Early Years Foundation Stage
The Early Years Foundation Stage is a ‘PLAY’ - based curriculum that is followed until the end of the school reception year.
At Highmore Hedgehogs, children have the opportunity to play indoors or outside (whatever the weather) and can freely move between the different environments. A wide range resources and activities are available for children to explore and investigate such as:
● Painting
● Play Dough
● Sand
● Water
● Construction
● Imaginative Play
● Drawing
● Mark making
● Cookery
● Messy Play (lots of this!)
... And many other activities that are appropriate to the 7 areas of learning.
These are as follows:
PRIME AREAS OF LEARNING
Personal, social & emotional development
Communication & language
Physical development
SPECIFIC AREAS OF LEARNING
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding the world
Expressive arts & design
Learning Journeys
During the time that your child is at Highmore Hedgehogs, we carry out observations, record information and take photographs of them while they are playing and joining in activities.
We use an electronic learning journal called Tapestry. This allows us to record and track children’s learning and can be shared with parents in ‘real time’, through a secure app. Parents will be able to add their own comments and photographs and contribute towards the journal.
When your child leave Highmore Hedgehog, this will be available to download via a PDF document for you to keep.
Assessment & Progress
Assessment plays an important part in helping parents, carers and staff to understand children’s needs and to support and plan for future learning.
At Highmore Hedgehogs, we are committed to working in partnership with our parents, sharing information and discussing how we can help to support the continuation of learning at home.
It is a requirement of the Early Years Foundation Stage, that an integrated review of progress is made for children aged 24 - 36 months. This involves sharing information with your health visitor. Each child’s key person will provide a short written summary, which will be discussed and agreed with parents. This will be used to highlight area in which a child is progressing well and areas where additional support might be needed.
You will have opportunities to come in and discuss your child’s progress with their key person via appointment.