Our EYFS curriculum provides challenging and professionally-validated standards with specific learning goals for every area of learning

THE PRIME AREAS
COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE
LISTENING AND ATTENTION

• Children listen attentively in a range of situations.
• They listen to stories, accurately anticipating key events and respond to what they hear with relevant comments, questions or actions.
• They give their attention to what others say and respond appropriately, while engaged in another activity.

UNDERSTANDING

• Children follow instructions involving several ideas or actions.
• They answer ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions about their experiences and in response to stories or events.

SPEAKING

• Children express themselves effectively, showing awareness of listeners’ needs.
• They use past, present and future forms accurately when talking about events that have happened or are to happen in the future.
• They develop their own narratives and explanations by connecting ideas or events.

Early Learning Goals for EYFS

What to expect, when?

MOVING AND HANDLING

• Children show good control and co-ordination in large and small movements.
• They move confidently in a range of ways, safely negotiating space.
• They handle equipment and tools effectively, including pencils for writing.

HEALTH AND SELF-CARE

• Children know the importance for good health of physical exercise, and a healthy diet, and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe.
• They are able to conduct 11 basic hygiene and personal needs successfully, including dressing and going to the toilet independently.

SELF-CONFIDENCE AND SELF-AWARENESS

• Children are confident to try new activities, and say why they like some activities more than others.
• They are confident to speak in a familiar group, will talk about their ideas, and will choose the resources they need for their chosen activities.
• They say when they do or don’t need help.

MANAGING FEELINGS AND BEHAVIOUR

• Children talk about how they and others show feelings, talk about their own and others’ behaviour, and its consequences, and know that some behaviour is unacceptable.
• They work as part of a group or class, and understand and follow the rules.
• They adjust their behaviour to different situations, and take changes of routine in their stride.

MAKING RELATIONSHIPS

• Children play co-operatively, taking turns with others.
• They take account of one another’s ideas about how to organise their activity.
• They show sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings, and form positive relationships with adults and other children.

READING

• Children read and understand simple sentences.
• They use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately.
• They also read some common irregular words. They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read.

WRITING

• Children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds.
• They also write some irregular common words.
• They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others.
• Some words are spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible.

NUMBERS

• Children count reliably with numbers from 1 to 20, place them in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number.
• Using quantities and objects, they add and subtract two single-digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer.
• They solve problems, including doubling, halving and sharing.

SHAPE, SPACE AND MEASURES

• Children use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money to compare quantities and objects and to solve problems.
• They recognise, create and describe patterns. They explore 12 characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.

PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES

• Children talk about past and present events in their own lives and in the lives of family members.
• They know that other children don’t always enjoy the same things, and are sensitive to this.
• They know about similarities and differences between themselves and others, and among families, communities and traditions.

THE WORLD

• Children know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things.
• They talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another.
• They make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.

TECHNOLOGY:

• Children recognise that a range of technology is used in places such as homes and schools.
• They select and use technology for particular purposes.

EXPLORING AND USING MEDIA AND MATERIALS

• Children sing songs, make music and dance, and experiment with ways of changing them.
• They safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.

BEING IMAGINATIVE

• Children use what they have learnt about media and materials in original ways, thinking about uses and purposes.
• They represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through design and technology, art, music, dance, role-play and stories.