Putting the EYFS Curriculum into Practice

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Reflections on Ofsted’s, Best start in life: a research review for early years – Part 2 Posted: 19/09/23 Designed for practising teachers, early years educators, students on early years degrees and trainee teachers, this engaging book provides an accessible guide to putting revised EYFS into practice. they are longer, there is more depth, and they contain examples of things that you can do with children The early learning goals have been changed to make them clearer and more specific. They are more focused on the main factors that support child development at age 5. The 7 areas of learning and development are: In your setting, is the recording of progress a barrier to effective adult interaction and the building of positive relationships?

Take time to read the early years foundation stage ( EYFS) framework and Development Matters and discuss your setting’s approach with colleagues. How and when you’ll be inspected by Ofsted depends on whether you’re on the childcare register or the early years register. Why should we start here? Well, because if we get assessment practice right then many of the other pieces of the effective practice jigsaw will fall into place. The EYFS framework sets the standards to make sure that children aged from birth to 5 learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. The revised EYFS (2021) has put a much greater emphasis on the curriculum, with its more detailed Educational Programmes outlining the sorts of experiences and activities which we should offer to children.

The document also questions whether the EYFS encourages good practice. According to Pugh.G et al (2010:105) “we need to focus the curriculum on what is important for the children, the things that they need to be doing at this stage of their development”. By looking at the research and practice the most important things are Being Social, Being Positive, Being a Communicator, Being Creative and Being Healthy and Safe (ECM:2003). By introducing reading and writing at an early stage it could be argued that it can lead to complications later on and also delaying phonic work, therefore the EYFS recommends that practitioners use their professional judgement with introducing phonics. On the other hand the authors are claiming that children who come from a less stimulating disadvantaged environment ‘waste an entire year’ falling further behind their middle class peers in learning (e.g reading), whose parents generally know better than to delay reading instruction. This is not entirely true, Gaunte (2010) clarifies that “Parents with the support of the wider family, are children’s primary educators. What parents do at home with young children has the most impact on all aspects of their development – social, emotional, intellectual and physical”. Professional Development can lead to improvements in quality. But, in practice, it doesn’t always succeed in that. Professional Development has to be planned carefully, delivered well and regularly evaluated. It needs to be seen as a year-round activity, not a one-off event.

Dr Julian Grenier CBE is the headteacher of Sheringham Nursery School and Children's Centre. He was the lead writer of Development Matters (2021). How confident are your team in identifying significant progress? If not, then the information that we gather, might not be the information that we need. Educational programmes, referred to by some people as the ‘early years curriculum’, are the areas of learning and development which must shape the activities and experiences that children have in your early years setting, at all ages. Your setting should use the educational programmes to decide the approach to curriculum that is right for you. strategies that support families to understand how young children learn best and their vital role in it The new early years foundation stage ( EYFS) framework was published on the 31 March 2021 and should be used by all Ofsted registered early years providers in England from 1 September 2021.If you are a nursery leader or manager design your curriculum around the new educational programmes, not the early learning goals. Quality matters to all children. But it matters especially for disadvantaged children. So, it’s important for every early years setting to have a plan to improve quality and to support any children who might be in danger of falling behind the majority.

Also, the nature of adult relationships is closely linked to self- regulation. If our staff’s main concern is to position themselves behind an I pad then opportunities to support self-regulation through a nurturing, supportive relationship will be missed. As Julian Grenier, the author of the Development Matters document states:

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Just wanted to let people know about this excellent publication ( Edited by Julian Grenier and Caroline Vollans) and how much we, the FSF/Tapestry education team, are enjoying it. We meet every week to discuss all things early years and primary and at every other meeting we choose a chapter to read and discuss. It's been such a great experience- keeping us all up to date with the latest thinking and helping us to express our own views to each other. If I were still running a setting, I'd be using this in staff meetings. Thoroughly recommend it. I think some of my colleagues are going to come in and say something about the chapters they chose, but the one I was particularly interested in was Jan Dubiel's 'Understanding Assessment and Curriculum'. Additionally Bowlby’s (1907 – 1990) research found that babies/children succeed if they receive care from one main caregiver which is usually the mother. They are also more likely to make secure attachments and then initially grow up into being well – balanced adults. (O’Hagan et al: 1993). Therefore modern researchers have disputed the fact that only the mothers can perform this task (Smith et al: 1993), regardless the debate of ‘working mothers’, it still remains that the children’s emotional and cognitive development are best when there is that continuity of care available. When in care children under the age of 5 should each be allocated key workers so that children can form key attachments with this person, this is where secondary attachments are formed. The key person is a key to developing relationships with the children that are assigned to them as swell as sharing and collecting information by working in partnership with parents of the key children allocated. The EYFS reflects this by stating that “Each child with early years care and education should be allocated a key person” (EYFS: 2007). By having a key person allocated to the children it enables them to develop an attachment with the practitioner on a secure basis knowing that they can rely on the key person. The early learning goals should not be used as a curriculum. They should be used as an assessment during the summer term of the reception year. The changes