The Alliance has always promoted play as the principal means through which children learn, and has incorporated the belief that parents are children's first and most enduring educators.
Far from being 'prescriptive, severe, or overly cognitive', the EYFS is a play-based framework that brings together and builds on the Birth to Three Matters and Foundation Stage frameworks. There are no set attainment targets for children under five. The learning and development grids in the practice guidance are not, and were never intended to be, a checklist to measure children's development in a rigid or formal way. They simply chart typical pathways of development and are a useful reference guide for practitioners during observation.
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