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Early Years Education Level 1 & Level 2 Courses

young child playing with a toy camera
Getting Ahead

Early Years Education CACHE Level 1 Diploma & CACHE Level 2 Diploma at South Downs Campus

Welcome to Early Years Education. We are looking forward to meeting you in the next academic year. Below are activities that will allow you to make the best start to this subject area. We look forward to seeing them when you start.

Please send your completed Getting Ahead work to – Gettingahead-earlyyearssd@hsdc.ac.uk

children playing with building blocks

‘Play is an essential part of every child’s life and is vital for the enjoyment of childhood as well as social, emotional, intellectual and physical development.’ – Playengland.org.uk

Write an essay on the importance of play to babies’ and young children’s learning and development. You should include how play supports the different areas of development you have researched to complete the child development booklet. The essay should be between 500-750 words and should be in your own words. The task should be brought to your enrolment interview.

Research the meaning of the following keywords used in Early Years

Key Term Definition
Development  

 
Growth  

 
Developmental Milestones  

 
Rate of Development  

 
Sequence of Development  

 
Maturation  

 
Developmental Norms  

 

 

Research the definition of each of the following areas of development

Area of Development Definition
Physical Development, including Fine and Gross Motor Skills  

 
Cognitive Development  

 
Language Development, including Receptive Language and Expressive Language  

 
Emotional Development  

 
Brain Development  

 

Note what children in each of the age categories below should be achieving at each of the following developmental stages

Social Development

0-1 months  

 
2-3 months  

 
3-6 months  

 
6-9 months  

 
9-12 months  

 
12-18 months  

 
18 months-2 years  

 
2-3 years  

 
3-4 years  

 
4-5 years  

 
5-7 years  

 

 

Physical Development

0-1 months  

 
2-3 months  

 
3-6 months  

 
6-9 months  

 
9-12 months  

 
12-18 months  

 
18 months-2 years  

 
2-3 years  

 
3-4 years  

 
4-5 years  

 
5-7 years  

 

 

Cognitive Development

0-1 months  

 
2-3 months  

 
3-6 months  

 
6-9 months  

 
9-12 months  

 
12-18 months  

 
18 months-2 years  

 
2-3 years  

 
3-4 years  

 
4-5 years  

 
5-7 years  

 

 

Language Development – Receptive and Expressive Development

0-1 months  

 
2-3 months  

 
3-6 months  

 
6-9 months  

 
9-12 months  

 
12-18 months  

 
18 months-2 years  

 
2-3 years  

 
3-4 years  

 
4-5 years  

 
5-7 years  

 

 

Emotional Development

0-1 months  

 
2-3 months  

 
3-6 months  

 
6-9 months  

 
9-12 months  

 
12-18 months  

 
18 months-2 years  

 
2-3 years  

 
3-4 years  

 
4-5 years  

 
5-7 years  

 

 

Brain Development

0-1 months  

 
2-3 months  

 
3-6 months  

 
6-9 months  

 
9-12 months  

 
12-18 months  

 
18 months-2 years  

 
2-3 years  

 
3-4 years  

 
4-5 years  

 
5-7 years  

 

 

Design and create a storybook for a child between 4 and 5 years old to increase their interest in reading.

Resources

Meet your Lecturers

  • early years lecturer cathryn atherton

    Cathryn Atherton

  • early years lecturer jill clausen

    Jill Clausen

  • early years lecturer nikki sparshatt

    Nikki Sparshatt

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Your Learning Space

*This is a representation of your learning space and may not be the exact room you will be using

I’m very, very happy, I didn’t expect to do so well. The College has been helpful and supportive. I loved my courses, and the teachers were really good – every single one of them. The facilities are great, but it’s the staff that really make this place.

Matthew Randell, A Level student

My courses were all especially interesting, I thoroughly enjoyed all of them. All of my lecturers were extremely knowledgeable and I have learnt a lot from them.

Lottie Warren, A Level student

There are lots of people at the college, each studying a diverse range of courses, people from all different areas come to study here, it creates a sense of community, there is a huge social aspect to college life across all courses.

Lee Backhouse, BTEC student