Scallywags Nursery Curriculum

Intent

At Scallywags Nursery, curriculum arises from children’s choices, activities and experiences, building on the knowledge they bring from their homes and communities. Practitioners plan intentional, adult-led activities, and respond to child-initiated activities.

Staff plan using a blended approach to planning: child led / adult led / children planning / topic work (always considering children’s interests and capabilities) with the use of Development Matters, key checkpoints and skills lists as a supporting guide. When choosing which approach to adopt, staff will always take account of the following: children’s interests and capabilities, children’s skills, capabilities, the curriculum, children’s previous learning, community contexts and cultural capital.

As part of the blended approach, we are observing and interacting with children as they pursue their own interests and also assessing and moving the learning on in that moment. Written accounts of some of these interactions becomes part of the child’s learning journey.

At Scallywags Nursery, curriculum is much more than ‘intent, implementation, impact’ because it becomes the lived experiences for children, and incorporates knowledge, skills and understanding within nursey, homes and the local community. This is not just a ‘watching and waiting’ approach to see where children are engaged and involved, but focuses on the interests and enquiries arising from the activities they choose to play with.

Staff aim to have an adult-focused activity each day (appropriate for the age of the children) that excites children and makes them feel included and thought about.

To support weekly planning, each week we have a daily toy plan where we plan for new toys to be introduced to the rooms to keep learning fun and interesting.

Alongside the weekly plan, we also plan for children to access additional activities as appropriate for their age, such a field forest, PE, yoga, music and movement and random acts of kindness in the community.

Scallywags Nursery – what is really important to our setting?

Outdoor play throughout the seasons

· The opportunity to use a rich outdoor area to support and develop strong gross and fine motor skills

· Promoting a love of nature including an awareness of and immersion in seasonal changes Children as curious, lifelong learners

· Viewing children as curious learners, keen to use all their senses to understand their personal and physical environments and inform their developing understanding of the world

· Belief in the value of developing both confidence and independence in our learners

· Opportunity to follow children’s interests through the blended approach to learning

· Skilled practitioners who understand the importance of high-quality interactions between adults and children as a vehicle for both high levels of well-being and academic achievement

Promotion of high levels of well-being

· The importance of the well-being of our learners; our understanding of how young children thrive in a safe and comfortable environment with access to practitioners who value, respect and cherish them

· The importance of parent partnership in both supporting high levels of well-being and academic progress. Our children are very young and attending our setting may be the first time they have left their family and familiar adults; we therefore place great emphasis on settling procedures, clear and consistent routines and forming good relationships with children and their families.

Overarching Curriculum Objectives

1. To provide all children with equal access to a rich, broad, balance and differentiated curriculum well matched to their ages, abilities, interests, attitudes and needs.

2.To increase children’s knowledge, skills and understanding as they grow and develop and strengthen their connections with the world around them.

3. To ensure the curriculum is creative, carefully planned and structured to ensure that the learning is continuous and that children make good progress in the development of their learning, with language and vocabulary at the centre of all we do.

4. To engage the children's interest by offering opportunities to extend creative learning, challenge imagination, value uniqueness, and to encourage and motivate them to learn.

5. To provide children with lots of exciting, first hand experiences that immerse children in the world around them to reinforce their learning and to underpin their growing knowledge, skills and understanding.

6. To facilitate awe and wonder and cause children to see the wonderful world in which they live.

7. To provide children with a curriculum which enables them to develop their talents, skills and a love of learning.

8. To provide children with a curriculum that allows them to become independent learners, with the knowledge and skills they will need to support them in their transitions to different rooms within the nursery and then onto school.

At Scallywags Nursery, we follow Development Matters. Development Matters, starts from when a child is born until the end of the Reception Year in Primary School. Development Matters outlines seven key areas of learning and development. These areas are divided into three prime areas and four specific areas. The way we deliver these areas is tailored according to the developmental stage of each child.

