What is the Early Years Foundation Stage?

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the United Kingdom's statutory framework that sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe.

It is one of the most widely used frameworks in the UAE.

The framework places emphasis on teaching and learning to ensure children are ready for school and gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life.

It is an integral part of the UK Government’s wider vision for families in the foundation years, and the latest revisions put the focus on supporting children by removing unnecessary burdens on teachers and allowing them to put more of their resources into student care and counselling.

The new EYFS has made a number of improvements:

• Reducing bureaucracy for professionals, simplifying the statutory assessment of children’s development at age five.
• Simplifying the learning and development requirements by reducing the number of early learning goals from 69 to 17.
• Stronger emphasis on the three prime areas which are most essential for children’s healthy development. These three areas are: communication and language; physical; and personal, social and emotional development.
• For parents, a new progress check at age two on their child’s development. This links with the Healthy Child review carried out by health visitors, so that children get any additional support they need before they start school.
• Strengthening partnerships between professionals and parents, ensuring that the new framework uses clear language.

Voluntary food and drink guidelines are also made available to help early years providers and practitioners meet the nutritional needs of children aged one to five. They include practical support tools to help practitioners understand and use the guidelines.

A summary of the EYFS for parents, co-produced by the sector, is also available on the Foundation Years website. This has been developed to help ensure parents know what the EYFS is and what they can expect from the professionals working with their child.

More information specifically on the framework may be found here.