Activities

All children need to experience a planned programme of activities and experiences tailored to their stage of development and taking into account their individual needs. The play activivites provided by our setting are an essential element of the programme and we have used the headings provided by the DFES for the Foundation Stage Early learning Goals as guidance to show how we provide a planned programme which will enable children to develop.

A recent Ofsted report states that 'Displays of children's work seen throughout the Nursery, creating a warm and welcoming environment for children, parents and staff.' and 'Good daily routines are in place which offer a varied programme of activities, through the use of adequate equipment and resources. This ensures that children's individual needs are recognised and met and that all areas of development are built upon.'

Children will be encouraged to build friendships with other children and adults which enable them to practice skills of sharing, caring, helping, working together, solving problems and taking responsibilitiy for the environment and themselves.

They will be encouraged to concentrate and persevere on individual tasks and to ask for help when needed.

Children will be given many opportunities to talk about their experiences and to listen to others. They will be encouraged to express their own ideas in ways which can be understood. They will hear stories, rhymes, poems and songs and when confident will join in with them. Books will always be readily available to children for looking at, listening to, reading stories and to recognise how printed words and pictures can convey meaning. Materials for writing or making marks will be available and children will be helped to understand the purpose of writing.

Children will have the opportunities provided by many different activities to match, sort, sequence, count and order everyday objects which form the basis of an understanding of mathematics. Through this knowledge they will be able to solve problems.

They will hear examples of the language of mathematics, identify objects by shape, size, numbers etc. Simple rhymes will help them to learn sequence.

Activites for creative play will always be available including paint, crayons, pencils, gluing, collage, model making, materials which are natural and man made.

Children will be provided with opportunities to respond to music and recognisable artistic works; they will have opportunities for imaginative play individually and with others.

Children will be offered the chance to explore and experiment with natural and man made materials; they will be able to compare and identify the features of different objects, recognise similarities and differences and talk about their discoveries with other children and adults.

They will hear examples of the language of mathematics, identify objects by shape, size, numbers etc. Simple rhymes will help them to learn sequence.

Children will be given opportunities both indoors and out to develop, practice and master skills of balance, movement, running, jumping and climbing. At all times they will be closely supervised to ensure safety while encouraged to test their own abilities with challenging activities which are fun.