Busy Bees Bourne - Early Years Curriculum - Busy Bees Pre-School and Day Nursery, Bourne

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

From birth to 5 years old any setting your child attends will follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) to support your child’s natural development and enhance their learning.

The EYFS has four key themes:

A Unique Child- Every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.

Positive Relationships - Children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person.

Enabling Environments - The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning.

Learning And Development - Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of Learning and Development are equally important and interconnected.

Early learning is the key to your child’s future and families make the greatest difference at this stage.

Early Years Foundation Stage Priniciples. Click on image to go to website with details for parents about the EYFS

Click the picture above for more details for parents about EYFS

What to expect, when? Guidance on your child's learning and development in the early years foundation stage

For the latest guide to the EYFS for parents 'What to expect, when? please click on the cover image of the document to the left.

Areas of Learning and Early Learning Goals

The Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum is organised into seven areas of learning:

Children should mostly develop the 3 Prime Areas first. These are:

Personal, social and emotional development
Communication and Language
Physical Development

These Prime Areas are those most essential for your child's healthy development and future learning.

As children grow, the Prime Areas will help them to develop skills in 4 Specific Areas. These are:

Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding of the world
Expressive Arts and Design

These 7 areas are used to plan your child's learning and activities. We make sure the activities are suited to your child's needs and staff use their observations and follow the childrens interests to help them develop in these areas.

Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression - Dr Hiam Ginnot. Image of a child with very muddy hands

Busy Bees and EYFS

cardboard boxes stacked up for children to play with

plastic containers stacked up and containing different items for children to play with

Table of areas of learning and development and how this is applied at Busy Bees. Personal, Social and emotional development - building relationships and self awareness, understanding and controlling feelings and emotions, how we do this: the children develop independence and confidence as they play alone and in small and large groups with appropriate adult support. The also learn to cooperate, take turns and share as part of a larger group. Physical development: Improving your child's motor skills and physical capabilities as they grow and developing their awareness of self-care and being healthy. At Bees: carefully chosen equipment gives children the opportunity to develop fine motor skills and spatial awareness. We are fortunate to have the park on our doorstep which we use regularly. Use of the under 5s play park helps develop the children's gross motor skills. It is raining we use the parachute or mini-gym inside. Children are encouraged to do as much as possible themselves to give them the confidence that they can care for themselves and help them prepare for starting school. Communication and language. Helping children as the learn to listen, understand and speak. We use stories and rhymes to help even the youngest children to learn these necessary skills. At Bees: The children are provided with a range of opportunities to promote the development of language skills. In the company of responsive adults the chidlren learn to listen and communicate by means of language

Specific areas of learning and development and how these are applied at busy bees: Literacy - assisting your child as the become aware of letters and develop and interest in reading and writing. In our book corner the children can share books with a friend or adult. They can also listen to story tapes and each week our Honey and Busy Bees take a library book home to share. Mathematics: Developing children's interest in numbers, shapes and measures. At busy bees we believe that the best way to develop children's mathematical knowledge is to make it a part of every day play. We have an amazing variety of games and resources which are introduced gradually to develop their knowledge of shape, sequence, measurement, counting and number recognition. Understanding the world: teaching children about the world they live in, people, communities, cultures, nature, the way we live and tools we use. Through our topic based approach the children have plenty of opportunities to question, investigate and explore the world around them. To develop their ICT skills we have two laptops that the children use to reinforce and extend mathematical and literacy concepts through fun programmes. Expressive arts and design: using imagination and a range of materials to develop your child's creativity. Each week we have a different craft theme such as painting, printing, collaging, cutting and sticking to develop the use of small tools such as pens and brushes with increasing control. Stories, movement, songs and musical instruments provide opportunities for the children to explore and express their own feelings.

The best classroom and the richest cupboard is roofed only by the sky

tea service and cakes set out for a tea party

Special Educational Needs

Busy Bees is open to every family in the community. If a child has a particular special need or disability, preparation will be undertaken by us in consultation with the child’s parents or carers. Detailed discussion will ensure that the specific needs of the individual child are met. We will take every opportunity to ensure that the parent of a child with special needs is welcomed and supported in the same manner as all other parents.

Equal Opportunities

Busy Bees is committed to an understanding of equality of opportunity and as such does not discriminate against children and their families on any grounds. We are continually introducing books and play materials which do not reinforce stereotyped or negative ideas.