What is the Foundation Phase?
The Foundation Phase is an approach to learning for children from 3-7 years of age. It combines what was called the Early Years Education (for 3 to 5-year-olds) and Key Stage 1 (5 to 7-year-olds) of the National Curriculum.
The Foundation Phase sets out the curriculum and outcomes under seven Areas of Learning.The seven Areas of Learning in Wales are;
- Personal and Social Well-Being and Cultural Diversity
- Physical Development
- Creative Development
- Language, Literacy and Communication Skills
- Welsh Language Development
- Mathematical Development
- Knowledge and Understanding of the World
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 rather than by completing exercises in books. 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 well being so as to develop the whole child.
- Positive attitudes to learning so that they enjoy it and want to continue
- Self-esteem and self-confidence to experiment, investigate, learn new things and form new relationships.
- Creative, expressive and observational skills to encourage their development as individuals with different ways of responding to experiences.
- Activities in the outdoors where they have first-hand experience of solving real-life problems and learn about conservation and sustainability.