Teaching and Learning
The care, teaching and learning we provide is based on effective practice in the Early Years Foundation Stage. The EYFS is the standard laid down by OFSTED for Learning, Development and Care of children from birth to five.
The EYFS is built on four guiding themes:
A Unique Child – commitments focused on development, inclusion, safety, and health and well-being.
At Tiny Acorns Nursery treating each child as an individual is central to our care. We want each child that comes to us to have a happy first experience of nursery life.
All children are welcomed and included, respected and listened to. Our nursery team promote positive attitudes to diversity and differences in the group, valuing the contribution and achievement of all.
We have a settling in procedure that includes a comprehensive application pack and entry profile so we can learn about your child before they start attending, free settling-in sessions for each child and a 1:1 introduction session between the parent and manager to ensure we answer all of your questions and capture all the relevant information not only in writing but face to face.
We have stringent health and safety and risk assessment procedures that all staff know and follow. These policies are available for you to review in the parents’ folder at the nursery – ask the manager if you would like to see it.
Positive Relationships – commitments focused on respect, partnerships with parents, supporting learning, and the role of the key person.
Every child is allocated a key person who will form a close relationship with them, spending 1:1 time and ensuring they are safe, happy and well-looked after.
They will deliver personalised learning and development, monitoring progress and adapting activities and play as the child learns and develops. We make it a priority to build close relationships with our parents, to share information about their child and communicate regularly. We view our relationship as a partnership where we work together to ensure your child is happy and progressing well.
Enabling Environments – the environment plays a key role in supporting and extending the child’s development and learning. Commitments focused on observation, assessment and planning, support for every child.
Our nursery and facilities provide the optimum surroundings and resources for your child to learn through play. Our nursery team bring the facilities and toys to life with monthly topics, changing and developing the nursery around the topic using the role play area, display boards, photo gallery. We have a regular calendar of events that celebrate an array of festivals for e.g. Christmas, Easter, Harvest Festival, Eid, Diwali, Chinese New Year.
Our nursery team have been trained how to observe and monitor their key children so that the learning they deliver takes into account each child’s needs, and so it adapts and becomes more challenging as the child develops.
Our curriculum is delivered both inside and outside in the garden and we spend as much time in the fresh air as possible
Learning and Development – all children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates, and all learning areas are equally important and interconnected.
Our nursery team fully understand the Early Learning Goals for children to achieve by the age of five, and will ensure that their planned activities cover the full range of areas:
- • Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- • Communication and Language
- • Physical Development
- • Literacy
- • Mathematics
- • Expressive Arts and Design
- • Understanding of the world
Our nursery rooms have resources that fulfil all aspects of these areas and children are encouraged to ‘self-choose’ the activity they want during free play periods. The early learning goals are also closely linked to our monthly topics. Group interactions are a particular focus where the children enjoy group circle times with music, singing, stories, topic chats, show & share, and sessions for praising achievements, as well as smaller key group times and regular introduction and welcome sessions every morning.
Play-based Curriculum
Children learn individually and with others through play. We offer our children a curriculum based on learning through play, which meets all the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and supports all aspects of their learning and development.
By providing a safe and secure environment for them to try new things, the children in our care can explore and develop their skills and their sense of the world around them without fear of failure, building their confidence and enjoyment of learning.
We deliver the early years foundation stage curriculum through:
- • Role play
- • Interactive group times with stories, puppets, flash cards and props
- • Mark making
- • Physical development
- • Communication, language and literacy skills
- • Numeracy skills including sorting, shapes, time, counting
- • Construction
- • Water, sand and dough play
- • Painting, modelling, collage
- • Sensory play
- • Cooking
- • Music, dance and singing
- • Knowledge and understanding of the world