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  EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE

Tiny Tows follows the curriculum for the foundation stage as set out by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the Department of Education and Skills. To provide interesting activities that are achievable for all children depending on their age and stage of development our planning is based on the six areas of learning:

Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Communication, Language and Literacy
Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
Physical Development
Creative Development

PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This area of children’s development covers:

  • Establishing relationships and friendships with other people, both children and adults taking into account differences and different needs and expectations.
  • Having confidence in themselves and in their abilities to do things, and valuing their own achievements.
  • Having a positive approach to learning and to finding out about the world around them.
  • Becoming aware of the rules which we all need to help us to look after ourselves, other people and the environment.
  • Being able to attend to their own personal hygiene and to change their own clothes.
  • We provide positive images in books and displays to challenge children's thinking and help them to embrace difference in gender, ethnicity, religion, special educational needs and disabilities.
  • To respect other peoples and to be respected in return.

COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

This area of children’s development covers:

  • Being able to use conversation on a one to one basis, in small and large groups and to be able to listen to others.
  • Adding to their vocabulary by learning the meaning of and being able to use new words.
  • Being able to use words to describe their experiences.
  • Getting to know the sounds and letters which make up the words we use.
  • Listening to and talking about stories.
  • Knowing how to handle books correctly and knowing they are a source of stories and information.
  • Knowing the purpose for which we use writing and making their own attempts at writing.
  • Opportunities for children who use alternative communication system such as sign language, lip reading etc.

PROBLEM SOLVING, REASONING AND NUMERACY

This area of children’s development covers:

  • Building up ideas about how many, how much, how far and how big.
  • Understanding about patterns, shapes, position and the amount of space taken up by an object.
  • Beginning to understand that numbers help us to answer questions about how many, how much, how far and how big.
  • Building up ideas about how to use counting to find out how many.
  • Being introduced to finding the result of adding more or taking away from the amount we already have.

KNOWLEDGE & UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

In this area of learning, children are developing knowledge, skills and understanding that help them to make sense of the world. This area of children’s development covers science, design and technology, history, geography, and information and communication technology.

  • Finding out about the natural world and how it works.
  • Finding out about the made world and how it works.
  • Learning how to choose and use the right tool for a task.
  • Learning about computers and how to use them.
  • Starting to put together ideas about the past and the present and the links between them.
  • Beginning to learn about their locality and its special features.
  • Learning about their own and other cultures

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

This area enables children to feel the benefits of being healthy and active and gives a positive sense of well-being. This area of children’s development covers:

  • Gaining control over the large movements which we can make with our bodies, including skills of co-ordination.
  • Gaining control over the small movements we can make with our arms, wrists and hands, so that they can pick up, use and manipulate objects, tools and materials.
  • Learning about the importance of their bodies and how to look after the body.

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

This area of development covers:

  • Providing a stimulating environment in which creativity, originality and expressiveness are valued.
  • A wide range of activities using paint, music, dance, words, stories and role play to express their ideas and feelings.
  • Sufficient time for children to explore, develop and extend their ideas using their senses.