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iFairy working template · Plan

EYFS long-term plan (nursery and Reception)

Required by law or statutory guidanceEnglandEarly yearsFor: EYFS leads, Reception and nursery teachers, Nursery managers, Headteachers

A one-year long-term curriculum plan for a nursery or Reception class, organised by term across the seven areas of learning, with key texts and experiences, vocabulary, assessment points and transition to Year 1. Built on the EYFS statutory framework for group and school-based providers (effective 1 September 2025) and the non-statutory Development Matters guidance.

iFairy working template — not official guidance. Built by reading the official documents listed under "Based on"; each requirement cites the document and section it comes from. Check the current official wording before you adopt it, and adapt it to your setting and your local authority or trust procedures.

Do you need one?The duties this plan helps you meet are statutory: providers must teach the seven areas of learning through the educational programmes, plan a challenging and enjoyable experience for each child, and (in Reception) complete the EYFS Profile no later than 30 June. The framework does not require a written long-term plan or prescribe a format or teaching approach — this document is one way of showing how you meet the duties. Development Matters is non-statutory: it can help you design a curriculum, but Ofsted does not take it into account and you are not required to use it.
Why this templateThe statutory framework tells you what children must be taught and how they must be assessed, but not how to lay out a year. Many settings copy Development Matters statements into a grid and end up with a tick list, which the guidance itself warns against. This template gives you a plan that starts from the statutory duties, keeps the early learning goals in their proper place (an end-point judgement, not a curriculum) and leaves room for the children in front of you.
ReviewAnnually before the autumn term, and whenever the statutory framework or EYFS Profile handbook is updated. Adjust the termly content each half-term in light of what the children know and can do.
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Our curriculum principles

A short statement of what you want children to learn here and how, so that the termly plan can be checked against it.

Must include

Decide and write down

  • What do you most want children to leave this class knowing and able to do, beyond the early learning goals?
  • What do you know about your intake (language, experiences, SEND, EAL) that the plan must respond to?
  • What balance of child-led play, adult-guided play and direct teaching will you use, and how does it change across the year?

Starter wording (edit the highlighted parts)

At [setting name] our early years curriculum aims for every child to [two or three ambitious aims, e.g. talk confidently using a wide vocabulary; love books and stories; ...]. Our children typically arrive [brief description of starting points]. We teach through a mix of play, adult modelling and guided learning, with more direct teaching of [phonics / number / ...] as children move through Reception. We value depth over coverage: we revisit key knowledge and vocabulary until children are secure.

The seven areas of learning

Set out the areas you must teach and how prime and specific areas are weighted in your setting.

Must include

Decide and write down

  • For each area, what are the two or three most important things children must learn this year (your 'core' content)?
  • Where does spoken language sit in every area? The framework says it underpins all seven.
  • How will the balance shift from prime to specific areas between autumn and summer?

Starter wording (edit the highlighted parts)

Area | Core knowledge and skills this year | How it is taught (continuous provision / adult-guided / direct teaching) | Lead Communication and language | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] Personal, social and emotional development | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] Physical development | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] Literacy | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] Mathematics | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] Understanding the world | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] Expressive arts and design | [ ] | [ ] | [ ]

Characteristics of effective teaching and learning

Show how the plan builds the way children learn, not only what they learn.

Must include

Decide and write down

  • Which routines, resources and adult behaviours in your setting deliberately develop each characteristic?
  • When will you give children extended time for projects that last more than one session?
  • Will Reception teachers write a short commentary on each child's characteristics for Year 1 (optional — see transition section)?

Starter wording (edit the highlighted parts)

Playing and exploring: [e.g. open-ended resources indoors and out; weekly new material or object to investigate]. Active learning: [e.g. projects continued over several days; adults praise persistence, not only outcomes]. Creating and thinking critically: [e.g. children plan before building; adults model 'thinking aloud'; talk about how a problem was solved].

Overview by term

The one-page year: what is taught when, while leaving space to follow children's interests.

Must include

Decide and write down

  • Which content must be taught in a fixed order (for example phonics following your programme, number to 5 before 10) and which can move to follow interests?
  • When do you plan settling-in, the Reception Baseline (schools), parent meetings, and end-of-year Profile judgements?
  • Which half-terms will deliberately revisit earlier content rather than introduce new topics?

Starter wording (edit the highlighted parts)

Term | Theme or focus (optional) | CL | PSED | PD | Literacy | Maths | UtW | EAD | Key texts | Visits / visitors Autumn 1 | [settling in, routines, relationships] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] Autumn 2 | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] Spring 1 | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] Spring 2 | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] Summer 1 | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] Summer 2 | [transition to Year 1 / to Reception] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] Note: themes are a vehicle, not the curriculum. Adapt each half-term after reviewing what children know and can do.

Key texts, experiences and vocabulary

Plan the books, rhymes, first-hand experiences and words every child will meet, because the educational programmes put these at the centre.

Must include

Decide and write down

  • Which core books will every child hear many times this year (so they can retell them), and which rhymes and songs will they know by heart?
  • Which first-hand experiences (visits, visitors, outdoor learning) will you guarantee for every child, especially those who get fewer at home?
  • Which tier 2 and subject words will you teach deliberately each half-term, and how will you check children use them?
  • Which phonics programme do you follow, and how is the reading book offer matched to it?

