Curriculum and Planning
All children who attend The Old School House Nursery (OSHN Ltd) are individual and unique and will be treated with respect and supported to learn and make progress within their development in ways which are personalised to their individual needs.
All classrooms are carefully prepared for the children, with a combination of continuous provision within our Montessori based prepared environments as well as with additional planned daily activities, to enable a personalised approach to learning and development.
Planning
When planning for our children’s learning and development staff will consider:
Intent- What is/are the intended learning opportunities provided through any continuous provision and planned activities.
Implementation- How is this going to be achieved ? What resources do you need? How many children? When and how will it be completed?
Impact – evaluating how the continuous provision is being used or how the activity went after it has been completed through reflective practice. What did the children learn or achieve ? How could you improve this provision? What will you change in the environment or do next time?
These three I’s will be used to then plan for all children’s further development and learning.
Early Years Foundation Stage
All planned activities and prepared environments are also underpinned by the Early Years Foundation Stage
The Early Years Foundation Stage is split into 3 Prime Areas and 4 Specific Areas of learning and development for all children aged 0-60 months. The EYFS provides Early Learning Goals for each area, broken down into age brackets for children to securely achieve before their 5th Birthday.
3 Prime Areas
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Communication and Language Development
Physical Development
4 Specific Areas
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding of the World
Expressive Art and Design
In every classroom activities are planned to provide opportunities for every child to achieve the early learning goals within the 7 different areas.
In the Infant Community the main focus is on the 3 primes areas, as without this base, achi
evement in the Specific Areas can be limited. The continuous development of the Prime Areas is equally as vital as children get older. Activities within the Infant Community may also begin to introduce age appropriate activities to develop skills within the specific areas.
Once children either join us or transition into the Duckling, Chick or Gosling classrooms activities are either formally planned and introduced or part of the continuous provision for the children to access, to help develop the early learning goals within the specific areas.
The Early Learning Goal for each area is stated below. These are the goals for children to be achieving by the age of 60 months + or 5 years. Each area is divided into age brackets to provide age appropriate smaller steps to achieve to helping children securely develop the skills in the overall goal.
‘Children develop at their own rates, and in their own ways. The development statements and their order should not be taken as necessary steps for individual children. They should not be used as a checklist. The age/stage bands overlap because these are not fixed age boundaries but suggest a typical range of development’ (EYFS 2012)
Daily Routines
Routines
In all classes at The Old School House Nursery (OSHN Ltd) we follow the child and their interests – by providing a continuous, enriched environment for each class as well as adding project activities throughout the day. Throughout the day at The Old School House Nursery (OSHN Ltd)we encourage autonomy, following Montessori’s theory of a ‘three hour work cycle’ therefore minimising the interruption of the children’s engagements.
Within each room, all children can independently explore and access the environments as well as be invited to join adult led activities throughout the day, either from our Montessori Curriculum or additionally planned activities.
Children who are still requiring milk / sleep at nursery will be encouraged to do so following the routine given by parents as best as possible.