Curriculum
Children will receive a balanced curriculum according to their needs. This is carefully planned remembering that play is the principal means by which children learn. High level play sustains interest and motivation because it is self-chosen. Children develop understanding in many different ways, but they learn best in an environment where they feel safe, secure, confident and have opportunities for enjoyment.
The five key aspects of the curriculum
Emotional, Personal and Social Development:
- Making friends and getting on with other children
- Encouraging confidence and sense of worth
- Learning to look after yourself, making choices (for example between different kinds of play)
- Knowing who to ask for help
- Caring for other people or your surroundings
- Telling others how you feel and what you like best
- Learning to persevere in tasks that at first seem difficult
- Playing together, taking turns and sharing resources
- Developing positive attitudes towards others whose gender, language, religion or culture, for example, is different from their own
- Celebrating cultural and religious festivals to help children become aware of their importance in people's lives
- Providing equal opportunities for boys, girls and children from other cultures to learn together
Communication and Language:
- Having fun with words- listen and respond to stories, songs, music, rhymes and other poetry
- Listening to other children and adults
- Talking to other children and adults
- Sharing thoughts, feelings and experiences
- Using words to explain, ask questions and develop ideas
- Using books and becoming aware of letter names and sounds when playing (shopping lists, menus)
- Using their own drawings and written marks to tell about their ideas
- Experimenting with symbols, letters and sometimes words
- Recognising familiar words and letters
The initial letter of their name is very important to the child and often the first letter they write.
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
- Looking at and noticing things, and using the five senses to find things out
- Becoming familiar with people and places in the local area
- Designing and making things (for example using construction toys)
- Finding out about materials by playing with them- sand, water, dough, clay, gluck, ice
- Finding out about animals and plants
- Caring for living things
- Finding out about number, measurement and shape through high quality, planned play experiences
A wide range of practical experiences to nurture children's confidence in their own abilities- to learn from and about their world
Expressive and Aesthetic Development
Children learn best when they are actively participating in their learning experience. Music and dance provide a variety of contexts from which staff can plan and extend children's learning.
Children learn to express ideas and feelings through:
- Role play- acting out situations, for example, a trip to the hospital
- Painting, drawing and modelling
- Singing, clapping and playing instruments, making music
- Taking part in movement and dance
Physical Development and Movement
Children learn through active play to:
- Become confident in movement
- Explore different ways of moving- crawling, skipping, running
- Co-operate with others to play the game
- Develop increasing control of fine movements- pencil grip, cutting skills, doing jigsaws, fastening zips and buttons
- Become aware of how important it is to eat healthily
- Develop skills like climbing, throwing and catching, balancing
'It is very difficult to learn or think when movement is constrained.... As C moves, he receives kinaesthetic (physical) feedback to the brain through his body, limbs and head. This kind of feedback is his window on the world and is one of the key areas in which he makes meaning of his experiences and can learn from them.'
(ref. Developing Learning in Early Childhood 0-8 Years by Tina Bruce)
The development and learning needs of younger children can be different in nature from those of children nearing school age.
Younger children need;
- Lots of encouragement and support
- Ongoing praise and reassurance
- Opportunities to become independent
- Time to make friendships
- Familiar routines
- Small and secure play spaces
- Time to be quiet and to rest
- Time to play