Prime and Specific areas

• Prime: Communication & Language; Personal, Social & Emotional; Physical Development.
• Specific: Literacy; Mathematics; Understanding the World; Expressive Arts & Design.

Using areas in journals/journeys

• Plan enabling environments and provocations that invite these behaviours.
• Tag observations to the most relevant area; link to ELGs when useful.

Practitioner prompts (by area)

• CL: What rich conversations can this provision spark?
• PSED: How will we scaffold turn-taking and self-regulation?
• PD: Which fine/gross movements are invited?
• Lit: Where is purposeful reading/writing embedded?
• Maths: How are patterns, quantity, and composition explored?
• UW: What real-world experiences connect here?
• EAD: Which materials invite creation and imagination?

Provision ideas (quick wins)

• CL: Role-play phone booth with message pads and vocabulary cards.
• PSED: Small-group cooperative games with sand timers and turn tokens.
• PD: Vertical mark-making wall; tweezers+tinker trays for fine motor.
• Lit: Post office with stamps, envelopes, name/word cards.
• Maths: Loose parts for subitising and composition; dice trails.
• UW: Nature table with magnifiers and “I notice/I wonder” frames.
• EAD: Open studio with mixed media; display revisiting of ideas.

Micro‑checklist for planning

• Intent: Which behaviours/skills do we want to invite this week?
• Provision: What small tweaks/resources will enable this?
• Observation: What would count as good evidence here?
• Next step: What will we plan if we notice X?

FAQs

• Do we tag multiple Areas? Usually 1–2 most relevant is enough.
• How do Areas relate to ELGs? Areas are the broad domains; ELGs are end‑of‑reception goals—link when evidence fits.
• Can we use Areas for cohort planning? Yes—group patterns can inform whole‑class provision tweaks.

Links: ELGs Explained · Assessment/Profile · Observations/Next Steps · See also: Learning Journal & Journey