The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) concentrates on 7 areas, defined as prime and specific areas of learning.
The prime areas of learning are:
• personal, social and emotional development
• communication and language
• physical development
The specific areas of learning are:
• literacy
• mathematics
• understanding the world
• expressive arts and design
Learning is frequently developed through play-based activities, centred around a range of child-friendly topics or themes.
All of the above seven areas of learning are interrelated and are not taught in isolation, but in a cross-curricular fashion.
This ensures a well-rounded education for your child and learning with understanding and enjoyment.
Early Years Foundation Stage Profile
At the end of the academic year when a child turns 5, the practitioner records each child’s development by watching the child playing and in the classroom. The completed assessment is known as the ‘Early Years Foundation Stage Profile’. This is used to help the year 1 teacher plan lessons for the children.
DBF Language Philosophy
Cultural awareness and true internationalism are vital for today’s children to aid development of effective communication tools. At DBF our language of instruction is English, plus exposure to Arabic. An important school aim is to encourage children to enjoy and appreciate a variety of languages from an early age.
Singing for Learning
Music has a special focus within our curriculum and through our ‘Singing for Learning Programme’ all children make rapid progress in language acquisition, steered by our gifted and talented specialist music teacher.
10 reasons why we singing has such a high focus at DBF?
Singing provides a number of benefits, namely:
- It releases endorphins, instantly making children feel happier resulting in more successful learners
- It also releases oxytocin, which is a natural stress reliever, making children feel calm and relaxed.
- It involves deep breathing resulting in a ‘workout’ for children’s lungs.
- It helps promote goodposture, making children look and feel more confident.
- It is often a communal act that helps children build firm friendships, contributing to their sense of safety and well-being.
- It supports the development of a child’s concentration and memory.
- Singing is active, enjoyable and fun.
- Singing helps our EAL children to learn English very quickly and all of our children and staff to learn Arabic.
- Singing helps children remember useful facts eg. our children can name the seven Emirates of the UAE because of a song they enjoy singing that names them all.
- Singing provides a great opportunity for performance. Often, the school performances are what children remember most about their school days, so here at DBF, we trust we are helping the children to build fond memories that will stay with them for the whole of their lives.
