Our Curriculum - Nursery & Preschool In Crayford, Kent
We follow the official english curriculum of The Early Years Foundations Stage (EYFS). EYFS is a government mandated framework for early years.
We strongly believe in open spaces and nature helping children’s mental wellbeing and therefore offer Forest School at our nurseries. Our Forest School happens each day at the nursery and we compliment it by visiting local nature reserve areas and wildlife spotting corners.
EYFS curriculum draws upon many theories of children development including montessori, regio emilia etc. EYFS requires the development focus on seven areas of learning and development with a child driven approach of implementation of learning through play.
EYFS identifies 3 primary areas of a child’s development (physical; personal social & emotional; communication & language) as being crucial in the early years, as they underpin all learning and development. The four specific areas (literacy;mathematics; understanding the world; expressive arts and design) are dependent on the development in the prime areas.
The delivery of the EYFS curriculum is based on carefully planned activities & play which provide children to develop in these areas. Play is essential for children’s development. Play builds and shapes a child’s brain as it provides the necessary sensory stimulation building the nerve networks that create the architecture of the brain. Observation is at the heart of EYFS and by observing a child at play we can make assessment of a child’s development and plan for additional experiences and support that would enhance and extend the learning experience.
Various activities that your child will experience at The Cottage Nursery include:
- Games & Puzzles
- Toys including Blocks, Cars, Train tracks, Jenga
- Drawing, Colouring, & Art
- Role Play and dress up
- Crafts and origami
- Sand & water play
- Outdoor play e.g. ball games, climbing frames, slides
- Cooking e.g. mixing, baking, tasting
- Reading & story telling
- Stretch & physical exercises
We hope to achieve the following for all children in our care:
- Recognise their written name
- Play nicely with others
- Say please, thank you & excuse me
- Eat themselves
- Put on shoes themselves
- Put on coat themselves
- Good personal hygiene e.g. wash hands and keep clean
Learning & Development
We follow the EYFS framework that emphasizes the various Learning and Development outcomes for each Unique child with the help of Positive relationships in an Enabling environment.
We recognize that each child in my care is unique and shall develop at his/her own pace. We provide for inclusive activities in which all children can participate. Where required we make adjustments to have children with special needs feel included in those activities. We interact with children by encouraging, facilitating, and supporting them as they play. Children learn through play, talking about their experiences and sharing their enjoyment, and therefore becoming more confident and independent.
Our learning plan for children includes activities for indoor and outdoor play, offsite activities, Toys, Educational DVDs, and Educational apps on iPad. Our plan of activities will be based on the Early Years Foundation Stage Program, working towards the Early Learning Goals, covering the seven areas of learning – Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Communication and Language, Physical Development, Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding of the World, Expressive Arts and Design.
The layout of the play areas allows children to initiate and put into operation their own ideas during child-initiated work time. Materials and equipment available for the children to use are easily accessible encouraging independence, appropriate to their stages of development, adequate to support all areas of learning and development.
There are a few things that we target to achieve with children in our care. These include are basic personal hygiene habits, wearing their shoes and jackets, using cutlery for eating by the time they are school age. Our aim to get children ready for school which largely requires some bit of personal independence for a child to be able to take care of self and make the right choices and emotional and social independence to be able to spend most of their day at school with other children away from family and home.
We shall constantly make observations of your child’s progress. This will be done using either written notes or photographic evidence. These observations will be used to monitor progress and plan further activities that will help him/her to work towards the Early Learning Goals. These observations also provide information that can be shared with you and are sent home, once a term, for you to share with your family.
