Early Years
Children in the Nursery and Reception classes follow the guidelines for teaching and learning within the Early Years Foundation Stage. This includes the following guiding principles:
- every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured, children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships
- 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/or carers
- children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates
EYFS Curriculum Progression Grids
Characteristics of Effective Learning
Planning reflects how each child learns, as reflected in the Characteristics of Effective Learning:- Playing and Exploring
- Active Learning
- Creating and Thinking Critically
The children are encouraged to be independent learners who explore, investigate and take risks.
Learning Opportunities
Learning opportunities are provided to reflect all areas of the curriculum both indoors and outdoors and children have access to the outdoor space throughout the day.
The children are encouraged to build their own learning, with opportunities provided to self-select the resources they need. Areas of the learning environment provide opportunities for role play, writing, reading, maths, reflection, snack table, technology, investigation, small world, construction, creative, tactile, gardening, music, dance and physical development.
The children in Reception class begin to have more structured learning times added to their day as the year progresses, these include a phonics program of learning, group reading, focused writing groups and focused maths activities.
Planning
Planning is cross-curricular, topics provide starting points for the children’s learning, but these remain flexible and through careful observation of children’s play staff reflect each day and plan as a team to follow areas of interest generated by the children.
Owl Babies in the Forest School
Nursery loved listening and retelling the story of the 3 baby owls who missed their Mummy. They were even more amazed when they discovered some owls nesting in the trees of the Forest School!
Trip to the Horniman Museum
"We're going on a journey, a journey, a journey, we're going on a journey to see what we can find..."
We went to The Horniman Museum for a workshop all about animals that live in ponds, rivers and the sea! We stroked a caiman, touched shark teeth and saw lots of sea creatures in the aquarium! Thank you to the lovely staff at museum who made our trip so special.
Chinese New Year
Children in the Nursery learned so much: how to use chopsticks, how to dance like a dragon and how to make a lantern. There was plenty to talk about, including all the different animals of the Chinese zodiac.
The cold never bothered us anyway!
The ice did not stop us from having fun in Reception. We got on our coats, hats and gloves and ventured outside! We found lots of ice and made a baby snowman. We made marks in the frost and watched as the ice melted in our hands.
"It's so cold!" - Orianni
"Look, the ice made the leaf frozen!" - Minhaz
"It's melting, my hands are warm!" - Precious
Vets Surgery
This term, Reception class have become vets! They are taking such good care of their patients. The children are delivering injections, putting on bandages, and booking appointments.
"This cat's leg is broken so we have to give it the injection." - Max
"What's wrong with the dog? Does he need medicine?" - Mithulaa
Hip Hip Hooray for Superworm
Reception class have been enjoying the story Superworm by Julia Donaldson. We enjoyed it so much that we made our own Superworm to decorate the classroom! We chanted his chant: Superworm is super long! Superworm is super strong! Watch him wiggle, see him squirm, hip, hip, hooray for Superworm!
Shiver Me Timbers!
Nursery have been discovering what exactly pirates do, as well as learning some pirate talk like 'Ooaar me hearties' and 'Yo ho ho'. They have gone on adventures in their pirate ship and have been looking for buried treasure.