For children under the age of 3, we focus primarily on the three prime areas of learning:

Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Communication and Language
Physical Development

Why this focus?

These prime areas are considered fundamental to young children’s healthy development. In the earliest years, children are rapidly developing basic skills such as forming secure relationships, expressing needs, beginning to understand language, and developing motor skills. These foundational abilities are critical for all future learning and must be well-established before children can effectively engage with more structured or academic content.

Focusing on the prime areas supports the development of:

Strong attachment and emotional security
Communication and social interaction skills
Coordination and physical confidence

Children Over 3 – All 7 Areas of Learning

As children grow and become more confident in the prime areas, typically around the age of 2, we begin to introduce the four specific areas of learning alongside continued development in the prime areas:

Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding the World
Expressive Arts and Design

Why expand to all 7 areas?

By this stage, most children have developed the confidence, curiosity, and communication skills to begin engaging with a wider range of experiences. Their increasing cognitive abilities allow them to explore early reading, number concepts, creativity, and an awareness of the world around them. These specific areas build on the prime areas and support school readiness by encouraging problem-solving, critical thinking, and expressive communication.

Development Matters allows us to plan, deliver, and assess learning in a way that is developmentally appropriate, structured, and enjoyable for young children. The guidance provides broad, meaty statements of learning that describe what children should be aiming to achieve by a certain age. To ensure these goals are accessible and meaningful for every child, we break them down into smaller, sequential skills that build logically over time.

By breaking down the Development Matters statements into manageable, age-appropriate learning steps, we are able to:

Provide targeted, focused teaching that meets each child at their individual developmental stage.
Embed learning through play and meaningful experiences, ensuring children are engaged and motivated.
Support progression by revisiting and building on prior knowledge and skills.
Identify gaps and strengths more accurately through ongoing observation and assessment.
Plan next steps for each child, using real-time insights into their learning journey.

Our approach ensures that learning is not only aligned with the EYFS and Development Matters, but also responsive to each child’s unique interests and needs. We aim to nurture curiosity, confidence, and independence while closely tracking development across all seven areas of learning. This enables staff to monitor progress more effectively and adjust provision and teaching strategies as needed.

Curriculum Intent Birth to Two Years

Personal, social and emotional development (PSED)

Supporting babies PSED is crucial to help them to lead healthy and happy lives and is fundamental to their cognitive development.

Will we ensure that every child/family is allocated a key person to working in partnership with parents/carers and tailor care routines and learning opportunities for children. We want children to:

Build positive relationships with their key person and other adults in the room.
Explore their surroundings from secure base support by staff who co-regulate with children to meet their emotional needs.
Develop a sense of self and a sense of belonging, starting with information provided by parents/carers, noting babies’ routines, cues, preferences, likes and dislikes so that they feel understood, accepted and confident to play, explore and learn.
Be confident to explore their enabling environments with support and encouragement.
Understand object and people permanence through games and peek a boo, etc (links to early mathematics, numbers).
Play and explore and actively learn through the solitary play and parallel play stages to help children to build social skills and social understanding. Older babies may start to seek out specific children to play with.
Cooperate with caregiving experiences, such as nappy changing, dressing and hand washing.
Have opportunities to share books, join in with songs, rhymes and games. Adults will observe and follow children’s cues and early communication used to initiate songs, rhymes, games and play (links to communication and language, literacy and mathematics, patterns and may link to number).
Predict what may come next in their routines (links to mathematics. patterns and time).

We will share information with parents and carers so that they are informed about their child/ren’s development, giving ideas for them to try at home to further support their child/ren. We will be working in partnership with parents/carers to carefully plan for each baby’s transition to the toddler room.

Communication and language (C&L)

We will provide a language-rich environment with quality conversations throughout the day. Adults will talk and sing to babies during everyday routines and provide specific times to share books and sing rhymes (links to PSED and early literacy).

