EYFS 2026 — what changed

Framework changes get talked about as though everything is new. It is worth starting with what has not moved, because that is most of your job.

Unchanged:

• The seven areas of learning are exactly the same.
• The Early Learning Goals are the same.
• Development Matters has not been withdrawn or replaced. It was last updated in September 2023 and is still the curriculum guidance we use.
• How we plan, observe, and write about children has not changed at all.
• Ratios, qualifications and the key person requirement are as they were.

What did change, and matters to you:

• Safer eating — more detail about how children sit and how adults watch. This is the one that changes a lunchtime.
• Banned dog breeds — a new, absolute prohibition.
• Allergy action plans — a written plan per child, developed with the family.
• Choking records — we already wrote them down; now they have to be read back.
• Children’s screen use — there is now a named piece of guidance to have regard to.
• Safer sleep — tightened up in the framework, but our safer sleep practice already met all of it. Nothing changes for you here. It is on the list so you know it was checked, not skipped.

📅 Dates, so you can quote them. The framework is dated 13 July 2026 and took effect 1 September 2026. There are two versions — one for childminders and one for group and school-based providers. JLK follows the group and school-based one.

• I know the seven areas and the Early Learning Goals have not changed
• I know Development Matters is still current and has not been replaced
• I can say when the new framework came into force

If you only remember one module, make it this one. Choking is the thing the framework has become most specific about, and the reason is in its own wording: “Choking can be completely silent.”

That sentence is the whole argument. You cannot rely on hearing a child in trouble. You have to be able to see them.

Four things that are now explicit:

• Children must always be within sight and hearing of a member of staff while they are eating. Not nearby. Not in the same room with your back turned. In sight.
• Sit facing the children while they eat, wherever you can. This is about where you put your chair, and it costs nothing. Facing them means you see how a child is managing their food, you see food being passed between children, and you see a reaction starting.
• Babies and young children are seated safely — a highchair, or a low chair of a size that actually suits that child. Not perched, not kneeling up, not wandering with food.
• A designated eating space, with distractions kept down. Eating is not something to do in the middle of everything else.

And one that was already true but is now written down properly: whilst children are eating there should always be a member of staff in the room holding a valid full-course paediatric first aid certificate. At JLK that was already our rule. What is new is that it is a statutory expectation, which means we have to be able to show who it was.

Food preparation and textures. Two more things the framework is now explicit about, and both involve talking to parents rather than guessing:

• Food must be prepared in a way that prevents choking — following the DfE food safety guidance, not habit.
• We must have ongoing conversations with parents about the stage their child is at with solid foods and the textures they are used to. The framework says plainly: “Assumptions must not be made based on age.” A child’s birthday tells you nothing about what they can chew.

If a child does choke and it needs intervention: record where and how it happened, and tell the parents. We already did both. What is new is that those records now get read back periodically, to see whether the same food, the same time of day or the same place keeps coming up. That review sits in the monthly quality walk.

• I will sit facing the children at mealtimes wherever I can
• I know “within sight and hearing” means I can see them, not just hear them
• I know who the paediatric first aider in the room is at my mealtimes
• I will ask parents about textures rather than assume from a child’s age

Banned dog breeds. Dogs covered by section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 — which includes the XL Bully type — must not be kept or present on our premises at any time.

• This holds even if the owner has a certificate of exemption. An exemption lets somebody keep the dog. It does not let the dog come here.
• It applies to everyone — staff, parents, visitors, contractors, anyone collecting a child — and to the garden as much as indoors.
• If one arrives: do not approach the dog. Ask the owner to take it off site, and tell your manager so it gets recorded.
• Assistance dogs are a different thing and are welcome. We risk-assess them with the family, as we would any animal visiting.

Allergy action plans. You already know the symptoms and the treatments — that part of our training was already strong. What is new is the document. Every child with a known allergy or intolerance should have a written allergy action plan, developed with their parents and where appropriate a health professional, using the BSACI template. It is kept up to date through ongoing conversation, not written once and filed, and it is shared with everyone who works with that child or handles their food.

And at every meal and snack, somebody is clearly responsible for checking the food meets that child’s requirements. If you do not know who that is at your table, that is the gap.

Children’s screen use. There is now a named DfE guidance document that providers must have regard to when deciding how and when screens are used with children. Our Online Safety policy already covered keeping screen time sensible and tied to learning; it now names the guidance. Nothing about your day changes.

The baby-room question — relevant at Bromley. The framework says there should be a separate baby room for children under two. Croydon has seven rooms and Lewisham has two, so both are fine. Bromley is one open mixed-age space.

• “Should” is not “must”, so this is not a breach — but an inspector may ask, and the answer should not be invented on the spot.
• The next sentence of the same clause is the one worth knowing: providers must ensure babies have contact with older children and move into the older age group when appropriate. An open space does that by design.
• Our written position is in the Ofsted pack. If you are asked, say what we have and why it works — never apologise for it, and never claim we have a separate baby room when we do not.

• I know what to do if a banned breed arrives at the gate, including not approaching it
• I know an exemption certificate does not allow the dog on our premises
• I know where the allergy action plans for my children are kept
• If I work at Bromley, I know how to answer the baby-room question

Scenario. It is 11:50 and lunch is going out. You are the only practitioner at your table. One child has a dairy allergy. Another is eighteen months old and new this week. A parent arrives early at the gate to collect, with a dog on a lead.

What good looks like:

• You are sat down, facing the table, before the food arrives — not standing behind serving.
• You know, before anyone eats, who is checking the dairy-allergy plate. If that is you, you check it. If it is the kitchen, you confirm it has been done rather than assume.
• The eighteen-month-old is in a chair that fits her, and you have already asked her mum what textures she is used to at home — because her age does not tell you.
• The dog at the gate: you do not leave the table. Children eating must stay within sight and hearing. You call for a colleague to go to the gate. If the dog is a banned breed, they do not approach it — they ask the owner to take it off site and tell the manager.

The thing that goes wrong most often is the last one. The instinct when something happens at the gate is to go and deal with it. At 11:50 with food on the table, the children in front of you are the priority and somebody else goes.

Reflection prompt: think about your last lunchtime. Were you facing the children or alongside them? Could you see every child’s face? If the answer is no, what would you move — your chair, the table, or the timing?

• I’ve thought about my last lunchtime and what I would change about where I sit