Curriculum ⋆ Fairy Tales Nursery

British Early Years
Foundation Stage Curriculum
(EYFS)

We provide the

Stimulating Activities

for
toddlers & infants

A synthetic phonics method that helps children read and write from an early age

Jolly Phonics

The EYFS

At Fairy Tales Nursery, we strive to provide our children with continuous opportunities for growth. Activities are planned around the seven learning areas of the Early Years Foundation stage which is a play based UK curriculum. Our classrooms’ setup ensures that the learning taking place is both stimulating and enhanced to the liking of the children’s various age groups.
We use the development matters EYFS guide which is a document issued by the department of education in the UK. This document helps teachers monitor children’s learning and development. The EYFS guide also helps us understand if a child is ahead of their development or if there is any delay.
Our teachers carry out circle time sessions to encourage group discussions as well as a variety of planned academic learning. We use the Jolly Phonics programme to help children pronounce letters phonetically through songs, fun actions and stories. Through this programme children learn to form letters correctly decode and blend words at a later stage in their development.

The curriculum has seven learning areas which consist of three prime areas and four specific areas:

The Three Prime areas of the EYFS

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.

Physical development

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 manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs successfully, including dressing and going to the toilet independently.

Personal, social and emotional development

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.

The Four Specific areas of the EYFS

Literacy

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.

Mathematics

Numbers: Children count reliably with numbers from one 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 characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.

Understanding the world

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.

Expressive arts and design

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.

Jolly Phonics

The “Jolly Phonics” programme is a fun and appealing technique for teaching and introducing literacy to our children. With each letter having its own unique associated actions, the multi-sensory approach is a method for captivating children’s attention and supporting them in readily grasping the sounds of the letters. At Fairy Tales, the Jolly Phonics programme is part of our day-to-day schedule. As the children begin to recognise the letters’ sounds, independent tracing and letter formation activities are subsequently introduced.

Jolly Phonics website

Development matters - Early Learning Goals

This guidance sets out the pathways of children’s development in broad ages and stages, as the learning of young children is not so neat and orderly. For that reason, accurate and proportionate assessment is vital. This document helps our teachers to make informed decisions about what a child needs to learn and be able to do next. This comprehensive document assists us in delivering the proper steps for learning according to the individual needs of each child, as well as identifying developmental delays.