Exploring the Shaper Profile and 6Cs in Foundation

The 6 C's are among the many essential building blocks of the Foundation stage Framework and so the concepts are already widely in use every day in Nursery and Reception, but to help our youngest children to understand these concepts, we have adjusted and adapted our language and activities.

To help our young students grasp these concepts, rather than use the word “Compassion”, we use 'being kind' and 'helping others’ in the early years. Children are prompted to 'have a go', 'keep trying' to give them courage and confidence to do so. 'Sharing' is a word often heard in sharing toys, play, stories, and used to encourage “Collaboration” between the children. Teachers plan activities to spark children's natural curiosity that leads them to ask questions and a desire to find out more, so a lot of  'why, how, when, what did you notice..' is heard when working on these concepts.

Learning to communicate is vital for children to interact with the persons in their world and to have their needs met, so Communication and language is a key area of the Learning of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum, which focuses on developing speaking, listening, having attention and understanding language.

Finally, the first step in addressing Citizenship with young children is to support them in making friendships and build relationships, to help them appreciate how their behaviour and actions affect others. This is achieved through displays, talking, discussion, stories about such topics as families, health, environmental issues, and being aware of people who help us.

This week, the Reception topic is based on the Little Red Hen, which focuses on Compassion, kindness and empathy. Over the next few weeks, Nursery will be using Pete the Cat stories that include many of the 6 C's.

Liz Wood
Primary Deputy Principal