Registered childcare providers adhere to what is known as the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework, and these standards describe what children should learn and what levels of development they should be expected to reach at certain ages and stages in their early learning.
There are several areas of development including communication and language, social and emotional development, understanding the world, expression through arts and design, and leading onto literacy and maths.
Children learn through play and a good childcare provider will support your child’s development in all areas through a range of different activities, games and play opportunities.
Your child will be given a ‘key worker’, someone who will look after your child’s wellbeing and communicate with you about their progress. You can ask your key worker to talk you to about your child’s learning and development progress at any time, and your childcare setting will provide you with a written progress check when your child is two and again when they are five years old.
Anyone registered to provide childcare must also follow legal safety and welfare requirements set out in the standards. These include the number of staff in a nursery, how may children a childminder can look after, how to administer medicines, and risk assessments.
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