Four guiding principles should shape practice in every early years setting.

These are:

• every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured

• children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships

• children learn and develop well in enabling environments with teaching and support from adults, who respond to their individual interests and needs and help them to build their learning over time. Children benefit from a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers. 

• importance of learning and development. Children develop and learn 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 (SEND).

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Communication and Language

The development of children’s spoken language underpins all seven areas of

learning and development. Children’s back-and-forth interactions from an early

age form the foundations for language and cognitive development. The number

and quality of the conversations they have with adults and peers throughout the

day in a language-rich environment is crucial. By commenting on what children

are interested in or doing, and echoing back what they say with new vocabulary

added, practitioners will build children's language effectively. Reading frequently

to children, and engaging them actively in stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems,

and then providing them with extensive opportunities to use and embed new

words in a range of contexts, will give children the opportunity to thrive. Through

conversation, story-telling and role play, where children share their ideas with

support and modelling from their teacher, and sensitive questioning that invites

them to elaborate, children become comfortable using a rich range of vocabulary

and language structures.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Children’s personal, social and emotional development (PSED) is crucial for

children to lead healthy and happy lives, and is fundamental to their cognitive

development. Underpinning their personal development are the important

attachments that shape their social world. Strong, warm and supportive

relationships with adults enable children to learn how to understand their own

feelings and those of others. Children should be supported to manage emotions,

develop a positive sense of self, set themselves simple goals, have confidence in

their own abilities, to persist and wait for what they want and direct attention.

Through adult modelling and guidance, they will learn how to look after

their bodies, including healthy eating, and manage personal needs independently.

Through supported interaction with other children they learn how to make good

friendships, co-operate and resolve conflicts peaceably. These attributes will

provide a secure platform from which children can achieve at school and in later

life.

 Physical Development

Physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to

pursue happy, healthy and active lives. Gross and fine motor experiences develop

incrementally throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and

the development of a child’s strength, co-ordination and positional awareness

through tummy time, crawling and play movement with both objects and adults.

By creating games and providing opportunities for play both indoors and outdoors,

adults can support children to develop their core strength, stability, balance,

spatial awareness, co-ordination and agility. Gross motor skills provide the

foundation for developing healthy bodies and social and emotional well-being.

Fine motor control and precision helps with hand-eye co-ordination which is later

linked to early literacy. Repeated and varied opportunities to explore and play with

small world activities, puzzles, arts and crafts and the practise of using small

tools, with feedback and support from adults, allow children to develop

proficiency, control and confidence.

Literacy

It is crucial for children to develop a life-long love of reading. Reading consists of

two dimensions: language comprehension and word reading. Language

comprehension (necessary for both reading and writing) starts from birth. It only

develops when adults talk with children about the world around them and the

books (stories and non-fiction) they read with them, and enjoy rhymes, poems and

songs together. Skilled word reading, taught later, involves both the speedy

working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the

speedy recognition of familiar printed words. Writing involves transcription

(spelling and handwriting) and composition (articulating ideas and structuring

them in speech, before writing).

Mathematics

Developing a strong grounding in number is essential so that all children develop

the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically. Children should be able to

count confidently, develop a deep understanding of the numbers to 10, the

relationships between them and the patterns within those numbers. By providing

frequent and varied opportunities to build and apply this understanding - such as

using manipulatives, including small pebbles and tens frames for organising

counting - children will develop a secure base of knowledge and vocabulary from

which mastery of mathematics is built. In addition, it is important that the

curriculum includes rich opportunities for children to develop their spatial

reasoning skills across all areas of mathematics including shape, space and

measures. It is important that children develop positive attitudes and interests in

mathematics, look for patterns and relationships, spot connections, ‘have a go’,

talk to adults and peers about what they notice and not be afraid to make

mistakes.

Understanding the World

Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical

world and their community. The frequency and range of children’s personal

experiences increases their knowledge and sense of the world around them –

from visiting parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of

society such as police officers, nurses and firefighters. In addition, listening to a

broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their

understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse

world. As well as building important knowledge, this extends their familiarity with

words that support understanding across domains. Enriching and widening

children’s vocabulary will support later reading comprehension.

Expressive Arts and Design

The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their

imagination and creativity. It is important that children have regular opportunities to

engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media

and materials. The quality and variety of what children see, hear and participate in

is crucial for developing their understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability

to communicate through the arts. The frequency, repetition and depth of their

experiences are fundamental to their progress in interpreting and appreciating what

they hear, respond to and observe.