Curriculum

The Pre-school will use the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) to ensure each child will receive a quality experience that supports their development and learning.  This framework is mandatory for all early years providers and was last revised in September 2021.  The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. It promotes teaching and learning to ensure children’s ‘school readiness’ and gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life. 

The EYFS gives us four guiding principles which shape practice in our Pre-school. These are:

Unique Child– every child is a unique child who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.

Positive Relationships- Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.

Enabling Environments– Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and carers.

Learning and Development- Children develop and learn in different ways. The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

There are seven areas of learning and development that shape our planning. All areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected.  The prime areas are: communication and language; physical development; and personal, social and emotional development. 

The activities and experiences we offer the children cover the following areas: 

• Communication and language development 

• involves us giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment.  We develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves and to speak and listen in a range of situations. 

• Physical development involves us providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive.  We encourage them to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. We help them to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food. We support children with their toileting and self-care skills.

• Personal, social and emotional development involves us helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others.  We encourage them to form positive relationships and develop respect for others.  We help them develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behaviour in groups; and to have confidence in their own abilities. 

• Literacy development involves us encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Children will be given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems, and other written materials) to ignite their interest. 

• Mathematics involves us providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shapes, spaces and measures. We will help the children to understand that maths is all around us and a key part of our everyday lives.

• Understanding the world involves us guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment. 

• Expressive arts and design involves us enabling children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, and design and technology. 

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We implement each area of learning and development through purposeful play and a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity. Play is essential for children’s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, to think about problems, and relate to others. Children learn by leading their own play, and by taking part in play which is supported by adults.  We respond to each child’s emerging needs and interests, guiding their development through warm, positive interaction. 

The ways in which the child engages with other people and their environment – playing and exploring, active learning, and creating and thinking critically – underpin learning and development across all areas and support the child to remain an effective and motivated learner. These are known as the ‘Characteristics of Effective Learning’.  Reference to these ‘characteristics’ help us to identify how a child learns so we can better plan for their future learning.  Practitioners will note how children learn in order to set up appropriate opportunities because by following their interests, children are motivated to learn.

Last reviewed: Currently under review - August 2024