We will:

Observe as babies as they pass through the patterns of child development learning to express themselves. For example, their differentiated cries, wriggling with excitement, turning away and not wanting to engage, cooing, babbling, holding their arms out, progressing to first words. Some babies may use baby sign.

Comment on what children are interested in or doing, respond to their early communications and echo back what they say with new vocabulary added to effectively build children's communication and language.

We want babies to:

Develop their understanding, for example, recognising their own name and then pointing to their own eyes, nose and mouth, etc when asked (links to PSED, mathematics and spatial awareness).
Communicate in various ways, including crying, cooing, babbling, baby sign, using non-verbal communication and gestures such as pointing and waving.
Be able to point to an image in a book, for example “Where is the car?” or select an item or toy from a small selection when asked.
Understand language aiming for them to understand around 200 words and small sentences such as “where are your shoes?” around the age of 24 months.
Explore concepts such as “more” and “all gone” or “empty” during snack and mealtimes (links to mathematics, comparison).
Join in with the actions of songs and rhymes (including number rhymes, linking to mathematics and recognising patterns).
Develop growing attention to be in a small group for short time to share a book or sing (links to PSED and early literacy.

Aiming for most children to understand around 200 words and say/use around 50 single words by two years old (some children may sign). Some may start to put two words together “Mummy gone” or “Daddy car.” Look, listen and note how children are developing through the speech. language and communication development patterns. Liaise with parents to share information about their child’s development and share ideas to try at home.

Physical development (PD)

We will provide children with enabling environments indoors and outdoors to support their incremental development of gross and fine motor skills from birth to two years. Will want children to have the opportunities to learn including:

Supervised tummy time and floor time for the youngest babies to develop core strength, eye tracking and rolling skills (spatial awareness, links to mathematics).
Reach out to grab things of interest, passing objects from hand to hand.
Gaining the strength to sit up, please insert specific information such as playing and exploring with a treasure basket or other items to explore properties and concepts such as needing two hands to pick up something big or heavy (links to early mathematics - measures).
Exploring sensory play to help to build strong sensory processing systems.
Supporting babies explore food and textures through the various weaning stages planning each stage carefully in partnership with parents.
Developing fine motor skills such as grasping finger foods (carefully planned with parents, risk assessed and supervised) and note as they bring the food to their mouth and as they start to share control of spoon, bottle or cup.
Moving on from the bottle to a cup from around 6 months and working with parents to support babies through this stage encouraging self-feeding under direct supervision.
Building core muscles and to weight bear on their arms and legs in preparation to crawl, stand unaided, begin to walk independently, moving on to running, walking up steps and walking short distances.
Supporting children’s health and self-care through nappy changing, washing their hands and support potty awareness.
Exploring shapes, such as fitting shapes into holes or pieces into puzzles (risk assessing the size of the pieces of the shape sorters and inset jigsaws, etc and proving constant supervision), (links to mathematics/shapes).
Stacking cups or blocks to make a tower (links to mathematics, shapes, spatial awareness, number)

Curriculum Intent Two Years to Three Years

Personal, social and emotional development (PSED)

We want children to:

Build relationships with their key person and other familiar adults in the setting as a safe base to explore the continuous provision, activities and learning opportunities, playing alone or alongside with others.
Become familiar with the routines and rhythms of the day (links to spotting patterns/mathematics).
Express themselves and to start to understand feelings such as happy, joy, sad and anger throughout the day.
Be supported through their frustrations with adults co-regulating, modelling language and using different strategies to regulate emotions.
Build a positive sense of self, develop preferences and understand about what makes them unique.
Start to use pronouns such as me, you and I in their talk and build an identify of their gender, ethnicity and abilities.
Move the stages of play. For example, they may play alongside others as they develop an interest of being together and playing with others; staff will support children with imaginative play relating to first hand experiences (links to UTW). Please note that all children are individuals and some may not play alongside each other or show interest in joining in with others; we will share our observations and information about children with parents and carers.

