Welcome to Nursery

Teaching children to become effective communicators allows them to access all other areas of their learning. We use stories, songs and rhymes to broaden children’s vocabulary and teach children the important features of communication.

We encourage children to express and share ideas and feelings about their experiences and listen to one another. This enables children to build positive relationships with others.

Children will be taught to follow simple instructions and respond to and ask simple questions. Children will build up their conversational ability to become skilful and effective communicators using a wide range of vocabulary, within context.

Motor skills are an essential factor of development for all children. Both fine (small) motor skills and gross (large) motor skills will contribute to a child’s development and independence.

Gross motor skills involve the larger muscles in the arms, legs and torso. Gross motor activities include walking, running, throwing, lifting, kicking, etc. These skills also relate to body awareness, reaction speed, balance and strength.

Children will develop core strength, balance, coordination and spatial awareness through experience and practise.

We have free flow to the outdoor environment which can be accessed by all children at our times.

Fine motor skills involve the use of the smaller muscle of the hands, commonly in activities like using pencils, scissors, construction with lego or duplo, doing up buttons and opening lunch boxes.

The children will use small tools in their day to day learning and play to develop the muscles they will need when they become ready for writing.

In Nursery we recognise the importance of understanding our own feelings and self awareness. We learn about these through the Zones of Regulation where children are taught strategies to use to help regulate their emotions and understand how they are feeling.

We encourage our children to build relationships, understand the importance of rules and routines and manage our own behaviour and learning.

We focus upon making maths meaningful and relevant to our nursery children, relating it to their everyday routines and play. Children are given practical, hands on experiences to help to develop their understanding of quantity, number, shape and measures.

We teach a short, small group maths session daily and extend this with additional activities throughout our environment.

In Nursery, we are always investigating and solving problems in our play, using mathematical language to explain our thinking.

Reading – In nursery, we develop our children’s early literacy skills through the celebration of stories, non-fiction texts and poems.
Children will have access to a huge variety of books in school and share stories on a daily basis.

Read Write Inc.

We follow the Read, Write Inc. approach to teach children the skills needed to read and write. In nursery, we support children to develop listening skills and sound discrimination that will prepare them for the learning of sounds.
Phonics is taught daily and targeted to each child’s individual ability. During the spring and summer terms, we will introduce the children to letters and their sounds through the Read Write Inc. scheme.
Writing – Throughout the year, the children will develop their fine and gross motor skills and begin to mark make.
As children become ready to write, we will teach the specific features and forms of writing e.g. pencil grip and letter formation.

We teach children about the world in which they live and look at themselves, their families, other people, the local environment and community and the wider world.

Children will be taught to ask questions and explore the world around them to help deepen their knowledge and build their vocabulary.

They will develop their curiosity through investigations and explorations, making links to their own experiences. Adults will teach children to explain their thinking and make predictions building on prior knowledge.

Children are taught to express their ideas through art, design, imaginative play and music.

Children are taught to use a range of materials effectively and purposefully. They are shown how to use simple tools and techniques to design and create their ideas.

Through small world and imaginative play, children are able to act out real life experiences and create their own adventures, helping them to make sense of the world around them. Adults support children in their play, enhancing vocabulary and teaching children how to develop ideas collaboratively.