Statutory Guidance issued by the Department for Education: Updated 24th April 2020.
Please note: This article is just the introduction to this Guidance – for the full article, please access from the link provided at the bottom
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children aged 0 to 5 learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe.
To support early years providers who remain open to vulnerable children and children of critical workers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the Government has temporarily disapplied and modified certain elements of the EYFS statutory framework.
This will allow providers greater flexibility to respond to changes in workforce availability and potential fluctuations in demand, while still providing care that is high quality and safe.
- The list of critical workers is available in the Guidance for schools, childcare providers, colleges and local authorities in England on maintaining educational provision
- The definitions of vulnerable children are available in the Supporting vulnerable children and young people during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak guidance
- This guidance note is issued as the new legislation comes into force and should be read alongside the Early Years and Childcare Covid-19 guidance
The term ‘reasonable endeavours’ has been used for the learning and development requirements and welfare requirements relating to staff qualification levels. For the Paediatric First Aid requirement, ‘best endeavours’ has been used. ‘Best endeavours’ is a higher level requirement than ‘reasonable endeavours’ and is used here to ensure meeting the Paediatric First Aid requirements takes priority over the other areas of the EYFS framework that have been changed.