Our curriculum is based on the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (2017). According to the EYFS; “There are seven areas of learning and development that must shape educational programmes in early years settings. All areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected.” The seven areas of learning and development are:
• Communication and language development involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment; to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves; and to speak and listen in a range of situations.
• Physical development involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive; and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity and to make healthy choices in relation to food.
• Personal, social and emotional development involves helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others; to form positive relationships and develop respect for others; to 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 encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Children must be given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems, and other written materials) to ignite their interest.
• Mathematics involves 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 measure.
• Understanding the world involves 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 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.
"Children arrive happily at the setting…Key persons work closely with parents and carers resulting in children quickly settling in."
(Ofsted report. October 2017)
The Bees room takes children from the age of 6 months to around 2 years 6 months. In The Bees room, the focus is on the prime areas of learning and development; communication and language development, physical development and personal, social and emotional development.
The babies and young children remain close to their key worker who they will see each time they come in. The environment is set up to support the learning and development in the three prime areas defined by the EYFS which are Physical (PD) Personal, Social and Emotional (PSED) and Communication and Language (CL). The babies and young children are encouraged to take part in messy play, such as, shaving foam, sand, water and cornflour. Also, they spend time outside in the garden each day.
They join for circle time in the morning and afternoon sessions for singing and short stories. Also, they have two music sessions a week where the children can explore movement and a variety of instruments.
Rabbits room takes children from the age of around 2 years 6 months to 5 years. The environment is set up to provide lots of learning opportunities supporting the seven areas of learning and development. Children can free-flow between indoors and the outdoors for the majority of the session.
At the end of the morning and afternoon session, the children come together for circle time. The children are split into groups according to their age; one group for the 2-3 year-olds and one group for the 3-5 year olds. For the younger group we focus on stories and singing. For the older group we use the Letters and Sounds Phase One Phonics Programme to plan activities. In addition, we read stories, have discussions and show and tell.
Other planned activities include weekly music sessions, regular cooking groups and local community trips. This year we have observed baby chicks hatching and caterpillars turning into butterflies.
We use Tapestry, an online learning journal, to record your child’s learning and development. Each child will have an individual online learning journal, which records observations, photos/videos and comments, in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. Parents will have secure access to their child’s learning journal via an email and password. Parents can view their child’s learning journal, provide comments and make their own contributions to the learning journal from home.