St John’s C.E. Preschool’s curriculum follows the Early Years Foundation Stage and is unique to the needs and interests of the cohort of children. We have adopted ‘In the Moment Planning (ITMP), which is a child-led, responsive teaching approach. Instead of creating pre-planned weekly themes or adult-led activities, practitioners observe what a child is naturally drawn to, join in their play, and “in the moment” assess and extend their learning. Children at our Preschool learn from their rich interactions within an enabling environment and with the other children. The skilled practitioners are able to identify any gaps in children’s learning and ensure all children progress and learn.

 We follow the Hygge Approach. A Hygge (pronounced hue-guh) learning environment is about creating a space that promotes emotional well-being, togetherness and friendship. It’s a place where children can feel comfortable and explore with confidence. Early Years levels of well-being are fundamental to children’s development and progress. Thoughtful caring practitioners, ensure relationships are formed building connections and helping children settle into Nursery life. 

 

 

Physical Development

We provide experiences to our children that recognise that physicality underpins all other areas of a child’s development. The connection between the brain, body and movement is crucial in delivering a curriculum that supports children to develop holistically. We provide real life opportunities to play outdoors in natural environments to encourage children to use their whole body and muscles and to develop their core strength. We provide opportunities to develop children’s gross motor skills and also to develop precision through fine motor control.

Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage – definition:

Physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives. Gross and fine motor experiences develop incrementally throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and the development of a child’s strength, co-ordination and positional awareness through tummy time, crawling and play movement with both objects and adults. By creating games and providing opportunities for play both indoors and outdoors, adults can support children to develop their core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, co-ordination and agility. Gross motor skills provide the foundation for developing healthy bodies and social and emotional well-being. Fine motor control and precision helps with hand-eye co-ordination which is later linked to early literacy. Repeated and varied opportunities to explore and play with small world activities, puzzles, arts and crafts and the practise of using small tools, with feedback and support from adults, allow children to develop proficiency, control and confidence.

 

 

Language Development

Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage – definition:

 

 

The development of children’s spoken language underpins all seven areas of learning and development. Children’s back-and-forth interactions from an early age form the foundations for language and cognitive development. The number and quality of the conversations they have with adults and peers throughout the day in a language-rich environment is crucial. By commenting on what children are interested in or doing and echoing back what they say with new vocabulary added, practitioners will build children’s language effectively. Reading frequently to children, and engaging them actively in stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems, and then providing them with extensive opportunities to use and embed new words in a range of contexts, will give children the opportunity to thrive. Through conversation, storytelling and role play, where children share their ideas with support and modelling from their teacher, and sensitive questioning that invites them to elaborate, children become comfortable using a rich range of vocabulary and language structures.

The Benefits of Nursery Rhymes on Preschool Development

Cognitive development

Repetition of rhymes and stories is good for the brain, teaching how language works and building memory capabilities.

Nursery rhymes help develop inferencing skills, both with encountering new words and in reading comprehension.

Because these verses are made up of patterns, they are easy first memorization pieces.

 

Speech

Nursery rhymes are important for language acquisition and help with speech development.

They help children develop auditory skills such as discriminating between sounds and developing the ear for the music of words.

Rhymes like these help kids articulate words, modulate voices (practicing pitch, volume, and inflection) and enunciate clearly by saying them over and over without fear of criticism.

Nursery rhymes are excellent, the natural choice for a first recitation selection.

The mouth and tongue muscles are developed as children say these rhymes.

Listening comprehension is a foundational skill that is often skipped, but nursery rhymes can help ensure this crucial ability (that precedes reading comprehension) is covered.

 

Reading

Nursery rhyme knowledge provides an excellent foundation for later literary works.

They are a great introduction to stories since many contain a beginning, middle, and end (sequencing).

Familiarity with nursery rhymes makes good readers, even despite differences in social background (Bryant, Bradley, Maclean & Crossland, 1989).

Work with these verses helps children detect the phonetic segments of words.

 

 

Language

Nursery rhymes increase vocabulary.

They help children assimilate language.

They are a great, wonderful introduction to poetry.

They promote spelling skills.

Verses like these introduce literary devices like alliteration, onomatopoeia, and imagery.

At St John’s Preschool we have ‘Core Rhymes’ which we use to support language development, some of our core rhymes are below.  Click on the links and sing them together! 

