding and speaking)

And 4 Specific areas of learning;

• Literacy (reading and writing)
• Mathematics (numbers, shapes, space and measure)
• Understanding the World (people, communities, the world and technology)
• Expressive Arts and Design (exploring, using media and materials and being imaginative).

None of the areas can be delivered in isolation from the others. They are equally important and depend upon each other. All areas are delivered through a balance of adult led and child-initiated activities. Through play and practical experiences children learn about the world and their place in it. They learn through first hand experiences, talk, books and equipment. We set realistic yet challenging expectations that meet the needs of our children.