Our Curriculum
While your child is at Pre-School, they are at the Early Years Foundation Stage of their education. The curriculum for children at the foundation stage is divided into four themes, which express important Principles underpinning effective practice in the care, development and learning of young children.
Within the Pre-School, all children are supported in developing their potential at their own pace. Our keyworker system enables us to ensure a planned curriculum tailored to the needs of each individual child.
Our approach is child-led. This means that our provision and environment is designed, changed and adapted by the children’s wants and needs. We do this by….
- Following their interests
- Challenging their play
- Enhancing their play by introducing other learning elements
- Extending their play
Our aim is for children to be…
- Resilient
- Confident
- Keen to learn
- Enthusiastic
Our approach is based upon spontaneity. By observing children ’in the moment’, we base learning opportunities on what the children are interested in. This is a more modern structure than pre-planning activities and group times weeks in advance based on what the adults feel compelled to cover. This child-led model is now gaining popularity among many early years educators. The system is all about completing the planning cycle in the actual moment instead of planning in advance.
It’s essential to create an environment that stimulates curiosity and enables each child to engage in activities without being directed by an adult. We have an enhancement board that is completed whenever a child shows a particular interest. This then helps us plan our provision immediately. We assess the cohort attending and take into consideration their current interests, as well as their learning styles, and change the environment accordingly.
Our highly skilled practitioners observe the children and identify ‘teachable moments’ when the children are fully engaged and can support, develop or introduce new skills or help to master a current skill being developed.
A Unique Child
Every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured
Positive Relationships
Children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person
Enabling Environments
The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning
Learning and Development
Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of Learning and Development are equally important and inter-connected. Areas covered in Early Years Foundation Stage are:-
- Communication and Language
- Physical Development
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
Our keyworker system
We operate a keyworker system under which each child and their family are allocated a particular member of staff who will monitor and record, as accurately and objectively as possible, their development. We believe it is important for the child and their family to have a main point of contact within the Pre-School.
A keyworker’s role is to support a child when they are away from their home, to give them consistent, continuous care that will foster confidence and positive self-esteem and help the child feel safe and secure both emotionally and physically.
A keyworker will:
Share a child's Learning Journey with the child’s parents
Communicate regularly with the child's parents or carers
Answer any queries that a parent may have
Offer re-assurance, informing the parent of their child's progress
Ensure the families are provided with all the necessary information
Members of staff are always happy to talk to parents about their child outside Pre-School hours. Please ask for an appointment.
