Seven areas of learning and development

Personal, social and emotional development

We aim to create an environment in which there are plenty of opportunities for the children to make choices, take responsibility, and learn to share and take turns.  We show the children how to be respectful, kind and considerate towards others, re-enforcing and encouraging children’s friendships and helping them to enjoy working together as part of a team.  Positive images allow children to embrace differences in gender, ethnicity, religion, special educational needs and disabilities.

Physical development

We provide a range of large and small equipment for children to explore and manipulate, e.g. balancing and climbing apparatus that enables children to develop new skills, strength, and confidence. Clay, play dough, scissors and construction equipment which help to develop fine-motor skills and hand-eye coordination.  Children also participate in games, ball skills, dance and mini gym to develop gross motor skills.

Communication, language and literacy

We aim to provide an environment rich in print which reflects the importance of language in our daily lives.   The children are encouraged to use spoken language in different ways and for different purposes: to recall past events, to describe their feelings and experiences, to ask questions, to retell stories and to plan and evaluate their own activities.

These prime areas are those most essential for your child’s healthy development and future learning.  As your child grows, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in 4 specific areas.  These are:

Literacy

We plan opportunities for the children to share and enjoy a wide range of rhymes, music, songs, poetry, stories and non-fiction books.  They are helped to understand the connection between the sounds of spoken words and the symbols of written language, leading to reading and writing.

Mathematics

We aim to enable the children to gain confidence in using numbers in a variety of ways. This will be through stories, songs, games and imaginative play i.e. hands on activities. Some activities will focus specifically on mathematical learning and in other cases the children will be encouraged to use their mathematical knowledge in other contexts within the classroom. Practical experiences include counting groups of objects and understanding what happens when more objects are added or taken away, weighing when cooking, understanding capacity in the water tray and measuring growth of plants, rain etc. The children will be encouraged to sort shapes, make patterns and learn to recognise shapes and patterns in their local environment. 

Understanding the world

The children are encouraged to use their senses to find out about a range of objects and materials.  With adult help they find out about and identify the features of living things and are encouraged to question and comment on what they learn.  They are introduced to the concepts of time and history by exploring and talking about past and present events in their own lives and those of their family and friends.  They learn about the world around them and their place in their community.  As well as providing opportunities to use computers we feel it is important that other activities allow the children to experience a broad range of ICT equipment.

Expressive arts and design

We provide a range of creative activities where creativity, originality and self expression are valued.  The children are encouraged to plan and adapt their models, mix colours and use a variety of art materials.  We have a music teacher who takes one session a week and works with the children to develop their sense of rhythm, singing and percussion skills.  We also provide experiences in dance and drama.