At Butterfly Nursery we base our planning around The Early Years Foundation Stage, a Government initiative that is designed to provide a coherent and flexible approach to care and learning. All providers are required to use EYFS to ensure whatever setting parents choose, they can be confident that their child will receive a quality experience that supports development and learning.
It combines both the "Foundation Curriculum" and the "Birth to Three Matters Framework" into one Early Years structure starting from birth and finishing when the child reaches the end of the Foundation year at school. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is based around 4 strong principles:
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 ENVIRONMENT
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 inter-connected.
Learning and Development is split into the six following areas. Our aim in each of these areas is as follows:
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Children will be provided with experiences and support, which will help them to develop a positive sense of themselves and of others; respect for others; social skills; and a positive disposition to learn. We aim to ensure support for children's emotional well-being to help them to know themselves and what they can do.
Communication, Language and Literacy
A child's learning and competence in communicating, speaking and listening, being read to and beginning to read and write will be supported and extended. They will be provided with opportunity and encouragement to use their skills in a range of situations and for a range of purposes, and be supported in developing the confidence and disposition to do so.
Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
Children will be supported in developing their understanding of Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy in a broad range of contexts in which they can explore, enjoy, learn, practice and talk about their developing understanding. They will be provided with opportunities to practice and extend their skills in these areas and to gain confidence and competence in their use.
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
Children will be supported in developing the knowledge, skills and understanding that helps them to make sense of the world. Their learning will be supported through offering opportunities for them to use a range of tools safely; encounter creatures, people, plants and objects in their natural environments and in real life situations; undertake practical experiments and work with a range of materials.
Physical Development
The Physical development of babies and young children will be encouraged through the provision of opportunities for them to be active and interactive and to improve their skills of coordination, control, manipulation and movement. They will be supported in using all of their senses to learn about the world around them and to make connections between new information and what they already know. They will be supported in developing an understanding of the importance of physical activity and making healthy choices in relation to food.
Creative Development
Children's creativity will be extended by the provision of support for their curiosity, exploration and play. They will be provided with opportunities to explore and share heir thoughts ideas and feelings, for example, through a variety of art, music, movement, dance, imaginative and role-play activities, mathematics and design and technology.
At Butterfly Nursery we are committed to putting the above principles into practice. We undertake to meet the individual needs of all our children by offering flexible provision, by providing a safe and stimulating environment and by working in partnership with parents and carers. Play underpins the delivery of all of the EYFS and we aim to ensure that all children have the opportunities to play indoors and outdoors experiencing both well-planned and spontaneous activities.
The child's Key person will work closely with parents to ensure that the child settles down and will then work with that child whilst he or she is at the Nursery to help them achieve their full potential. This gives the parent a point of contact if they have any concerns regarding their child and allows continuity for the child.
We ensure that our children have plenty of opportunity for self-discovery and experimentation. We will endeavour to teach them the social skills they need to go into school with confidence and enthusiasm. Our starting point is always what the child knows, not, what they don't know, and we build from there. We work closely with our parents, as we are always aware that parents are the first and the most important educators of young children. We welcome input and ideas from our parents and actively encourage them to become involved in all aspects of their child's pre-school life.
Our most important aim is that our children are happy and well cared for when they are with us!!