We will observe children as they watch, follow and imitate others. Model and extend children’s play and learning when appropriate and provide opportunities for them to begin to co-operate with others.

Communication and language (C&L)

Some children may have English as an additional language (EAL), communication and language delays and/or speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). We will observe and assess children’s speech, language and communication skills and share information with parents to plan children’s next steps, write targets plans and make referrals where necessary. We will also use additional tracking and monitoring tools to support children with targeted interventions e.g., Child Monitoring Tools / Physical Monitoring Tools / ASD assessments to name a few.

Adults will support children with English as an Additional Language (EAL) and bi-lingual children to understand and communicate in English and assess their progress in English. We want children to be able to:

Experience quality ‘conversations’ throughout the day to provide a language-rich environment including adults’ commenting on what children are interested in or doing (this may include communicating in sign), echoing back adding new vocabulary/signs. E.g., the child says “ball”, the adult echoes and extends “big ball” or “blue ball.”
Participate in one-to-one times and short, small groups to build their listening and attention skills.
Have opportunities to talk and sing during everyday routines with specific times to share books and sing rhymes (including number rhymes linking to maths). Adults will observe how they join in with the actions and words.
Build their understanding of communication and language (aiming to understand between 800 and 1000 words around three years old).
Understand routine events; some children may need an object of reference, picture clues, nonverbal cues or sign.
Further develop their understanding, such as being able to select familiar objects by name and find objects when asked or identify objects from a group.
Understand simple sentences.
Learn prepositions and concepts such as ‘in’ – for example, “put the blocks in the box” and some other prepositions (links to mathematics).
Use more single words (aiming for between 250–500 words around three years old) including mathematical (comparison) words such as “big”, “small”, “lots”, “more,” forming simple short sentences such as “all gone” or “more please.” Non-verbal or pre-verbal children may use PECS or sign.
Link two or more words together to form short sentences.
May start to use the suffix ‘ing’ (as a noun wear and wearing and verbs (doing words) such as running).

Physical Development (PD)

With support and understanding for every unique child making reasonable adjustments, differentiating and adapting as necessary for children with physical disabilities or impairments. We want children to be able to:

Access opportunities to develop their gross and fine motor skills to develop and extend their physical skills incrementally between two and three years.
Develop their physical strength, co-ordination and positional awareness creating games and opportunities indoors and outdoors to develop their core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, co-ordination and agility.
Progress through child development patterns such as learning to walk and maintain balance, run short distances with spatial awareness, climbs stairs (two footing) with help and supervision (noting that differentiation may be required for children with physical disabilities’ or SEND).
Develop, build and strengthen their fundamental movement skills in stages (sequentially) using their feet, legs, trunk, arms and head in age and stage appropriate ways with opportunities to further their gross motor skills and spatial awareness (links to spatial awareness and mathematics).
Change position from standing to squatting and sitting.
Participate in finger and action rhymes, songs and games, imitating the movements and anticipating actions (links to mathematics, patterns and possibly to phase one phonics), building fine motor skills including hand strength.
Have to opportunity to participate in sensory play, mark making and playdough, etc., to build strong sensory systems, fine motor skills and hand strength (note and support any specific sensory preferences and individual needs).
Explore the marks that they mark (links to literacy).
Develop bilateral skills (each hand doing something different at the same time) such as holding a bucket and pouring water into it.
Access opportunities to fill and empty things, count things (and people), (linking to mathematics numbers, capacity and spatial reasoning), to use shapes such as shape sorters, large floor puzzles and blocks (also linking to mathematics) noting whether children line toys up or group them (linking to patterns in maths). Adults will observe to see if children have any schematic behaviours providing support and resources as necessary.
To self-serve food, pour own drinks and build the skills to feed themselves competently, aiming for them to use fork and drink from a cup without spilling.
Start to understand their bodily functions such as having a wet or soiled nappy. We will work in partnership with parents/carers and carefully plan how to support their child/ren’s transition to potty/toilet training. We will sign post parents to information about helping children with SEND to potty/toilet train.

