Intent
At Little Stars we strive to provide an ambitious, memorable and meaningful curriculum which is flexible at all times ensuring we follow all children’s interests. Our curriculum recognises that each child is an individual and is continually adapted to follow and meet everyone’s needs.
Implementation
We strive to continually implement our ever-growing curriculum by using the Early Years Foundation stage while using Development Matters as a support tool. We follow the 7 areas of learning to ensure that our curriculum is always at its best for all of our children whatever stage of learning they are at. Next steps are used to support our children in their learning alongside a keyworker system which is firmly in place ensuring that nothing is missed. We strive to have excellent relationships with all of our parents as our last Ofsted report states “Children have well established trusting relationships with key staff”
“Partnerships with parents are strong, they praise the nursery for the support and guidance they receive”
Impact
Little Stars is driven by a dedicated Manager and dedicated fully qualified Early years Practitioners who are there for you and your child on a daily basis. Successful, individual planning is implemented by following our children’s interests and abilities to ensure our curriculum is appropriate and achievable. Progress is always celebrated and regular assessments are completed ensuring we are monitoring and giving our children the best start they could possibly have.
The aim of our curriculum is to equip children with the skills and knowledge they need to explore and understand the world around them always promoting independence. We believe children grow and develop when they have access to a well thought out learning environment and engaged adults. Teaching and learning of new skills and knowledge is delivered through both adult led and child led opportunities both indoors and outdoors. We focus on the importance of knowledge and skills that will support children in every way possible so that they can make the most of opportunities and fulfil their potential along with their independence.
There are 7 areas of learning and development within the EYFS:
Prime areas of learning
- Personal, Social and emotional development
- Communication and language development
- Physical Development
Specific areas of learning
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the world
- Expressive Arts and design
In planning for children, we consider the different ways in which children learn. The 3 characteristics of effective learning are:
- Playing and exploring
- Active Learning
- Creating and thinking critically
| Our Intent for children to leave us confident in: Knowing about themselves and others, and how to keep safe PSED/CL/PD/UW Having the social skills and confidence to play alongside/with other children PSED/CL/UW Being able to make a simple choice CL Having a go and keep on trying PSED/PD/L/M Following simple instructions CL/PSED Knowing a number of songs and rhymes and enjoy joining in with singing and ring games. L/M/EAD/CL/PSED Sitting at the table for snack and mealtimes and being able to use cutlery effectively encouraging social skills around the table PSED/UW/PD/CL Talking to an adult CL/PSED/UW Using gross and fine motor skills to do things indepenedently PD/UW Using mathematical concepts and language in play and everyday experiences. M | Implementation Observe children at play and plan activities that follow their interests and introduce them to new ideas and concepts. Being specific with our praise, noting how well children solve problems, have ideas and negotiate. Use additional funding to support children as identified. Work with parents to ensure they are able to support their childs learning at home. Share and discuss experiences Role model positive language and positive behaviour Provide supervised opportunities for turn taking Provide real life expriences Use flashcards to support basic English language/ for children to express their own wants and needs. Well planned learning Environments indoors and outdoors that promote the focus on learning. Know and understand the areas of learning and development. By building a good relationship up with both key children and their immediate family. Know how each child plays and learns Promoting the use of Tapestry for parents to upload at home. Support children with EAL by having flashcards, language from their country and discussing everything with parents- close relationship enabling us to provide the best possible outcome for the child to learn and understand. |
We offer outings in the local community and join in with culutural celebrations throughout the year.
We have an overview long term plan in place which we celebrate certain topics such as Autumn, Halloween,Xmas etc.
We also encourage visitors into the setting such as police, fire etc
Assesment
Most of the assessments we do at nursery are formative, so that it quickly helps us to make a difference to the children’s learning, however as a staff we decided that we feel we need to do an overview of the children’s progress so that we can take further actions where we need to. After speaking with parents, they also want to see an overview every 3 months as they find this important and then can see us with any questions they might have even though we encourage parents to come to us as and when they wish. We notice what children can and can’t do and then we can decide when we need to put additional support in place. It is important that we are certain that children are secure in what they know and can do before introducing them to something new.
We also celebrate children’s achievements with parents through our WOW board which is shared through tapestry and Facebook.
We complete:
- All about me baseline assessment when they start which is on Tapestry, we also have an in-depth discussion with parents about what their child can do and what they need support with.
- Termly summative assessment of where the child’s development is in relation to the milestones and Characteristics of learning.
- Statutory 2 year old progress check
- Transition booklet to go to their next setting and we also transfer children on Tapestry if the setting has it.
- SEN children
We continue to complete Early help documentation, Early support documentation and speech and language monitoring tool. We also have regular TAC meetings and speak to other professionals as and when needed.