Aims & Activities
Educational Programme
Swimbridge Pre-school uses the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) .The Early Years Foundation Stage sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe.
The EYFS seeks to provide:
- quality and consistency in all early years settings
- a secure foundation through learning and development opportunities which are planned around the needs and interests of each individual child
- partnership working between practitioners and with parents and/or carers
- equality of opportunity and anti discriminatory practice .
The EYFS specifies requirements for learning and development and for safeguarding children and promoting their welfare.
Four guiding principles should shape practice in early years settings:
- every child is a unique child
- children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships
- children learn and develop well in enabling environments
- children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates
AREAS OF LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
There are three prime areas:-
Communication and language - involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment, to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves and to speak and listen in a range of situations.
Physical development - involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive, to develop their co-ordination, control and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity and to make healthy choices in relation to food.
Personal, social and emotional development- helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others; to form positive relationships and develop respect for others; to develop social skills and learn to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behaviour in groups; and to have confidence in their own abilities.
These prime areas are strengthened and applied by 4 specific areas:
Literacy - encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Children must be given access to a wide range of reading materials to ignite their interest.
Mathematics - involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shapes, spaces and measures.
Understanding the world - guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, place, technology and the environment.
Expressive arts and design - enabling children to explore and play with a range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role play and design and technology.
In planning and guiding activities we must reflect on the ways that children learn and show this in our practice. Three characteristics of effective teaching and learning are :
· Playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things and have a go
· Active learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties and enjoy achievements
· Creative and thinking critically – children have their own ideas, make links between ideas and develop strategies for doing things.
