Curriculum

The EYFS is made up of six areas of learning and development. All areas of learning and development are connected to one another and are equally important. All areas of learning and development are underpinned by the principles of the EYFS.

The areas of Learning and Development are:

Communication, Language and Literacy

This is made up of the following aspects:

Language for Communication: This is about how children become communicators. Learning to listen and speak emerges out of non-verbal communication, which includes facial expression, eye contact and hand gesture. These skills develop as children interact with others, listen to and use language, extend their vocabulary and experience stories, songs, poems and rhymes.

Language for Thinking: This is about how children learn to use language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences, and how they use talk to clarify their thinking and ideas or to refer to events they have observed or are curious about.

Linking Sounds and Letters: This is about how children develop the ability to distinguish between sounds and become familiar with rhyme, rhythm and alliteration. They develop understanding of the correspondence between spoken and written sounds, and learn to link sounds and letters and use their knowledge to read and write simple words by sounding out and blending.

Reading: This is about children understanding and enjoying stories, books and rhymes, recognising that print carries meaning, both fiction and fact, and reading a range of familiar words and simple sentences.

Writing: This is about how children build an understanding of the relationship between the spoken and written word, and how through making marks, drawing and personal writing children ascribe meaning to text and attempt to write for various purposes.

Handwriting: This is about the ways in which children's random marks, lines and drawings develop and form the basis of recognisable letters.