Curriculum

At Shardlow Hall Day Nursery, we follow a thoughtfully designed curriculum, this simply means the content of what we want our children to know, understand and be able to do during their time with us.

In the Early Years sector, there are two commonly used guidance documents:

Development Matters (published by the government)
Birth to 5 Matters (published by the early years sector)

Both are non-statutory, meaning nurseries are not required to follow them, but can use them as helpful frameworks.

While we value these resources, we have chosen to go a step further by creating our own bespoke curriculum, tailored specifically to our children and our unique nursery environment.

Our curriculum has been purpose-built by our experienced team, drawing on:

Years of professional knowledge and expertise
The unique opportunities we offer (such as our animals, 8 acres of outdoor space, Makaton and Forest School sessions)
Our deep understanding of what helps children thrive emotionally, socially and educationally

It is challenging yet achievable, designed not only to give children essential knowledge and developmental skills but also the wider life skills, such as confidence, independence, resilience and curiosity, that will support them long after they leave us for primary school.

By building our own curriculum, we ensure that everything we do is meaningful, relevant and inspiring for the children in our care.

Early Years Foundation Stage

The EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) Framework exists to support all professionals working in the EYFS to help your child, and was developed with a number of early years experts and parents.

The framework has a greater emphasis on our role in helping your child develop.

It sets out:

The legal welfare requirements that everyone registered to look after children must follow in order to keep your child safe and to promote their welfare.
The Seven areas of learning and development which guide professionals’ engagement with your child’s play and activities as they learn new skills and knowledge.
Assessments that will tell you about your child’s progress through the EYFS.
Expected levels that your child should reach at age 5, usually the end of the reception year; these expectations are called the “Early Learning Goals (ELGs)”.
There is also guidance for the professionals supporting your child on planning the learning activities and observing and assessing what and how your child is learning and developing.

We incorporate all seven areas of learning into our early years curriculum, ensuring the children have a well prepared and stimulating learning environment.

Your child will have an individual key person who will observe progress and development. The key person approach gives every child the reassurance to feel secure and cared for, helping them to become familiar with the nursery environment and to feel confident and safe within it.

We recognise every child’s individuality, efforts and achievements and believe that relationships between adults and children are crucial for your child’s development.

The key person meets the needs of each child in their care and responds sensitively to their feelings, ideas and behaviour. They offer security, reassurance and continuity and they are in the best position to understand their key child’s individual needs and to share information with parents about their child’s experiences in nursery.

Although we have a strong key person approach, we pride ourselves in making sure the children have strong relationships with all members of our team so that they are comfortable and feel at home during their nursery life. All members of the team will have equal ability when understanding your child’s needs to ensure that we all work together to provide the very best care, every single day.

All early years providers are required to meet certain standards set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). One of the requirements is that members of staff use ongoing observations to monitor how your child is developing and use this information to plan a challenging and enjoyable experience in all areas of their learning and development.

Our method to help with planning and keeping track of progress is using an interactive nursery software app called Famly and is available to all parents to download to their phone, tablet or computer.

Prime Areas

Communication and Language:

This involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment; to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves; and to speak and listen in a range of situations.

Personal, Social & Emotional Development:

This involves helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others; to form positive relationships and develop respect for others; to develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behaviour in groups; and to have confidence in their own abilities.

Physical Development:

This involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive; and to develop their co-ordination, control and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity and to make healthy choices in relation to food.

Specific Areas

Literacy Development:

This involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Children must be given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems, and other written materials) to ignite their interest.

Mathematics:

This involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shapes, spaces and measures.

Understanding the World:

This involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment.

Expressive Arts and Design:

This involves enabling children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play and design and technology.

Characteristics of Effective Learning

The focus of the CoEL is on how children learn rather than what they learn i.e. process over outcome. Underpinning the CoEL is the understanding that during their earliest years, children form attitudes about learning that will last a lifetime. Children who receive the right sort of support and encouragement during these years will be creative, and adventurous learners throughout their lives.

Playing and Exploring:

Children investigate and experience things and 'have a go'.

Active Learning:

Children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties and enjoy achievements.

Creative and Critical Thinking:

Children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas and develop strategies for doing things.