The Foundation Stage Curriculum (intent):

At Icknield Walk, we have designed our Foundation Stage curriculum to cover the 7 areas (prime and specific) of learning and development from the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework. This happens through 3 important approaches:

• Adult planned and led sessions. These have a clear starting and end point and follow the learning needs of the children.
• Adult Interactions. High quality interactions between the adults and the children allow for ‘in the moment’ opportunities to progress learning.
• Child led learning. Our enabling environment encourages the children to seek their own opportunities to learn through their play. It is here that children can practise the skills and knowledge they have been taught through other approaches and where high-quality adult interactions can occur.

Communication and Language:

The development of a child’s spoken language underpins all the 7 areas of learning and development, and being a successful communicator is vital for a child’s development. Our song time and phonics sessions take place each day to promote listening skills and language development. Adults model conversational skills and introduce new vocabulary through the quality interactions we have with our children throughout the day. Enhancements in both our indoor and outdoor environments, adult led lessons and story time also offer opportunities to develop vocabulary and build upon a child’s understanding and encourage topical discussions. Children also enjoy sharing their creations with peers, explaining their techniques. Children listen attentively and respond to what they hear, and see, with relevant questions and comments.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development:

A child’s personal, social, and emotional development is vital for a child to lead a healthy and happy life. We encourage our children to become independent by developing their self-help skills and self-care skills, including getting ready for lunch and toileting. During their time in the foundation stage, positive and supportive relationships are developed between the adults and children as well as peer to peer relationships, allowing the children to feel settled, safe, and happy within their early years’ environment. Children are encouraged to talk about their feelings and to recognise these feelings in themselves and others, through stories, use of puppets and ‘in the moment’ social interactions. Opportunities are created for children to develop positive learning behaviours, such as persevering with a tricky task. Our daily affirmations of ‘I am kind, I am helpful, I am brave’ allow children to develop a sense of self-worth and we take opportunities to refer to how we have shown these in our play and interactions with others. Through our curriculum, snack session, lunchtime and cooking activities, we model and encourage healthy living choices. Adults model and teach self help skills which encourage pupils to become as independent as they can, i.e. doing up zips, hygienic toilet routines, getting dressed and undressed for PE (later in the year). Classroom rules are established early on and written in cohesion with the pupils. These standards and expectations are always revisited to ensure pupils thrive in a safe and successful environment.

Physical Development:

Physical activities are important for a child’s all-round development, ensuring that they lead happy, healthy, and active lives. In both the nursery and reception learning environments, opportunities to develop fine and gross motor skills can be found in abundance. Both indoor and outdoor resources encourage development of fine motor skills, from using the playdough to strengthen fingers, to using the tweezers to explore the natural environment. Our range of trikes, scooters and climbing equipment allow the children to develop their gross motor skills during independent play. During our dedicated PE lessons, children develop their motor skills using a variety of equipment from dance lessons, using the ribbons and using the benches and climbing apparatus to learn early gymnastics skills. Gross motor activities, include (but are not limited to), climbing, pushing, gardening and hanging. These activities are always available to encourage hand and wrist strength.  

Literacy:

We promote a love of reading in nursery and reception through sharing stories together during our dedicated story times each day, as well as sharing stories throughout the children’s independent play. We will often repeat the books we share to encourage children to engage in conversations about the story and develop story book language. Early reading skills are developed in nursery through our phonics games, rhymes, and songs. During our phonics sessions children begin to understand rhyme, hear, and discuss sounds including environmental, instruments, and letter sounds. In reception, our daily phonics lessons develop children’s knowledge of phonemes and the corresponding graphemes. Adults model how to apply phonics skills to blend words to read and support children to read simple sentences independently. Children are exposed to tricky words and repetition supports them to recognise these on sight. During discussions when reading, new vocabulary is explored, and children are encouraged to demonstrate an understanding of what they have read. As their time in nursery progresses children are encouraged to develop their mark making skills gradually building up to forming letters. A range of mark making equipment is available for the children to explore and use during their independent play and letter formation skills are taught during adult-led activities. During their time in reception, children are provided with opportunities to apply their fine motor skills to write recognisable letters, learning the correct formation for these. Carefully planned opportunities, based upon children’s interests, allow children to apply their phonics skills to segment words and to write simple captions and sentences. Adult modelling and support and resources available in the environment allow children to develop their confidence to communicate through written means.  Writing is often linked to a child’s interest, meaning it is purposeful and engaging.

Mathematics:

Numbers, counting, and shapes are incorporated into all aspects of the children’s learning in nursery, from an adult led game of shape bingo to using the sand timer when the children are waiting for their turn on the trikes. Mathematical language is modelled by the adults during adult directed tasks, when giving daily instructions and throughout the children’s independent play. Daily opportunities for counting can be heard during Brain Gym when counting our marches or at snack when looking at how many children are sitting together, as well as when opportunities arise.

Children are taught mathematics through our Essential Maths planning in reception. Practical and interactive adult led activities enable children to explore and experiment with many different concepts. Areas are set up within the setting to allows the children to be challenged, revisit and experiment with newly taught ideas. Adults play games and reinforce new techniques during Child Initiated Play (CIP), questioning and observing the pupils at the same time. Songs and rhymes, the daily maths input and counting our ‘Wow straws’ (in reception) ensure maths is an important part of the timetable and helps children to understand complex concepts such as ‘one more’ and ‘one less’.

Understanding the World:

The children are continuously noticing the world around them, from changes in their immediate environment to those in the local area. Special interests are given attention to explore and build upon, from looking at how the weather is changing and the need for extra layers in the autumn weather to using the globe to find their holiday destination and looking at how far it is from where we are. We celebrate not only the diversity and culture amongst the children in nursery and reception but also other cultures and religions the children may have not experienced, looking at photographs from home, exploring festivals and celebrations such as Diwali and Lunar New Year. Real life examples allow children to compare and contrast their lives to those of people in the past. Discussions allow children to compare similarities and differences between these and their own lives. Growing and gardening in our gardens allows the children to learn more about where our food comes from and to gain skills and knowledge to make healthy choices in the future. Our range of investigation tools and resources allow the children to explore, observe and make comparisons about the world around them. Children in reception also have opportunities to meet people who help us and ask them questions to gain a deeper understanding of their role in society.

Expressive Art and Design:

Opportunities for children to express themselves creatively are always available in the nursery and in reception. Role play areas are linked to the topic the children are currently learning, allowing the children to act out experiences or newly learned skills. Small world allow the children to use their imagination to create their own worlds using toys and resources familiar to them. Children have access to musical instruments both inside and outside, allowing them to create their own music in their play, with instruments also being used to support song time and phonics. Art and craft resources are readily available for the children to explore and create with boxes, tubes and reclaimed materials to make models. Paints and stamps also offer inspiration for children to adapt their own creations. In reception children are taught how to safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques and are encouraged to experiment with colour, design, texture, form and function. Children enjoy sharing their creations with their peers, explaining the techniques they use and answering any questions their friends may have. During PE and throughout CIP time, children are given opportunities to create dances, showing controlled body movement and adults teach and model expressive movement to music.