The EYFS
The EYFS is a single quality framework to support children’s learning and development from Birth to 5 years (end of child’s reception year) They come under the 6 area's of learning and development
Communication Language & Literacy (CLL)
To become skilful communicators, babies and young children need to be with people with whom they have warm and loving relationships, such as their family or carers and, in a group situation, a Key Person whom they know and trust.
Babies respond differently to different sounds and from an early age are able to distinguish sound patterns. They use their voices to make contact and to let people know what they need and how they feel. They learn to talk by being talked to.
· All children learn best through activities and experiences that engage all the senses. Music, dance, rhymes and songs support language development.
· As children develop speaking and listening skills they build the foundations for literacy, for making sense of visual and verbal signs and ultimately for reading and writing. Children need varied opportunities to interact with others and to use a wide variety of resources for expressing their understanding, including mark-making, drawing, modelling, reading and writing
Problem Solving, Reasoning & Numeracy (PSR&N)
Babies' and children's mathematical development occurs as they seek patterns, make connections and recognise relationships through finding out about and working with numbers and counting, with sorting and matching and with shape, space and measures. Children use their knowledge and skills in these areas to solve problems, generate new questions and make connections across other areas of Learning and Development
Creative Development (CD)
Creativity is about taking Creativity involves children in initiating their own learning and making choices and decisions.
· Children's responses to what they see, hear and experience through their senses are individual and the way they represent their experiences is unique and valuable.
· Being creative enables babies and children to explore many processes, media and materials and to make new things emerge as a result.
· risks and making connections and is strongly linked to play.
· Creativity emerges as children become absorbed in action and explorations of their own ideas, expressing them through movement, making and transforming things using media and materials such as crayons, paints, scissors, words, sounds, movement, props and make-believe
Physical Development (PD)
Babies and children learn by being active and Physical Development takes place across all areas of Learning and Development.
· Physical Development helps children gain confidence in what they can do.
· Physical Development enables children to feel the positive benefits of being healthy and active.
· Physical Development helps children to develop a positive sense of well-being.
· Good health in the early years helps to safeguard health and well-being throughout life. It is important that children develop healthy habits when they first learn about food and activity. Growing with appropriate weight gain in the first years of life helps to guard against obesity in later life.
Personal Social & Emotional Development (PSED)
For children, being special to someone and well cared-for is vital for their physical, social and emotional health and well-being.
· Being acknowledged and affirmed by important people in their lives leads to children gaining confidence and inner strength through secure attachments with these people.
· Exploration within close relationships leads to the growth of self-assurance, promoting a sense of belonging which allows children to explore the world from a secure base.
· Children need adults to set a good example and to give them opportunities for interaction with others so that they can develop positive ideas about themselves and others.
· Children who are encouraged to feel free to express their ideas and their feelings, such as joy, sadness, frustration and fear, can develop strategies to cope with new, challenging or stressful situations
Knowledge & Understanding Of The World (KUW)
Babies and children find out about the world through exploration and from a variety of sources, including their families and friends, the media, and through what they see and hear.
· Babies and children need regular opportunities to learn about different ways of life, to be given accurate information and to develop positive and caring attitudes towards others.
· Children should be helped to learn to respect and value all people and learn to avoid misapprehensions and negative attitudes towards others when they develop their Knowledge and Understanding of the World.
· Children should be involved in the practical application of their knowledge and skills which will promote self-esteem through allowing them to make decisions about what to investigate and how to do it.
Easy EYFS
Once you have good systems in place the EYFS is quite easy, it's all about setting up good observations and planning systems. If you keep all your planning sheets you can keep adding to them each year this means that by the time you have done 18 months good planning you can use it year in year out. Here are some easy EYFS help topics with some completed sample forms to help you. To jump to a particular topic click on the headings above.
Keep A Diary
I find that my diary is one of my most useful tools with helping with my planning. I use an A5 sized diary and I jot things down all the time here are some examples
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Observations: Use it to write your child observations in, if you keep your diary out at all times it is best not to put the names of the children in for data protection reasons so just put the child's initials.
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Accounts: I write down all my expenses as they accrue this way when I do my accounts each month I just need to refer to my diary and put in any reciepts that I have kept.
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Accidents & Incidents: Any time there is an accident or incident I write it down straight away in my diary so that it is all fresh in my mind.
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Mileage: Use your diary to record your mileage so that when it comes to doing accounts you know exactly what you can claim for petrol.
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Any Daily Notes: If I speak to a parent I write anything that they have told me that can be helpful to me it can be anything from them telling me what a child has enjoyed doing at the weekend to them saying that they had a bad nights sleep or that they are teething.
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Enquiries: If someone phones me asking for childcare I take all their details even if I do not have any spaces, this way if someone unexpectedly leaves you can phone up the other person looking for childcare.
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To Do Lists: This can be anything from cleaning the toys in the playroom to completing your SEF or buying more first aid supplies.
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Risk Assessments: I do a daily risk assessment just a few notes saying that I done a sweep of the area's used to check for anything that may be dangerous. Or if the weather is bad a risk assessment of the conditions outside and any actions I need to take.
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Renewals: Dates I need to renew Ofsted fee's, public liability insurance and first aid.
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Planning: If any idea's come to mind for a particular topic I jot it down in my diary.
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Any extra hours you have worked: either arranged or unarranged this will help you when doing invoices to parents.
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Medication given: Make a note of any medications you have given but remember to complete a medication form that is signed and dated and get signed by parents at the end of each day. Also make note of any existing injuries a parent has told you about or that you have seen.
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Any concerns you have; This could be just an observation of a child maybe they have got angry or aggressive with another child, make note of what triggered it.Remember if diary is left out do not put names of children just an initial.
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Festival planning: Most diaries that you can buy have a list of all religious festival dates and bank holidays.
Making Observations
Making observations are quite easy, if you have a new child start take a few weeks just observing what the child can do and at what level they are, you can use the ages of development card in your EYFS pack to make an initial evaluation of what stage they are at, I find it useful to print off more of these so that I can stick it into the child's early learning record so you can demonstrate what stage they are at, if they are between stages I stick in the cards for both so that you can see how the 2 stages are overlapping.
When I make my observations I am looking at:
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How the child is interacting in the activity
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Comparing it to how they did it previously
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Watching and listening to what they are saying and doing
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Talk to the child about what they are doing, but not asking any leading questions
- I use my log book because then i have a whole book to show Ofsted that they can look at rather than having to riffle through my diary, this is also a useful book because once the children leave their learning journey book goes with them so this way you have a record of your observations on the child. You can also circle what area of the EYFS that it covers. See below for a completed sample of the observations log book that you can find on the Childminding Treasures website
Click on the picture below to download completed sample observations form
Early Learning Journal
As part of the EYFS you need to keep an early learning journal for any child that is 5 yrs old you can purchase child learning journals printed and binded and ready to use on the Childminding Treasures website. An early learning journal is just a way of recording all your observations and including photographs of the child doing an activity and any child's artwork they have done. Please click on the picture below to download a pre filled example of how to fill in the book.
