New House Nursery School curriculum
Our diverse range of activities and strong outdoor play ethos enables us to offer a curriculum designed to allow your child to grow and develop throughout their early years. To find out more, contact New House Nursery School in Canterbury.
The benefits of learning through play
At New House Nursery School, we offer a full and varied early years curriculum for all ages under the Government’s Revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), which emphasises the importance of planning around a child's individual interests, as well as around the skills to be achieved as outlined in the EYFS.
The EYFS now comprises of seven areas of learning and development which are split into three 'prime', and four 'specific' areas, as shown below, and it is these areas we base our curriculum around.
Prime Areas
- Communication and Language Development 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.
- Physical Development 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.
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development 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.
Specific Areas
- Literacy Development 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 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 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 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.
What is involved in our curriculum at New House Nursery School?
We offer a great range of activities at New House Nursery School to ensure our curriculum is varied, and best enables each child to gain the skills outlined by the EYFS. Activities covering the curriculum include:
painting, drawing, art and craft, messy play, music making, singing, cooking, music and movement,
computer work, letters and sounds, mathematical activities, role-play and outdoor play.
All activities are accessed through a balance of child initiated and adult directed times, as well as many ‘hands on’ activities providing experiential learning. We strongly believe in outdoor play and the benefits it provides for children, and encourage this at the nursery with our outdoor play areas and forest school activities.
The Nursery as a whole follows carefully selected themes throughout the term, of which parents are kept closely informed by way of Medium Term Plans, which outline the aspects of learning we hope to cover. Each child is encouraged to explore and learn through their chosen activity but is, in no way, pushed or pressured into formal ways of learning – each child develops at their own pace and is encouraged to develop self direction, becoming an independent learner.
Is my child's development and learning tracked and reviewed?
As required by the Government, all two years olds will have their progress reviewed and a written summary of their development in the Prime Areas issued to parents. General observations and developmental records, known as ‘My Journey Through New House’, are kept on all of the children and parents are issued with a written summative progress report at the end of each term. We have been operating as a successful nursery here at New House in Canterbury for 22 years now, and are proud of our curriculum and our emphasis on outdoor play. Each child can learn and develop in a friendly, supportive environment, and at their own pace.
We currently have Ballet/Dancing as an optional extra curricular activity, taught by an outside professional dance teacher. If you would like any further information on our curriculum at New House Nursery School, or any current extra curricular activities we may have available, please contact us.