There will be a natural cross over to some of the skills and learning within the specific areas of learning for children. Staff will differentiate and scaffold children’s learning as appropriate to ensure that every child can learn to their full potential.

Curriculum Intent Three Years to starting school

Personal, social and emotional development (PSED)

We will allocate each child a key person to help them transition or settle into the pre-school room, to tailor the care of children and be a named person for the parents/carers. We want children to be able to:
Build a sense of belonging and positive sense of self to help them to be confident and independent to play and explore, actively learn and create and think critically.
Have the opportunity to participate in small group times to get together and explore other feelings such as scared, excited and nervous.
Start to build empathy skills; we will promote (and sometimes remind) children to take turns, share resources (if appropriate) and join with other’s play (noting children’s learning preferences and any specific needs of the individual children, for example neurodiverse children or children with autism may not follow this path of child development).
Learn how to look after their bodies, including healthy eating and managing their personal needs independently. Children will have the opportunities to try new tastes and textures to expand their healthy eating choices
Understand their feelings and provide some coping strategies to help them develop self-regulation skills. We will notice any specific learning styles and share information with parents.

Communication and language (C&L)

Some children may have English as an additional language (EAL), communication and language delays and/or speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).

We will share information with parents to plan children’s next steps, write targets plans and make referrals where necessary.

We will carry out regular observations and assessments to track children’s communication and language progress/levels.

We will provide opportunities, and support as required, to help every child’s to develop and extend their speech, language and communication (SLC) from their starting points, aiming to narrow or close any gaps where possible.

We will share information with parents/carers and their child/ren’s progress, working in partnership with parents/carers and where necessary with the multi-agencies and speech and language team (with parental consent) to plan targeted support and make referrals if needed. Some children may communicate by signing, using objects of reference, PECs, Makaton symbols and/or picture clues to communicate.

Where children have English as an Additional Language (EAL) staff will seek to obtain key words in the family’s first language to help bridge children’s learning to help them to understand and then speak in English. The EYFS states that we must assess children’s communication and language in English, but we will aim to work in partnership with parents to share information about their child’s progress in their first/home language. We want children to:

Understand why and when questions, show an understanding of what the adult is asking and be able to listen to and understand stories.
Answer questions about what they have just heard in a story after they have shared a book to show their understanding.
Access language rich environments where adults introduce new vocabulary and give children the opportunities to recall and practise using new words in a range of contexts.
Develop a love of books. We will read frequently to children using insert your own examples here such as, a focussed book of the week/month and associated extension activities to actively engage them in stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems with opportunities to use and embed new words.
Build their emotional literacy to communicate their feelings.
Understand and use prepositions such as “in”, “on”, “under”, “over”, “in front” and “behind” (links to mathematics).
Be able to speak in full sentences; some will start to use more complex sentences linking phrases with “and” and “because”. We will differentiate and scaffold as necessary to support individual children and child with SLCN.

Physical development

Develop and extend their gross motor skills practising their physical development skills indoors and outdoors to promote their core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, co-ordination, agility and to help them to learn about healthy lifestyles.
Play on wheeled vehicles including trikes with pedals please insert your own examples here
Access opportunities such as threading, cutting, manipulating playdough, insert your examples here etc., to develop fine motor skills and precision to help with hand-eye co-ordination (links to literacy).

Move freely with confidence such as running, walking, climbing, rolling, sliding, hopping, skipping, throwing and kicking, etc.
Self-serve, pour their own drinks and to eat independently using a knife and fork.
Develop and practise their fine motor skills, hand strength, bilateral skills and hand eye coordination
Develop their independence learning to manage their own belongings and put their coat on, etc.
Develop their independence skills to manage their own personal hygiene when toileting, wipe their own noses and washing and drying hands independently. Most children will stay dry and clean during the day; we will insert your examples here such as use the ERIC website support and guidance to work in partnership with parents to support children with sensory processing difficulties or SEND to toilet train (where possible).

