Little Cherubs Curriculum Policy

Policy Statement

Little Cherubs Day Care Nursery is committed to:

• Offering a rich and varied curriculum;
• Creating a stimulating environment, accessible to all, in which it is fun to learn and in which every child can reach his / her potential.

Principles

The Foundation Phase encourages children to be creative, imaginative and to have fun and makes learning more enjoyable and more effective.

Children will be given more opportunities to explore the world around them and understand how things work by taking part in practical activities that are relevant to their developmental stage. They are challenged with open-ended questions and given opportunities to explore and share their ideas for solving problems.

The Foundation Phase places great emphasis on children learning by doing. Young children will be given more opportunities to gain first hand experiences through play and active involvement.

The curriculum will focus on experimental learning, active involvement and developing each child’s:

• Skills and understanding
• Personal, social, emotional, physical and intellectual well-being so as to develop the whole child.
• Positive attitudes to learning so that they enjoy it and want to continue
• Self-esteem and self-confidence to experiment, investigate, learn new things and form new relationships.
• Creative, expressive and observational skills to encourage their development as individuals with different ways of responding to experiences.
• Activities in the outdoors where the children have first- hand experience of solving real-life problems and learn about conservation and sustainability.

Procedures

All staff are continually:

• Actively encouraging children to learn through play and to follow their own interests:
• Implementing the Foundation Phase and making sure it is suitable for children from birth to five years of age.
• Planning for the needs and interests of individual children;
• Catering for different learning styles;
• Using children’s individual assessments and observations of children to inform planning to meet the needs of each individual child;
• Providing a balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities;
• Providing a wide variety of practical activities and experiences on a daily basis, both inside and outside.
• Using information from parents to help us to meet the needs of individual children;
• Actively valuing diversity within our setting and using resources which promote positive images of all the different groups of adults and children living within our society. The curriculum offered at Little Cherubs Day Care Nursery encourages children to develop positive attitudes about themselves and about people who are different from themselves. It encourages children to empathise with others and to begin to develop the skills of critical thinking.
• Offering outings and bringing visitors to the setting to extend children’s learning.
• Employing well qualified, enthusiastic staff who understand how children learn and know how to promote young children’s development across all areas of the Foundation Phase

We have due regard to the Foundation Phase as outlined above but we have also incorporated bits of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Please ask a member of staff if you require more information.

Unique Child– every child is a unique child who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.

Positive Relationships- Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.

Enabling Environments– Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practioners and parents and carers.

Learning and Development- Children develop and learn in different ways. The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

The Curriculum consist of all the planned and un-planned activities which are organised within the nursery and are based on the prime areas of learning and development which are strongly linked to the Foundation Phase:

• Mathematical Development
• Language, Literacy & Communication
• Personal and Social Development, Well-being & Cultural Diversity
• Knowledge and Understanding of the world
• Creative development
• Physical development
• Welsh

Planning

For daily planning staff have taken into consideration both the Foundation Phase and the Early years Foundation Stage, and come with a mixture of the two as this supports the nurseries use of free-flow, ensuring that daily there is rich variety of activities on offer which the children can freely choose. We have also ensured to add a section on the planning on UNCRC to ensure that there is always a lot of thought of this and strong links. Welsh is also incorporated into daily planning

Our daily planning for all groups includes:

Imaginative / Role Play

Mark Making

Mathematics

Construction

Sand

Water

Discovery / small world / Exploration area

Technology

Malleable Materials

Story-time / Circle time / Group time

Music

Creative

Gross / Physical

Welsh

Free-flow

The free flow approach used at Little Cherubs works on the recognition that children, just like adults, learn best when they are able to explore their interests fully and follow their own agendas through play for any given length of time.

“Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood, for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child’s soul.” Friedrich Froebel

At Little Cherubs we recognise play as the language of childhood. It is how children gain and embed new skills, develop their understanding and demonstrate their competencies.

