New beginnings: The new nursery curriculum
By Oonagh Turner | Mon 20th Sep 2021
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Kate Fell, Early Years Foundation Stage Lead at Bassett House School in London, explains the new curriculum which is being put into practise across nurseries this term
When your child starts school in nursery or reception, they will be following the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum. This is the programme which must be adhered to by all childcare settings from birth to five years, so for schools this means nursery and reception.
The EYFS curriculum sets out expected developmental milestones across seven areas of learning and development. These are:
• Communication and language development
• Physical development
• Personal, social, and emotional development
• Literacy development
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design
The key focus during the EYFS is to teach children routine and to ease them into the idea of learning in a structured environment. This helps to build a strong base set of skills, as well as positive learning attitudes, which will stand them in good stead as they continue to move through school.
What are the changes?
A new curriculum for EYFS is coming into effect this month. The main aim of the reforms is to strengthen assessment and practise to improve outcomes for all children, and close the gap for disadvantaged children, which is particularly crucial in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Most parents will remain unaware of the changes but there will be a renewed focus on early language development and a reformed assessment process that should reduce paperwork for teachers.
The government has made changes to the Early Learning Goals, which are used to assess children at the end of their reception year. These aren’t tests – the assessment is based on classroom observation – they’re an important framework to benchmark the knowledge, skills and understanding that all children should have gained by the end of that academic year.
The biggest changes will come under the language, literacy and numeracy goals. For example, in maths, more significance will be placed on number and numerical patterns so that all children develop the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically when they move into Key Stage One (years one and two
at primary school).
Above and beyond
At Bassett House, our Early Years teaching is informed by the very latest work on child development. We use the most up-to-date research, materials and guidance backed up by the depth and breadth of knowledge of our highly skilled staff. We’re lucky that our small class sizes mean we can go above and beyond government guidelines and provide the best care for our pupils. Our ethos of balancing academic progress with pastoral nurture is critical to setting pupils up for future success and our access to beautiful outdoor spaces enables us to reflect the seven areas of learning outside the classroom as well as inside. All of this translates into happy, engaged, confident children.
From reception to year one
When asked what they’ve done at school, a reception child will often answer, “I played with my friends.” At this age, children are accustomed to a free-flow, play-based experience where they choose what they play with, when and with whom. But a school day in year one can be very different, with a more structured approach to lessons where teaching becomes more formal and subject based.
The new EY framework hopes to address this gap, which we welcome because it should help smooth what can be a difficult transition to year one.
Embracing the individual
Play-based learning is essential for younger children; it engages their imagination, creativity, and team-building skills which, in turn, develops their social and emotional skills and language development.
Play-based learning is central to our Early Years ethos, which is to teach children without them realising they’re being taught. Each child is treated as an individual and encouraged to reach developmental goals at a pace that’s right for them.
There have been some concerns that the EYFS reforms may be continuing a drive towards excessive formalisation of the reception year. But at Bassett House, our young learners remain at the heart of our teaching and we’re confident that the new curriculum should continue the commitment to learning through play, which we believe is so crucial to
a child’s early development