Curriculum

At the Pre-School of Excellence (POE), we use the above framework to inform our planning and delivery. We use this document to ensure that activities are carefully matched to the skills in which the children need to develop most in order to reach their Early learning goals at the end of Reception. 

The three prime areas: communication and language, personal social and emotional development & physical development are our priority when children are introduced to the school at two and we plan a range of activities that help them to develop and secure these fundamental skills. 

The four specific areas: English, Maths, Understanding the World and Expressive Art and Design are also taught and children quickly begin to pick up skills shaping them into strong academically ambitious learners. 

Phonics is a specific strategy designed to enable children to recognise letters (graphemes) and their associated sounds (phonemes).  The idea is to equip children with the tools to decode written language by helping them to hear, identify and use sounds to form words.  At the Pre-School of Excellence (POE), we use the following Phonic programmes to promote an early love of letters and eventual reading & writing:   

Jolly Phonics  

Letters and Sounds   

The Jolly Phonics song encourages children to sing along and learn a short song to go with each letter that they are learning. Repetition of this helps the children to remember the sounds of each letter and the associated images can often help with letter formation.  Letters and Sounds is taught in phases and the children will begin on Phase One. Phase one‘s primary focus is the development of speaking and listening skills.   Although word reading and writing often begin when children are on the final year of the EYFS (Reception), some children tend to be ready for this at an earlier stage and accelerated progress is not uncommon. These children will be taught the next phase of the Letters and Sounds programme in accordance with their stage of development. Staff are ambitious at our school and these ambitions extend to the children in our care. 

At the POE we are inspired by the Montessori approach to early learning. 

Resources
Carefully selected resources and accessible trays create independence within the children encouraging them to think for themselves. 

Mixed peer learning 

Mixing of ages creates accelerated peer to peer learning and enables the older children to feel a sense of responsibility. This promotes independence, leadership and confidence and gives the younger children role models to look up to  and aim to emulate. This is an especially useful skill for children in families with younger siblings.

Problem solving activities
Our activities inspire independent learning and promote problem solving; a skill needed to thrive throughout the life journey. 

Practical Life Skills

Practical Life Skills are an essential part of life. Children will be expected to practise self care, independence, problem solving and use the fundamental every day phrases: Please, Thank you, Hello and Goodbye. Manners are of the utmost importance and we have high expectations for our staff and children in this regard. We also encourage children to greet us in whichever language they are comfortable with and will happily greet them back in their mother tongue language alongside English. 

Sensory Learning

Sensorial experiences begin from birth and aid children to study their environment in a range of ways. By partaking in sensory activities, children are able to gather new information that helps them to classify their surroundings. Sensory play benefits children tremendously: 

builds nerve connections in the brain,

encourages motor skill development and 

supports language development, 

Mathematical Learning 

Maths Materials such as the resources, nature and every day objects as well as food are used to bring about a hands on approach to learning. We use these everyday items to promote our understanding of number, shapes and colours. 

Early Literacy 

Storytime, self registration and letter formation readies children for pre Literacy learning and begins to lay the seeds for reading and writing in the future.

Language Acquisition

Children naturally have a thirst for language and communication. We are inspired by the three step Montessori language programme: spoken language, phonemic awareness and creating words. We incorporate these ideals in our planning and practice as much as possible.

At the POE we tend to prefer paper journals rather than digital to record the progress of our children: observations, photographs, art work and mark making amongst other pieces of evidence. 

We feel strongly that this captures the uniqueness of each child, their journey throughout the EYFS and also makes the journey more relatable to both the child and their parent/carers as it captures the essence of who each child is. Children are encouraged to engage with their journals in a tactile way on a regular basis and are thrilled to look over their old work and contribute by adding new entries. Children take pride in their achievements. 

We tend to include digital entries in the journals and often send notifications digitally to parents via the Class Dojo app to keep them involved in how their child is making daily progress.  These notifications are sent through a password protected platform ensuring only the delegated appropriate persons have access. This is to ensure data is properly protected. 

We believe the excellent progress of each child is a contribution of the cycle of three: child, parent and teacher. Our journals are littered with contributions from all three parties getting a wholesome and holistic view of each child. 

To learn more about how your child is expected to develop in the Early Years please click on the link below:  

Development Matters in The Early Years Foundation Stage

To review the Early Years Statutory guidance which gives information on the standards and expectations for schools and child care providers, please click on the link below: 

Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory framework