Starter wording (edit the highlighted parts)

Half-term | Core books (repeated) | Rhymes and songs | Non-fiction | First-hand experiences | Vocabulary to teach and use [Autumn 1] | [title, title, title] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [word, word, word] ... Phonics: we follow [programme name]. Reading books sent home are matched to the sounds each child has been taught.

Children who need extra help, SEND and EAL

Make sure the plan works for every child and that concerns are acted on early.

Must include

Decide and write down

  • How quickly after a concern is noticed will you speak to parents and the SENCO, and who records the agreed support?
  • Which parts of the plan will be pre-taught or repeated for children who need it (for example vocabulary for the core books)?
  • How will you find out about and use children's home languages?

Starter wording (edit the highlighted parts)

When a practitioner is worried about a child's progress in a prime area, they will [discuss it with the key person / EYFS lead] within [timescale], meet the child's parents or carers to agree support, and involve the SENCO, [name], where a special educational need may be present. Children learning English as an additional language are [how home language is supported]; their English is assessed in English, and their home-language skills are explored with parents before any concern about language delay is raised.

Assessment points through the year

Fix when statutory and in-house assessment happens, and keep it proportionate.

Must include

Decide and write down

  • What is the smallest set of in-house assessment points that tells you which children need extra help? Will each one change what you teach?
  • When will parents hear about progress (meetings, reports) and in what form?
  • When will the team moderate Profile judgements before the 30 June deadline?

Starter wording (edit the highlighted parts)

Point in year | What | Who | What we do with it [First six weeks of Reception] | Reception Baseline Assessment (schools) | [Reception teacher] | Statutory; not used to label children [Half-termly] | Team discussion of children not keeping up in prime areas, phonics and number | [EYFS team] | Adjust teaching; agree extra help; talk to parents [Autumn / spring] | Parent meetings | [key person / teacher] | Share progress; agree home learning [Age 2–3] | Progress check at two (settings with two-year-olds) | [key person] | Written summary to parents [By 30 June] | EYFS Profile against the 17 ELGs | [Reception teacher] | Report to parents and Year 1

End of Reception: the early learning goals

Keep the ELGs where the framework puts them — an end-point judgement — rather than turning them into the curriculum.

Must include

Decide and write down

  • Working back from the ELGs, what must children have learnt by the end of each term so the summer judgement is not a surprise?
  • Which ELGs have historically had the most children 'emerging' in your school, and what does the plan change as a result?

Starter wording (edit the highlighted parts)

We use the early learning goals only at the end of Reception, to make a best-fit judgement for each child. Our curriculum is broader than the ELGs. During the year we check progress against our own sequenced curriculum (above), not against ELG statements.

Transition to Year 1

Plan how information and learning continue into Key Stage 1.

Must include

Decide and write down

  • When will Reception and Year 1 teachers meet, and what will they discuss beyond the Profile outcomes?
  • Which routines, resources or ways of learning from Reception will continue in the first weeks of Year 1?
  • How will children who were 'emerging' in phonics, number or communication be picked up in Year 1?

Starter wording (edit the highlighted parts)

In [month], the Reception and Year 1 teachers will meet to discuss each child. Year 1 receives the Profile report [and a short commentary on each child's characteristics of effective learning]. Parents receive Profile results with [the end-of-year report] and are invited to [meeting / conversation] by [date]. In the first [number] weeks of Year 1 we keep [routines / continuous provision / phonics groupings] to help children settle.

Checklist

Watch out

  • Version: this template follows the group and school-based providers framework dated 14 July 2025, effective 1 September 2025. As of 2026-10-04, check GOV.UK for any later version before relying on paragraph numbers.
  • Childminders have a separate EYFS statutory framework; use that one if you are a childminder.
  • Development Matters (revised September 2023) is non-statutory. Ofsted will not take it into account, and the framework says it is up to providers to decide how they deliver the learning and development requirements (paragraph 1.20). Check whether a newer revision has been published.
  • Do not turn Development Matters statements or the ELGs into a tick list or tracker. Both documents warn against it, and the framework says no written, recorded or photographic evidence is needed for ELG judgements.
  • The EYFS Profile deadline is 30 June. The DfE EYFS Profile handbook is updated each year; read the current year's edition before making and moderating judgements.
  • The Reception Baseline Assessment applies only to school Reception classes; its rules are in Annex B of the framework.
  • A child who stays in EYFS provision beyond the year they turn five is an exceptional case with its own Profile rules (paragraphs 2.18–2.19) — agree it with parents and discuss with the local authority before the cohort's Profile is completed.

Based on these official documents

Main source

EYFS statutory framework (group/school providers, Sept 2025)

The seven areas of learning, educational programmes, early learning goals, characteristics of effective teaching and learning, and the assessment requirements (progress check at two, Reception Baseline, EYFS Profile).

Supporting source

Development Matters (Sep 2023) — eyfs dfe report sep2023

Non-statutory guidance on curriculum design, sequencing, assessment without tick lists, and Reception-stage examples (for instance, decodable reading books).

Supporting source

Development Matters (Sep 2023) — eyfs

Accessible web version of the same Development Matters guidance.