Nursery

My Promise to You.

I promise you every day your child will learn something.

Some days they will bring it home in their hands.

Some days they will bring it home in their heads,

and some days they will bring it home in their hearts.

Valerie Welk.

Nursery Class

We teach and the children learn through “IN the Moment Planning”

“In the moment” planning is a very simple idea – observing and interacting with children as they pursue their own interests and also assessing and moving the learning on in that moment.  The written account of some of these interactions becomes a learning journey.  This approach leads to deep level learning and wonderful surprises occur daily.”

Anna Ephgrave

When children are playing and selecting what to do themselves, they become deeply engaged.  While this is happening, the adults will be observing and waiting for a moment in which we feel that we can make a difference.  We will then interact to ‘teach’ the ‘next step’ as appropriate for that unique child at that precise moment.  Each time we interact with a child, we are observing, assessing, planning for, and responding to, that individual child.  Such interactions are the most important and powerful teaching moments.  

It is in that moment of curiosity, puzzlement, effort or interest – the ‘teachable moment’ – that the skillful adult makes a difference. 

“By using this cycle on a moment-by-moment basis, the adults will be always alert to individual children (observation), always thinking about what it tells us about the child’s thinking (assessment), and always ready to respond by using appropriate strategies at the right moment to support children’s well-being and learning.”

The National Strategies document “Learning, Playing and Interacting. 

As skillful practitioners we know that we need to observe before interacting with a child and we know that the best interactions are not planned in advance.   Rather, as the quotes above suggests, the best interactions happen when we respond to a child’s interests and efforts immediately.  We then record these interactions, on TAPESTRY for you to share and enjoy with your child.

When children arrive, nothing is set out but everything is available and accessible. 

The doors to the outside are open immediately, as some children can only become deeply engaged outdoors.  From day one, the children will be supported to explore the environment to see, what is available, to select the resources or provocations they would like, to use them appropriately and to tidy the area when they have finished.  

Ground rules are essential when so much freedom is given – all the children need to feel safe.  Clear and consistent expectations are key.  For example, indoors the children will walk and use quieter voices – running and shouting can be done outside. AND everyone helps to tidy up. We can then enjoy circle and story time together as a group.

Teachers - Mrs Sharon Alsop and Miss Shelley Taylor

• To create a secure, caring and friendly environment where both adults and children are valued and have mutual respect for each other.
• To develop a child's social skills to enable them to interact with their peers and adults and to prepare them to become tolerant members of the local community.
• To promote high standards of behaviour and provide a code of conduct, by which all pupils will live, work and play.

The curriculum is known as the ‘Early Years Foundation Stage’. The curriculum has seven areas of learning and development. All areas are important and inter-connected. Three areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive. The three prime areas are communication and language, personal, social and emotional development and physical development. These are supported with four specific areas of learning, which are literacy, mathematics, understanding the world and finally expressive arts and design.

Reading together

Reading gives parents an opportunity to spend quality time with their child and it can also be beneficial for your own mental wellbeing. Parents often put pressure on themselves to spend long periods of time reading with their child, however, research suggests that even 10 minutes of reading a day can have a dramatic impact. Book Trust, the UK’s largest children’s reading charity, notes that it is never too early to start reading with your children.

Reading should be fun! It's a time for closeness, laughing and talking together – and it can also give children a flying start in life and help them become lifelong readers. 

“You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax all you need is a book!” – Dr. Seuss

Our ‘Top 10 recommended books’ for 3-4 year olds:

1.  The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr
2.  Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers
3.  Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
4.  The Snowman by Raymond Briggs
5.  Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
6.  We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
7.  The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss
8.  I want my hat back by Jon Klassen
9.  Whatever Next by Jill Murphy
10.  A Squash and a Squeeze by Julia Donaldson