The Four Principles of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
At Sticky Faces Nursery, we are committed to providing a high-quality early years education that aligns with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. The EYFS is built upon four key principles that guide our approach to nurturing and educating young children:
1. A Unique Child
Every child is unique and develops in their own way. At Sticky Faces, we celebrate individuality by offering a child-centred approach that supports each child’s interests, strengths, and needs. Our skilled practitioners provide a warm and nurturing environment where children feel valued, respected, and encouraged to explore at their own pace.
2. Positive Relationships
Strong relationships are the foundation of a child’s learning and emotional development. Our nursery fosters meaningful connections between children, parents, and staff, ensuring a sense of security and trust. Key persons build close bonds with each child, helping them feel safe and confident to learn and grow in a supportive setting.
3. Enabling Environments
A rich and stimulating environment is essential for early learning. At Sticky Faces, we carefully design our indoor and outdoor spaces to encourage curiosity, independence, and discovery. Through open-ended play opportunities, hands-on learning experiences, and access to a wide range of resources, we create an engaging setting that inspires children to explore, experiment, and develop new skills.
4. Learning and Development
Children learn best through play and meaningful experiences. Our curriculum is tailored to support all areas of development, including communication, physical skills, and social-emotional well-being. We follow each child’s interests while incorporating structured learning opportunities to ensure they reach their full potential. By balancing free play with guided activities, we nurture confident, capable, and enthusiastic learners.
At Sticky Faces Nursery, these four principles shape everything we do, ensuring that every child receives the best possible start to their learning journey.
Integrating Maths and Literacy at Sticky Faces Nursery
At Sticky Faces Nursery, we believe that early exposure to maths and literacy lays the foundation for lifelong learning. We carefully integrate these essential skills into daily activities, ensuring children develop confidence in numeracy and language in a fun and engaging way.
Supporting Our Two-Year-Olds
In our dedicated two-year-old room, we introduce early maths and literacy through hands-on, play-based experiences. Children explore numbers, shapes, and patterns using real-life objects, songs, and interactive games. Literacy is encouraged through storytelling, mark-making, and phonics-based activities that develop early communication and language skills. By creating a language-rich environment, we foster a love for books and self-expression from an early age.
Building School Readiness in Our Pre-School Room
As children progress to our pre-school room, we provide more structured opportunities to develop key skills that prepare them for school. Maths is embedded into daily routines through counting, problem-solving, measuring, and comparing objects in meaningful contexts. Children begin recognising numbers and understanding concepts like addition and subtraction through hands-on learning.
Literacy is further developed with phonics, letter recognition, and early writing activities. We encourage children to engage in storytelling, name writing, and word-building exercises to enhance their reading and communication abilities. Through interactive activities, small-group work, and independent exploration, we ensure every child gains the skills needed for a confident transition to school.
At Sticky Faces, we make maths and literacy exciting and accessible for all ages, helping children build a strong foundation for future learning.
There are seven areas of learning and development grouped into two categories: prime areas and specific areas. All these are important and interconnected.
Prime Areas
This helps children to:
- Develop a positive sense of themselves and others
- Form positive relationships and develop respect for others
- Develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings
- Understand appropriate behaviour in groups
- Have confidence in their abilities.
This helps children to:
- Experience a rich language environment
- Develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves
- Speak and listen in a range of situations
This provides children the opportunity to:
- Be active and interactive
- Develop their co-ordination, control and movement
- Understand the importance of physical activity
- Make healthy choice in relation to food
Specific Areas
This encourages children to:
- Link sounds and letters
- To begin to read and write
This gives children opportunities to:
- Develop and improve their counting skills
- Understand and use numbers
- Calculate simple addition subtraction problems
- Describe shapes, spaces and measures
This helps children to:
- Make sense of their physical world and their community
- Explore, observe and learn about people, places, technology and the environment
This involves enabling children to:
- Explore and play with a wide range of media and materials
- Share their thoughts and feelings through art, music, movement, dance, role play, design and technology
Every child is a different kind of flower, and all together, make this world a beautiful garden
Language & Cognitive Skills
Between the ages of 3 and 5, a child’s vocabulary grows from 900 to 2,500 words, and her sentences become longer and more complex.
Opportunity for Growth
Nursery is an opportunity to learn to share, follow instructions and begin the foundation for learning that will occur in school years.
Social & Emotional Development
Young children learn social skills and emotional self-control in “real time.” In order to learn, a young child needs to feel cared for and secure with a teacher,
Develop Motor Skills
Young children are in motion for a good part of the day. Nursery programs provide several opportunities daily for children to run, climb, and play active games