The framework
This page follows the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework, which covers birth to five and ends with seventeen Early Learning Goals assessed at the end of Reception. It is a plain-language guide for parents, not an official document; schools and regions differ in the detail.
| Class | Age |
|---|---|
| Nursery | 3–4 |
| Reception | 4–5 |
| Year 1 | 5–6 |
| Year 2 | 6–7 |
The areas of learning, with games that fit
Communication and language (prime)
Listening, attention and understanding; speaking in sentences; a wide vocabulary.
Physical development (prime)
Gross motor skills — balance, strength, co-ordination — and fine motor skills for pencil, scissors and cutlery.
Personal, social and emotional development (prime)
Self-regulation, managing self (dressing, toilet, healthy choices) and building relationships.
Literacy
Comprehension, word reading through phonics, and early writing.
Mathematics
A deep understanding of numbers to ten, and numerical patterns beyond.
Understanding the world
Past and present, people, culture and communities, and the natural world.
Expressive arts and design
Creating with materials; songs, rhymes, stories and performance.
A typical day, and what helps at home
A Reception day mixes short adult-led inputs — a daily phonics session of around twenty minutes, a maths input, a story — with long stretches of "continuous provision", where children choose between sand, water, construction, role play, mark-making and the outdoor area while adults join in and extend their play. At home, schools ask mainly for two things: read with your child every day, including the phonics book that comes home, and talk with them a great deal. Learning the sounds letters make, rather than their names, keeps home in step with school.
By the end of the preschool years
Broadly, the framework hopes a child leaving the last preschool class:
- Listens attentively, holds a back-and-forth conversation and explains ideas in full sentences
- Says a sound for each letter of the alphabet and at least ten digraphs, and reads words by blending sounds
- Writes recognisable letters and simple phrases that others can read
- Has a deep understanding of numbers to 10, subitises up to 5 and recalls number bonds to 5 and some to 10
- Counts beyond 20, compares quantities, and explores odd and even numbers and doubling
- Manages their own basic hygiene and dressing, waits for what they want and follows instructions with several steps
These are expectations for a whole year group, not a test for one child. Children reach them over a wide range of ages, and a child who is younger in the class, or learning in a second language, should be given more time, not more pressure.
Good questions to ask a preschool
How much of the day do children choose what they do? How long are they outdoors? How do you handle a child who is upset or who hits? How will you tell me how my child is doing — and is it a conversation or a report card? May I see the room in use? In every country on this list, a setting that answers these well is a better sign than one that promises early reading.
What is different here
England starts formal phonics at four, earlier than almost anywhere in Europe, but the EYFS itself insists that play is essential and that the three prime areas come first. A summer-born child is nearly a year younger than the oldest in the class; if your child is one of them, measure them against their own age, not the class.
Using this site alongside school
Fifteen minutes of Golu's Day covers every area above in rotation: a story, two games, something to move or sing, something to make and a thinking game, chosen for your child's age. For reading and number, the reading ladder and maths ladder put the games in teaching order, so you can find the first stage that is not yet easy and start there. Everything speaks thirty-four languages, which matters if your child's school language and home language are not the same.
If you are moving between countries
The class names change more than the children do. Compare ages, not labels, and expect a settling-in term before judging anything. See all seven systems side by side on the curriculum by country page, and what is typical at each age on the milestones pages.
Now do it for real
When the screen goes off, do something with your hands. Try 🃏 Make your own memory game — an easy craft for ages 4-6, with every step read aloud in your language. You will need card or thick paper, colours; nothing that needs a trip to a shop.
There are 56 more on the things to do at home page, and free printable worksheets if you would rather have something on paper. Ten minutes on a screen and twenty minutes off it is a good shape for a day at this age.
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