Specific Areas

Literacy

We aim to promote children’s fine motor skills, proprioception and hand strength in preparation for writing. Observe children’s progress through the various stages of pencil grip and note if/when children assign meanings to the marks that they make. We want children to be able to:

Mark marking with various tools. We will observe the pencil grip stages as the move from palmar to digital pronate and some children may be able to form a manageable and comfortable pencil grip and start to progress through the pre-writing stages.
Develop and extend children’s language comprehension (which is a necessary skill for both reading and writing) by adults talking about the world around them, sharing fiction and non-fiction books and enjoying rhymes, poems and songs together.
Develop a love of books. Children may also be developing favourite books to choose to bring to group times.
Develop phonics awareness through songs, rhymes, books and phase one phonics.
Work in partnership with feeder schools to establish their definition of ‘school ready’ skills in terms of phonological awareness and writing.

Mathematics

It is important that children have access to rich opportunities to develop their spatial reasoning skills across all areas of mathematics including exploring patterns, shape, space, measures, time and numbers. We want children to develop positive attitudes and interests in mathematics, including:

Opportunities to explore ordinality by beginning to say numbers in order (some may be in order, there may be some mistakes).
Opportunities to explore cardinality by recognise numerals (perhaps that’s 3, I am 3) and count numbers in daily routine (perhaps using their fingers), subitising and take two of three items from a larger group, etc.
Opportunities to explore shapes, space, size and patterns.
Understanding and using comparison mathematical language such as “more”, “less”, “same”, “equal”, “a lot”.
Opportunities to experiment with spatial awareness, moving their bodies and toys around objects and exploring how to fit into spaces. Helping children to understand some spatial and positional language (see PD above). Opportunities to explore how things look from different viewpoints including things that are near or far away.
Using construction materials, blocks, etc, to build and to fit jigsaw pieces into the correct holes or together to explore what fits where and some of the properties of shapes.
Exploring measures; differences in size, length, weight and capacity.
Explore time, for example, talking about the immediate past and future (what happened this morning and what might happen later).

Understanding the World (UTW)

We want children to be able to make sense of their physical worlds at the setting and in their community.

We aim to provide children with a range of experiences to build their knowledge and understanding of the world around them. We will share information with parents/ carers about events and festivals and library opening times, etc as well as giving them ideas to continue their children’s learning at home in all areas of learning.

We want children to:

Have opportunities to make sense of the physical world around them inside and out the early years setting and their wider community.
Build a sense of their own family, relations and pets, talking about their own families, traditions and communities (a birthday or family celebration, going to the park or for their hair cutting, etc).
Access enabling environments that encourage pretend play, imitating everyday actions and events from their own family, cultural background and cultural capital. We will be mindful of children’s individual learning styles and any SEND or neurodiversity.
Begin to have their own friends and learn about similarities and differences. We will be mindful of children’s individual learning styles and any SEND or neurodiversity.
Observe and explore the natural world around them throughout the seasons.
Opportunities to begin to understand the roles and places in their wider environment through, exploring people who help us, trips into the community and guest speakers such as parents and grandparents to talk about their jobs or hobbies (dentists, doctors, etc).
Opportunities for children to acquire basic skills in turning on and operating some digital equipment. Such as, to be able to turn the knob on a wind-up toy or pull back on a friction car, or perhaps using a programmable resource.
Opportunities to investigate “low technology” such as playing with water, washing and cleaning (bathing dolls, creating a car wash, etc).
Exploring on-line safety in an age and stage appropriate way to help to safeguarding children on-line and off-line; we will also share safeguarding information with parents.
Learn how to keep themselves safe such as about sun safety and how to cross the road safely when on outings away from the setting, etc.

