The Foundation Stage
The Foundation
Stage begins when children reach the age of three, and lasts until the end of
the Reception Year (the year in which they are five), when children will
progress to the National Curriculum (NC) key stage 1 in Year 1. Many children
go to a number of different settings during the Foundation Stage. A few will stay
at home until they begin primary school.
The last year of the Foundation
Stage is often referred to as the 'Reception Year', since most children are
admitted to a Reception class of an infant or primary school at some point
during the year in which they are 5 years old.
Click here for more information on types of schools.
Schools organise their provision
in a variety of ways. Practitioners might find themselves in an environment
where children from ages three to five years and eleven months are taught in
one unit. Alternatively, there might be separate provision in a Nursery or
Reception class, or children might experience a range of settings, which could
be on a full- or part-time basis.
The table on page 7 of Curriculum
guidance for the foundation stage (DfEE/QCA, 2000), shows some of the
different settings children attend before and during the Foundation Stage.
The curriculum guidance can be found in full on the QCA website: www.qca.org.uk/ca/foundation/guidance/curr_guidance.asp
You will need to download the pdf
file 'Introduction and acknowledgements' which covers pages 1 -10.
You might want to consider the
significant issues that this chart raises for you as a teacher in the
Foundation Stage.
Curriculum guidance
The Curriculum guidance
for the foundation stage is designed to help practitioners meet the diverse
needs of all children in the Foundation Stage in a range of settings. Guidance
is given to enable practitioners to plan effective activities and structure a
curriculum in the following six areas of learning:
- personal, social and emotional development;
- communication, language and literacy;
- mathematical development;
- knowledge and understanding of the world;
- physical development;
- creative development.
Early learning goals
By the end of the Reception Year most children are expected to achieve a set of
goals in each area of learning; the term used for these is the early learning
goals. By the end of Reception some children will have exceeded these goals.
Others will be working towards some or all of the goals - particularly the
younger children, those children who had not had high quality early years
experience, those with special educational needs and those learning English as
an additional language.
To view the early learning
goals: www.qca.org.uk/ca/foundation/elg/index.asp
The Curriculum guidance
for the foundation stage (DfEE/QCA, 2000) provides examples of what children
and practitioners could do in order for children to progress in each area of
learning from the age of three to achieving the goals at the end of the
Reception year. The goals for mathematical development and communication,
language and literacy are consistent with the key objectives for the Reception
Year in the National Literacy Strategy Framework for teaching
Reception to Year 6 and The Framework for teaching mathematics from
Reception to Year 6. The National Curriculum at key stage 1 builds on the
early learning goals.
Stepping Stones
To help you plan
activities that will meet the needs of children at different stages of
development in the six areas of learning, 'Stepping Stones' are identified. The
Stepping Stones are not age related but do represent the progression in
children's learning from the beginning to the end of the Foundation stage. The
progression is shown through different coloured bands.
Further information about the
Foundation Stage can be found on this website.
