Continuous Provision Progression - Early Years

What does Ofsted say about continuous provision?

The purpose of continuous provision should be to allow pupils to meet the aims of the curriculum. Ofsted states that the curriculum aims that need to be taught should be identified first before any continuous previous or play-based learning can be planned for or set up.(17 Jul 2023)

“The continuous provision in our Early Years classes is progressive across the year. We consider the developmental stages of the children and always insure that areas are differentiated to suit differing needs and abilities. We start the year with basic resources to enable children to become familiar with their environment. We use familiar resources in each continuous provision classroom area, which consists of many plastic resources. Resources that are not plastic are modelled carefully by teaching staff. During Spring term, resources start to change. Open ended resources are introduced including wood, tubes etc. Further challenge in areas is linked to their stage of learning. Summer term resources are very open ended and unfamiliar. By this stage we see that through progression of what they have previously been introduced to, their imagination, creativity and becoming risk takers, shows in their play. Consideration is still given to differentiation and scaffolding can be seen throughout the classrooms.”

I have created a plan to progress continuous porvision in an Early Years setting focussing on:

• Area
• Resources & challenges
• Objectives
• What should see?
• Vocabulary/Questions
• Role of the Adult