Curriculum Planning

Statement of intent

For children between the ages of 3 and 5 years, the pre-school provides a curriculum for the foundation stage of education. This curriculum is set out in a document, published by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the Department for Education and Skills, and called Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage. Children below the age of 3 participate in our activities but are not formally assessed.

Aims

Our aim is to provide activities that will challenge children to achieve the level the Curriculum Guidance sets for children before they start infant schools, that will be appropriate for children’s ages and stages, and make the learning experience an enjoyable one for the children.

Method

1. We will plan activities around the curriculum so that all areas of the curriculum are covered in the plan.
   

2. We will prepare plans before the start of each half term, centred on a theme or topic
   

3. We will plan each week’s activities so that the activities are changed part way through the week, or alternative activities are available, so that a child is not asked to repeat an activity too many times in a week.
   

4. We will keep a record of each child’s progress, parents will be allowed to see the record and discuss it with their key worker
   

5. We will measure each child’s development by reference to the Stepping Stones, and arrange activities (possibly on an individual basis as opposed to group work) that will help each child to reach the Stepping Stones.
   

6. We will keep parents informed of the half term’s theme/topic by a notice on the wall.
   

7. We will ask for parental involvement to support some of the activities by helping in session, bringing in materials and other items connected with the theme or topic.
   

8. We will discuss the curriculum with parents at open events and on request.
   

The curriculum provided by Step by Step Pre-school

Children start to learn about the world around them from the moment they are born. The care and education offered by Step by Step Pre-school helps children to continue to do this by providing all of the children with interesting activities that are right for their age and stage of development.

For children between the ages of 3 and 5 years, the pre-school provides a curriculum for the foundation stage of education. This curriculum is set out in a document, published by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the Department for Education and Skills, and called Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage. Step by Step Pre-school follows this guidance.

The guidance divides children’s learning and development into six areas:

1. personal, social and emotional development;
   

2. communication, language and literacy development;
   

3. mathematical development;
   

4. knowledge and understanding of the world;
   

5. physical development; and
   

6. creative development.
   

For each area, the guidance sets out early learning goals. These goals state what it is expected that children will know and be able to do by the end of the reception year of their education.

For each early learning goal, the guidance sets out stepping stones, which describe the stages through which children are likely to pass as they move to achievement of the goal. Step by Step Pre-school uses the early learning goals and their stepping stones to help us to trace each child’s progress and to enable us to provide the right activities to help all children move towards achievement of the early learning goals.

Personal, social and emotional development

This area of children’s development covers:

1. having a positive approach to learning and finding out about the world around them;
   

2. having confidence in themselves and their ability to do things, and valuing their own achievements;
   

3. being able to get on, work and make friendships with other people, both children and adults;
   

4. becoming aware of — and being able to keep to — the rules which we all need to help us to look after ourselves, other people and our environment;
   

5. being able to dress and undress themselves, and look after their personal hygiene needs; and
   

6. being able to expect to have their ways of doing things respected and to respect other people’s ways of doing things.
   

Communication language and literacy:

This area of children’s development covers:

1. being able to use conversation with one other person, in small groups and in large groups to talk with and listen to others;
   

2. adding to their vocabulary by learning the meaning of — and being able to use — new words;
   

3. being able to use words to describe their experiences;
   

4. getting to know the sounds and letters which make up the words we use;
   

5. listening to — and talking about — stories;
   

6. knowing how to handle books and that they can be a source of stories and information;
   

7. knowing the purposes for which we use writing; and
   

8. making their own attempts at writing.
   

Mathematical development

This area of children’s development covers:

1. building up ideas about how many, how much, how far and how big;
   

2. building up ideas about patterns, the shape of objects and parts of objects, and the amount of space taken up by objects;
   

3. starting to understand that numbers help us to answer questions about how many, how much, how far and how big;
   

4. building up ideas about how to use counting to find out how many; and
   

5. being introduced to finding the result of adding more or taking away from the amount we already have.
   

Knowledge and understanding of the world

This area of children’s development covers:

1. finding out about the natural world and how it works;
   

2. finding out about the made world and how it works;
   

3. learning how to choose — and use — the right tool for a task;
   

4. learning about computers, how to use them and what they can help us to do;
   

5. starting to put together ideas about past and present and the links between them;
   

6. beginning to learn about their locality and its special features; and
   

7. learning about their own and other cultures.
   

Physical development

This area of children’s development covers:

1. gaining control over the large movements which we can make with our arms, legs and bodies, so that they can run, jump, hop, skip, roll, climb, balance and lift;
   

2. gaining control over the small movements we can make with our arms, wrists and hands, so that they can pick up and use objects, tools and materials; and
   

3. learning about the importance of — and how to look after — their bodies.
   

Creative development

This area of children’s development covers:

1. using paint, materials, music, dance, words, stories and role-play to express their ideas and feelings; and
   

2. becoming interested in the way that paint, materials, music, dance, words, stories and role-play can be used to express ideas and feelings.
   

Play helps young children to learn and develop through doing and talking, which research has shown to be the means by which young children think. Step by Step Pre-school uses the early learning goals and their stepping stones to plan and provide a range of play activities which help children to make progress in each of the areas of learning and development. In some of these activities children decide how they will use the activity and, in others, an adult takes the lead in helping the children to take part in the activity. In all activities information from the early learning goals and stepping stones has been used to decide what equipment to provide and how to provide it.