Skip to main contentAccessibility Statement
  1. Home
  2. Early years, schools and education
  3. Support for childcare providers

The Early Years Foundation Stage

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets out the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure children learn and develop well, are kept healthy and safe and are prepared for school.

The framework is mandatory for all Ofsted-registered early years providers, including childminders, preschools, nurseries, and reception classes in schools.

It includes:

  • safeguarding and welfare requirements: ensuring children's safety, health, and well-being.
  • learning and development requirements: covering seven areas of learning.
  • assessment requirements: such as the progress check at age two and the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP) at the end of reception.
  • qualifications and ratios: specifying staff qualifications and adult-to-child ratios.

The EYFS aims to ensure high-quality and consistent practice across all early years settings, enabling every child to make progress and ensuring that no child is overlooked. It provides a strong foundation for learning and development through tailored planning and regular assessment of each child’s progress.

The framework promotes collaborative working among practitioners and with parents or carers, recognising the importance of strong partnerships. It also champions equality of opportunity and inclusive practice, making sure that every child feels valued, supported and included.

For further information see the Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage (Gov.uk)

Supporting documents

The following documents help support the EYFS framework.

Guidance: Development Matters (Gov.uk) - Non-statutory curriculum guidance for the early years foundation stage. Development Matters offers a top-level view of how children develop and learn for all early years practitioners.

Birth to 5 Matters - Non-statutory guidance for the EYFS. Birth to 5 Matters provides comprehensive guidance, drawing on previous guidance for the EYFS which has been updated in order to reflect recent research, to meet the needs of practitioners, to respond to current issues in society, to meet the needs of children today and to lay a strong foundation for their futures.

Help for early years providers (Gov.uk) is available to access resources, advice and support to help you apply the requirements of the EYFS framework in your early years provision.

Read the guidance about the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (EIF) and the EYFS (Gov.uk). This website may answer some commonly asked questions regarding your inspection. 

Last updated 04 September 2025