Stottesdon CofE Primary School

Stottesdon Gateway Nursery Curriculum

At Stottesdon Gateway Nursery we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) which sets the standards for Learning, Development and Care for children from birth to five.

Early childhood is the foundation on which children build the rest of their lives. It is not just a preparation for the next stage but is vitally important in itself. Learning for children is a rewarding and enjoyable experience in which they explore, investigate, discover, create, practice, rehearse, repeat, revise and consolidate their developing knowledge, skills, understanding and attitudes. During the Foundation Stage, many of these aspects of learning are brought together effectively through playing and talking.

Working within the EYFS helps Stottesdon Gateway Nursery to create an environment that is welcoming, safe and stimulating, where children are able to enjoy themselves and where they can grow in confidence and fulfil their potential.
We adhere to the ‘Statutory Framework of the EYFS’ and the four guiding principles that shape practice within Early Years settings:

1. Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured;

2. Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships;

3. 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/ carers;

4. Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates.

Our Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum

Our EYFS Curriculum has been designed to reflect the nature of our beautiful environment, the seasons of the year and the nature around our school. It aims to teach the children how their environment compares to other places, cultures and nature in other parts of the world. It is therefore unique to Stottesdon C of E Primary school. Each topic planned is included in the curriculum for very specific reasons and we want to ensure that all children leaving the Early Years are ready to start the Key Stage 1 curriculum. Each topic is exciting and challenging with: themes based on our two-year cycle; supporting observations of children’s needs; their interests and experiences; their stages of development across the seven areas of learning. The combination of these will enable the children to achieve and go beyond the 17 Early Learning Goals.
We follow a two-year rolling programme, with a theme for each term.

Our Curricular Goals

We designed our curricular goals with the particular strengths and needs of the children of our school in mind. The goals are ambitious. They provide an overview of many of the different things we would like children to know and be able to do at the end of nursery and the end of reception. The goals are adaptable to the particular children on roll. We offer scaffolding and extra support to help every child to access the curriculum and to ensure they make progress through it. However, we recognise that every child will not make the same progress through the curricular goals.

Our Curricular Goals can be found here: Stottesdon Nursery and Reception Curricular Goals

Prime Areas

Children in the EYFS should mostly develop the three prime areas first. These are:
• Communication and Language;
• Physical Development;
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development.

These prime areas are those most essential for children’s healthy development and future learning. As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in four specific areas.

Specific Areas

• Literacy;
• Mathematics;
• Understanding the World;
• Expressive Arts and Design.

All seven main areas of learning are incorporated into the outdoor curriculum and planning is cross curricular across all areas. Throughout the EYFS curriculum we are always incorporating children’s skills and development under the characteristics of effective teaching and learning by providing opportunities to support playing and exploring, active learning and creating and thinking critically.

For more information here is a parent guide: What to expect in the EYFS?

Children’s Individual Observations

Throughout your child’s time with us we will keep a record of how their learning progresses. This will be recorded using a secure, web-based package. It will be a collection of photographs, observations by staff, comments from you and statements made by your child. This information will all be used to track how well your child is doing. This learning journey will be available to you at home, giving you 24-hour access to it. Once your child has been set up on the system, you will automatically be sent an email which will set you up with a secure password. You will be able to add your own observations, photographs and videos.

Parent Partnership with Nursery

As outlined in the ‘Statutory Framework for Early Years Foundation Stage’ 2021
‘Good parenting and high-quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up’
We agree parents and carers have a significant role to play in the lifelong education of their child. We strive to create and maintain partnerships with parents/carers as we recognise that together, we can have a significant impact on a child’s learning. We welcome and actively encourage parents to participate confidently in their child’s education and care in numerous ways:
• An induction meeting
• Offering settling in sessions to suit child and family needs
• An open-door approach for parents to voice concerns/ask questions;
• Parent Consultations in Autumn, Spring and Summer
• Valuing parents’ contributions to learning journeys;
• Library book system;
• Communication app - ‘Class Dojo’;
• Parents are invited to a range of activities throughout the school year such as assemblies, workshops, Christmas Nativity play and sports day etc;
• We also draw on our links with the community to enrich children’s experiences by taking them on outings and inviting members of the community into our setting to talk about their lives, work and experiences.