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Lyrics | Nursery Rhymes | Children Love to Sing – YouTube

Hickory Dickory Dock • Nursery Rhymes Song with Lyrics • Animated Cartoon for Kids – YouTube

Baa Baa Black Sheep – Nursery Rhymes and Kids Songs – YouTube

Old MacDonald Had A Farm | Nursery Rhymes | Super Simple Songs – YouTube

Incy wincy spider | Early Years – Nursery Rhymes – YouTube

Two Little Dicky Birds – Nursery Rhyme with Karaoke – YouTube

Nursery Rhyme – 1,2,3,4,5 Once I caught a fish alive – YouTube

Five little ducks went swimming | Early Years – Nursery Rhymes – YouTube

Humpty Dumpty | Kids Songs | Super Simple Songs – YouTube

Five Little Speckled Frogs | Kids Songs | Super Simple Songs – YouTube
 

Phonics
To prepare our children for Reception we offer daily phonic sessions, led by Mrs Swan our Early Years Teacher. The phonics scheme we use is Twinkle Phonics which is a DFE-validated Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) programme used to teach early reading and writing.


Literacy

Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage – definition:

It is crucial for children to develop a life-long love of reading. Reading consists of two dimensions: language comprehension and word reading. Language comprehension (necessary for both reading and writing) starts from birth. It only develops when adults talk with children about the world around them and the books (stories and non-fiction) they read with them, and enjoy rhymes, poems and songs together. Skilled word reading, taught later, involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words. Writing involves transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech, before writing).

 

Core Books

At St John’s Preschool we have selected our ‘core books’ which we want our children to know well by the time they leave nursery.  These books are the type of books that can be re-visited again and again, on different levels to support language development.  The idea is that children will develop language and increase vocabulary in addition to gaining a love of books and will become very familiar with these known texts to that they can remember and re-tell them.  We have chosen fun, repetitive books, which are easy for the children to join in with, so that the experience of reading becomes interactive and the children begin to learn the story as they are read to.  In each book there is lots to discuss so that the children understand the vocabulary as well as what is happening.  We often use our core stories as a stimulus for our planning and activities – this really embeds new vocabulary and the ‘language of story’ for our children.

 

Our Core books are:internal://653c96a1-bc38-46f8-aad5-24ec69cbe921

           

 

 

 

Mathematics

Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage – definition:

 

Developing a strong grounding in number is essential so that all children develop the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically. Children should be able to count confidently, develop a deep understanding of the numbers to 10, the relationships between then and the patterns within those numbers. By providing frequent and varied opportunities to build and apply this understanding – such as using manipulatives, including small pebbles and tens frames for organising counting – children will develop a secure base of knowledge and vocabulary from which mastery of mathematics is built. In addition, it is important that the curriculum includes rich opportunities for children to develop their spatial reasoning skills across all areas of mathematics including shape, space and measures. It is important that children develop positive attitudes and interests in mathematics, look for patterns and relationships, spot connections, ‘have a go’, talk to adults and peers about what they notice and not be afraid to make mistakes.

At St John’s Preschool we will provide activities that allow children to develop key skills in counting, calculating and using numbers, as well as matching, classifying, recognising patterns, shapes and measures.  We build problem solving and mathematical learning into all aspects of the curriculum to ensure it takes place in a meaningful context for children.

 

Art & Design

Imagination and creativity are important at St John’s Preschool. We provide our children with a wide range of rich opportunities to explore and play with media and materials and engage with the arts. We encourage our children to develop their understanding of the arts and to be confident in self-expression

Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage – definition:

The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their imagination and creativity. It is important that children have regular opportunities to engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. The quality and variety of what children see, hear and participate in is crucial for developing their understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability to communicate through the arts. The frequency, repetition and depth of their experiences are fundamental to their progress in interpreting and appreciating what they hear, respond to and observe.

 

Personal Social & Emotional Development

Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage – definition:

Children’s personal, social and emotional development (PSED) is crucial for children to lead healthy and happy lives and is fundamental to their cognitive development. Underpinning their personal development are the important attachments that shape their social world. Strong, warm and supportive relationships with adults enable children to learn how to understand their own feelings and those of others, children should be supported to manage emotions, develop a positive sense of self, set themselves simple goals, have confidence in their own abilities, to persist and wait for what they want and direct attention as necessary. Through adult modelling and guidance, they will learn how to look after their bodies, including healthy eating, and manage personal needs independently. Through supported interaction with other children, they learn how to make good friendships, co-operate and resolve conflicts peaceably. These attributes will provide a secure platform from which children can achieve at school and in later life.

At St John’s Preschool we provide experiences to our children that enable them to become confident, secure and able to manage their feelings and behaviours.  We want our children to develop a positive sense of self and have confidence and motivation to enjoy their life and learning experiences.

 

 

 

Understanding the World

At our nursery we provide real life experiences to enable children to explore the world around them indoors and outdoors. We encourage the children to be curious, involved and independent. We provide activities to support children’s natural curiosity and interest in how things grow and how things work.

Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage – definition:

Statutory Framework for the EYFS definition – Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community. The frequency and range of children’s personal experiences increases their knowledge and sense of the world around them – from the parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of society such as police officers, nurses and firefighters. In addition, listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their understanding of out culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world. As well as building important knowledge, this extends their familiarity with words that support understanding across domains. Enriching and widening children’s vocabulary will support later reading comprehension.