Pre-schools
Early years foundation stage
All pre-schools must operate within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). There are four EYFS themes and principles that inform the practice of the pre-school and what happens for you and your child while they are attending.
These are:
- a unique child (every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured)
- positive relationships (children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person)
- enabling environments (the environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children's development and learning)
- learning and development (children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of learning and Development are equally important and inter-connected)
If your child has a learning difficulty or disability, there are a range of services to support you in making a choice about childcare (which may include pre-school).
It's been recommended that pre-schools formulate and implement a Single Equality Scheme (SES) to ensure that practice is lawful and inclusive - there should be no discrimination based on your child's needs in terms of accessing a place, being included in the range of activities or in your child achieving to the best of their ability.
Page last updated: 30 August 2024
