Personal and Social development

By the end of the foundation stage, most children will:

Continue to be interested, excited and motivated to learn
Be confident to try new activities, initiate ideas and speak in a familiar group
Maintain attention, concentrate, and sit quietly when appropriate
Have a developing awareness of their own needs, views and feelings and be sensitive to the needs, views and feelings of others
Have a developing respect for their own cultures and beliefs and those of other people
Respond to significant experiences, showing a range of feelings when appropriate
Form good relationships with adults and peers
Work as part of a group or class, taking turns and sharing fairly, understanding codes of behaviour for groups of people, including adults and children, to work together harmoniously
Understand what is right, what is wrong, and why
Dress and undress independently and manage their own personal hygiene
Select and use activities and resources independently
Consider the consequences of their words and actions for themselves and others
Understand that people have different needs, views, cultures and beliefs, which need to be treated with respect
Understand that they can expect others to treat their needs, views, cultures and beliefs with respect

Communication, Language and Literacy

By the end of the foundation stage, most children will be able to:

Enjoy listening to and using spoken and written language, and readily turn to it in their play and learning
Explore and experiment with sounds, words and texts
Listen with enjoyment and respond to stories, songs and other music, rhymes and poems and make up their own stories, songs, rhymes and poems
Use language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences
Use talk to organise, sequence and clarify thinking, ideas, feelings and events
Sustain attentive listening, responding to what they have heard by relevant comments, questions or actions
Interact with others, negotiating plans and activities and taking turns in conversation
Extend their vocabulary, exploring the meanings and sounds of new words
Retell narratives in the correct sequence, drawing on the language patterns of stories
S peak clearly and audibly with confidence and control and show awareness of the listener, for example by their use of conventions such as greetings, 'please' and 'thank you'
Hear and say initial and final sounds in words, and short vowel sounds within words
Link sounds to letters, naming and sounding the letters of the alphabet
Read a range of familiar and common words and simple sentences independently
Know that print carries meaning and, in English, is read from left to right and top to bottom
Show an understanding of the elements of stories, such as main character, sequence of events, and openings, and how information can be found in non-fiction texts to answer questions about where, who, why and how
Attempt writing for various purposes, using features of different forms such as lists, stories and instructions
Write their own names and other things such as labels and captions and begin to form simple sentences, sometimes using punctuation
Use their phonic knowledge to write simple regular words and make phonetically plausible attempts at more complex words
Use a pencil and hold it effectively to form recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed.

Mathematical Development

By the end of the foundation stage, most children will be able to:

Say and use number names in order in familiar contexts
Count reliably up to 10 everyday objects
Recognise numerals 1 to 9
Use language such as 'more' or 'less', 'greater' or 'smaller', 'heavier' or 'lighter', to compare two numbers or quantities
In practical activities and discussion begin to use the vocabulary involved in adding and subtracting
Find one more or one less than a number from 1 to 10
Begin to relate addition to combining two groups of objects, and subtraction to 'taking away'
Talk about, recognise and recreate simple patterns
Use language such as 'circle' or 'bigger' to describe the shape and size of solids and flat shapes
Use everyday words to describe position
Use developing mathematical ideas and methods to solve practical problems

Knowledge and Understanding of the world

By the end of the foundation stage, most children will be able to:

I nvestigate objects and materials by using all of their senses as appropriate
F ind out about, and identify some features of, living things, objects and events they observe
L ook closely at similarities, differences, patterns and change
Ask questions about why things happen and how things work
Build and construct with a wide range of objects, selecting appropriate resources, and adapting their work where necessary
Select the tools and techniques they need to shape, assemble and join the materials they are using
Find out about and identify the uses of everyday technology and use information and communication technology and programmable toys to support their learning
Find out about past and present events in their own lives, and in those of their families and other people they know
Observe, find out about, and identify features in the place they live and the natural world
Begin to know about their own cultures and beliefs and those of other people
Find out about their environment, and talk about those features they like and dislike

Physical Development

By the end of the foundation stage, most children will be able to:

Move with confidence, imagination and in safety
Move with control and coordination
Show awareness of space, of themselves and of others
Recognise the importance of keeping healthy and those things which contribute to this
Recognise the changes that happen to their bodies when they are active
Use a range of small and large equipment
Travel around, under, over and through balancing and climbing equipment
Handle tools, objects, construction and malleable materials safely and with increasing control

 

Creative Development

By the end of the foundation stage, most children will be able to:

Explore colour, texture, shape, form and space in two and three dimensions
Recognise and explore how sounds can be changed, sing simple songs from memory, recognise repeated sounds and sound patterns and match movements to music
Respond in a variety of ways to what they see, hear, smell, touch and feel
Use their imagination in art and design, music, dance, imaginative and role play and stories
Express and communicate their ideas, thoughts and feelings by using a widening range of materials, suitable tools, imaginative and role play, movement, designing and making, and a variety of songs and musical instruments