Broad phases of development for the Early Years
All children are different and, to reflect this, age ranges have been overlapped in the Early Years Foundation Stage to create broad developmental phases. This emphasises that each child’s progress is individual to them and that different children develop at different rates. A child does not suddenly move from one phase to another, and they do not make progress in all areas at the same time. However, there are some important ‘steps’ for each child to take along their own developmental pathway. These are shown on the areas of learning and development in the sections look, listen and note and development matters.
There are six broad developmental phases.
- Birth–11 months
- 8–20 months
- 16–26 months
- 22–36 months
- 30–50 months
- 40–60+ months