A free-flow environment often works well in Early Years settings as it allows children to move between the indoors and outdoors as they wish and this freedom offers many learning and development opportunities, which include:

1. Children develop greater independence – Free flow play allows children to set their own rules
2. Allowing children to progress at their own pace – Some children learn better when outside – with free flow play you can cater for all leaning styles and no child will feel rushed into doing a certain activity.
3. Developing decision making skills – Children can choose when they want to be and what activity they want to do, this gives children practise in choosing and dealing with the consequences of their choice.
4. Freedom – Access to the outdoors gives children space to run around and expel energy and boosts mental and physical well-being and confidence.
5. Develop an understanding of their environment and surroundings – learning the difference between inside and outside and the natural and man-made environments.

Free Flow play in used daily in our 2-3yrs and pre-school groups, using the messy-play hard floored rooms and the carpeted playrooms, often the outdoor area is added onto free-flow in the 2-3yrs area as there is direct access off the playroom, and this is again used during the lunch-time period when the downstairs groups join for the lunch period. Obviously the outdoor area is only used when deemed weather appropriate as careful consideration must be given to the temperature remaining in the playroom when the door is kept open to make the free flow possible.

Planning is followed in our baby-unit and toddler unit, however free-flow is used differently in our baby-unit due to children’s own personal routines being followed. Free-flow is used in our toddler unit, but in a slightly different manner to that in the downstairs groups. In our 1-2yrs the group is split into two different groups at specific times of the day (between the playroom & Messy room) with a variety of activities available in both play-areas. The children are then able to swap over between areas, giving them opportunities to carry out activities of their choice in both areas.

Strong links are used from staff observations and assessments to planning, with free-flow providing many rich opportunities for these to be made daily, staff then use these observations to link to planning ensuring it links in with their current interests and individual needs.

UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child)

Policies for children continue to be underpinned by the UNCRC (United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child) and our desire to make it a reality in children’s lives.

In order to achieve this we continue to provide support for children, young people and their families.

We are able to do this by:

Linking education to development, child’s personality, talents, physical ability to reach their fullest potential

Consulting children

Listening and taking on board children’s interests, views and ideas

Involving them whenever possible with decision making

Following their individual views and interests

Protecting children from discrimination and negative portrayal

Always looking at the best interests of the children

Keeping children safe from harm

Promoting physical and mental heath

We provide safe, interesting places to play, positive activities, regular circle time sessions to encourage all children to have a voice and be involved in decision making, taking on board ideas and encouraging all children whenever appropriate to evaluate the activities on offer.

Basic Welsh is widely used across the nursery and is included in all groups on daily planning. Below is our Welsh Policy which explains what sort of Welsh activities are carried out on a daily basis.

Welsh Language Policy

Children growing up in Wales have the right to feel a sense of belonging to Wales and its culture and to enjoy experiences in, and of, the Welsh language. As young children spend time in nursery they can easily and successfully pick up the basics of a new language.

At Little Cherubs Nursery English is the main medium of communication. However we aim to progressively develop the children’s Welsh language skills by implementing the following:

• Using incidental Welsh words and phrases particularly at circle time so they become familiar with these words and begin to use them themselves
• Using Welsh books and resources such as CD’s, CD ROM’S and DVD’s
• Singing songs and rhymes in Welsh. Repetition will allow children time to remember the words.
• Counting in Welsh
• Having Welsh word labels in print displayed around nursery so that the children can begin to recognise the written language
• Using Varies resources or props to promote Welsh through play
• Using our ‘Welsh’ resource box for activities

Staff will be happy to give you copies of any Welsh songs if you wish to sing these at home with your child.

We will receive help from the Welsh Language Board if we need to offer a translation service to parents, or need help and advice. We can translate policies on request. We will endeavour to employ Welsh speaking staff if possible and offer Welsh courses to existing staff.

If you would like to help your child speak Welsh at home here are a few helpful web sites

www.bilingualfrombirth.com

www.mym.co.uk

www.mabonamabli.co.uk

www.twfcymru.com

www.bbc.co.uk/wales/learning