Foundation Phase

The Foundation Phase is a new curriculum for children aged 3-7. It places children’s Well Being at the heart of Teaching and Learning. The Foundation Phase will offer a sound basis for future learning through a developmentally appropriate, skills based curriculum.

The Foundation Phase brings increased consistency and continuity to Children’s education at a crucial period in their development.

The Foundation Phase places great emphasis on Children learning by doing. Young Children will be given more opportunities to gain first hand experiences through play and active involvement. They will be given time to develop their speaking and listening skills and to become confident in their Reading and Writing abilities. Mathematics will be more practical so that children can see how problems are solved and how important Mathematics is in their everyday lives. There will be more emphasis on Children understanding how things work and on finding different ways to solve problems.

The curriculum will focus on experiential learning, active involvement and developing each child’s:

  • Skills and understanding
  • Personal, social, emotional, physical and intellectual development
  • Positive attitudes to learning so that they enjoy it and want to continue learning throughout their life
  • Self-esteem and self-confidence to experiment, investigate, learn new things and form new relationships
  • Creative, expressive and observational skills
  • Activities in the outdoors where they have first-hand experience of solving real-life problems and learn about conservation and sustainability.

This Foundation Phase Framework sets out the Curriculum under seven Areas of Learning. For each Area of Learning, the educational programme sets out what children should be taught and the Outcomes which are the expected standards of children’s performance.

The Areas of Learning are:

  • Personal and Social Development, Well Being and Cultural Diversity
  • Language, Literacy and Communication
  • Mathematical Development
  • Welsh Language Development
  • Knowledge and Understanding of the World
  • Physical Development
  • Creative Development

The Foundation Phase will be implemented over four years as follows:

  • 1 September 2008 for all 3 to 4-year-olds in the Foundation Phase
  • 1 September 2009 for all 4 to 5-year-olds in the Foundation Phase
  • 1 September 2010 for all 5 to 6-year-olds in the Foundation Phase
  • 1 September 2011 for all 6 to 7-year-olds in the Foundation Phase.

From these dates, the existing national curriculum for Key Stage 1 is superseded.

For more information contact Early Education 01978 317666.

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