Our Curriculum Intent

Children learning in Nursery and Reception classes are known as the Early Years and we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework. In the Foundation Stage, we foster the child’s own interests, needs and stages of development and offer activities which extend, enrich and develop potential both inside and outside the classroom. The curriculum is centered around children’s interests with a balance of child-initiated and adult-led learning.

Our learning environment facilitates child-initiated play and provides children with carefully planned opportunities which allow children to explore, create and learn through exciting, stimulating, interactive and accessible resources.

At St Michaels we aim to support the children to become independent and confident in their abilities. We work towards providing them with the knowledge and skills they will need to start school. In EYFS we want to build the foundations to support the children to become lifelong learners through being creative, inquisitive, and curious.

Learning is planned around topics that support the prime areas:

• Personal, social and emotional development
• Communication and Language
• Physical Development

As well as the specific areas:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

Our shared school vision

We believe that Matthew was speaking to all of us when he said:

‘In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets’ Matthew 7:12

On this scriptural foundation rest our three values that run through all aspects of the school and is the core driver for success and happiness in everything we do:

Cultivating Respect, Persevering, and Learning with Courage.

What does learning look like in Early Years?

Teaching and Learning in Early Years is guided by children's interests and their needs as identified through our curriculum framework. You can see how this is structured through focused 'table top' activities and a mixture of free-flow learning, whole class teaching and guided activities.

Through play, your child will be encouraged to learn new skills and practice skills they have already acquired. The children are encouraged to become independent learners and experience lots of meaningful, first–hand experiences, both inside and outside of the classroom.

Play is important for children's all round physical, emotional, intellectual and social development. Purposefully planned, playful activities and firsthand experiences are the key to learning, laying the foundations for the Early Years Curriculum. There is a mixture and an appropriate balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities, depending on the children’s age and stage of development.

We have high ambitions for all our children and recognize that children have different starting points to their learning. We plan according to children’s stage of development so all can thrive and develop. We aim for children to be well-rounded individuals who are independent, resilient, and confident in themselves and with others.

We work as a team with play-based child centered learning at the heart of our practice. We aim to communicate and work cooperatively with parents and carers to support the children’s development. Class Dojo keeps a record of your child's learning and engagement at nursery, we use the platform to celebrate wow moments and share daily experiences with parents