Curriculum
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a play-based curriculum for children from birth to five years of age, which allows children to explore and learn in an environment that is secure and safe yet challenging. Play opportunities are non-stereotypical and available to all children promoting the teaching and learning from a skilled workforce.
Within the EYFS Framework practitioners provide activities and make assessment judgements based on the seven areas of learning: 3 Prime Areas and 4 Specific Areas.
Prime Areas:
- Communication and Language
- Physical Development
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Specific Areas:
- Literacy
- Maths
- Understanding the world
- Expressive Arts and Design
Research into early child development shows that children learn more rapidly during their first three years than in later life; whilst all areas of learning are important and inter-connected, the three Prime areas that are crucial for children’s learning, building their capacity to learn and form relationships and thrive. The specific areas will enable them to be self-motivated learners who are confident to succeed.
Communication & Language
It involves children being provided with the opportunities to experience a language rich environment; develop confidence in expressing their wants, needs, and feelings, and being able to speak and listen in a variety of contexts.
It focuses on helping young children acquire the foundational abilities required for the best potential language and communication development. This area of study includes a range of methods and exercises to improve language understanding, listening comprehension, verbal and nonverbal communication, and vocabulary development. Children are taught how to interact with classmates and adults, speak effectively, and understand directions through structured conversations, interactive play, and tales. The intention is to establish a nurturing atmosphere in which kids can freely communicate, share their ideas and emotions, and build the foundation for their future linguistic abilities and scholastic achievement.
Physical Development
Involves children being encouraged to be interactive and active in their learning and develop control, coordination, and movement. They are supported in understanding the importance of physical activity.
At Lemon Tree Nursery curriculum, “physical development” refers to the growth of a child’s strength, coordination, gross and fine motor skills, and general physical gifts. Running, jumping, climbing, balancing, and playing with different toys are all part of this learning phase. Children can improve their hand-eye coordination, muscular control, and spatial awareness through supervised play and guided exercises. The physical development of young children is important for establishing a healthy lifestyle, supporting other areas of learning and development, and developing fitness, health, and self-assurance in movement. As all of us know a famous quote ” a healthy body has a healthy mind “
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
It involves supporting children in developing a strong, positive sense of themselves, and of others; forming strong attachments and relationships, and developing respect for others to build their social skills and learn how to effectively manage their feelings. This area also supports the children in understanding appropriate behavior and developing confidence in their own abilities.
The “Personal, Social, and Emotional Development” component of a preschool curriculum focuses on nurturing children’s social abilities, self-regulation, and self-understanding. This aspect of learning involves providing children with opportunities and tasks to foster a positive self-concept, establish connections with both peers and adults, and understand how to identify, understand, and manage their feelings.
Literacy
Encourages children to link sounds and letters and begin to read and write. Children are given access to a wide range of reading materials to ignite their interest. Literacy pertains to the fundamental skills necessary for children to develop as skilled readers, writers, and understanders of written material. The activities surrounding this aspect of learning are designed to enhance the children’s vocabulary, phonemic awareness, letter identification, understanding of basic grammar, and formation of sentences.
Mathematics
Encourages opportunities to develop and improve counting skills, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems, and describing shapes, space, and measures.
The nursery curriculum focuses on fundamental concepts such as numbers, shapes, patterns, and basic calculations through hands-on activities. Children in early education engage in counting, sorting, recognizing shapes, and solving simple problems to foster their early mathematical reasoning. These skills lay the foundation for their future studies in related subjects.
Understanding the World
Involves supporting children in making sense of the world around them and their community by providing opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment.
We involve children in sensory, outdoor, and scientific activities as part of our experiential learning approach. By participating in guided activities and play, they enhance their ability to observe, explore, and understand the environment.
At Lemon Tree Nursery, diversity is embraced and celebrated. Kids are introduced to different cultures, traditions, and customs through art, music, and storytelling as part of our curriculum. Diversity variation helps children develop compassion and respect for others as they grow up.
Conserving the ecosystem is so important, and we cannot highlight this point properly. Children participate in environment-friendly activities such as recycling and gardening to take the concept of renewability and the effects of their activities on the environment.
Understanding the world requires awareness of diverse cultures and human relations. Children can get the ability to share ideas, work together, and form friendships in a secure environment by taking part in team activities and joining group talks.
Expressive Arts and Design
Enables children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as encourages the sharing of thoughts, ideas, and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play design, and technology.
Including “Expressive Arts and Design” in a nursery curriculum enables children to foster their creativity by engaging in activities like painting, music, dance, and imaginative play. This offers them the opportunity to experiment with different techniques and materials to develop their ability to express ideas, emotions, and imagination, fostering an early understanding of aesthetics and increasing confidence in self-expression.
Characteristics of Effective Learning
When planning and guiding activities practitioners will reflect upon the different ways that children learn and ensure they utilise this within their practice. The Characteristics of Effective Learning are:
- Playing and Exploring
Supports children’s engagement and investigation and to experience things through being willing to ‘have a go’
Active Learning
Supports children’s motivation to learn by helping develop their concentration, ability and will to keep trying when challenges occur and celebration of completing a task.
Creating and Thinking Critically
Support children’s thinking skills through developing ideas, making links between differing ideas and create strategies for completing a task.
The EYFS emphasises that parents are a child’s primary educator and therefore encourages parents to contribute to their child’s learning.