Expressive Arts and Design (EAD)

It is essential to be supportive and have understanding about every unique child. Some children may have sensory processing difficulties which may be a barrier to them being messy, exploring media or they may be sensitive to sound, etc. We are also mindful that some children with neurodiversity may not seem to play in a creative way cooperating with their peers, etc. We want children to be able to:

Join in singing songs, to use instruments (shakers and rhythm sticks they have made as well as real/bought instruments) and to experiment with playing them in various ways, e.g., loud/quiet, fast/slow.
Explore the continuous provision experimenting with ways to enclose a space, create shapes and represent actions, sounds and objects.
Access opportunities for children to play with colour (messy play, mixing paints, etc), experimenting in combining colours and media and to explore different materials and textures through art and creative activities.
Participate in pretended play (staff will encourage (and model if necessary)), role-playing different characters and scenarios, possibly acting out scenes from their favourite book or film or playing cafes, etc.
Explore sounds, rhythm and movement through various types of music and to move to music/dance.

The seven areas of learning and development that shape educational programmes in early years settings are all important and inter-connected and are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive.

Implementation

Our curriculum has been designed by qualified teachers. Scallywags Nursery teachers work closely with highly skilled nursery nurses to provide learning opportunities that are exciting and engage awe and wonder into the children's lives and improve the quality of education they receive. Our curriculum is broad, ambitious, challenging, unique, with new experiences and sequential.

Our curriculum starts with children at the centre of all that we do. Children enter nursery with varying abilities and experiences, and we recognise that parents know their own child best. Complementary taster sessions are planned in advance to support the transition into nursery. During these sessions parents will meet their child’s key worker to talk about their child and the type of care they would like their child to receive.

Scallywags Nursery staff skilfully observe children and using their expert knowledge of child development and the characteristics of effective learning they sequence learning to ensure continuity and progression through an exciting curriculum that is constantly enhanced and enriched, and so that children become reflective and resilient learners.

Every child at Scallywags is assigned a key person in each room and the key person knows the child well and plans for joyful learning experiences tailored to the child’s age and stage of development. The staff in each room work as a team to ensure there are a rich bank of both open ended and specific resources to feed children’s interests and enhance key learning opportunities. The staff team work collaboratively to support children in making key developmental milestones, additionally staff will work with the SENCo / EAL Co-ordinator and in parent partnership to support any child identified with additional need(s) to make appropriate small step progress. Children are encouraged to be independent in their own learning through provision of a rich learning environment and an expectation to have a go and try out new skills and experiences.

Our learning environments, both indoor and outdoor, provide a safe place where children can develop, explore and investigate.

Chellaston Site: Lion Cubs (0-17 months ), Monkeys (17 months – 2 years), Hippos (2-2.5 Years) , Crocodiles (2.5 – 3.5 years) and Zebra Pre School (3.5 – 4.5 years)

Melbourne Site: Lion Cubs (0-17 months ), Monkeys (17 months – 2.5 years), Crocodiles (2.5 – 3.5 years) and Zebra Pre School (3.5 – 4.5 years) each have their own learning environment where their needs can be met most effectively.

A child’s first two years are critical for the development of the brain and for language development.

From birth, babies are busy, active learners, immediately investigating the sights, sounds, and feel of the world. They explore the world with their senses when developing motor skills.

At Scallywags we provide babies with what they need: a safe world, rich with opportunities to actively explore, with books, songs, and a lot of listening and responding to their vocalisations and words.

As a child turns 2, they are moving from the total dependence of babyhood to a more independent, mobile world. At this age children are exploring their powers to communicate, to move purposely, to assert their independence and individuality, and to control their important bodily functions.

At Scallywags we provide a relaxed environment that two- to three-year-olds need. Staff understand the frequent changes in moods, interests, and capabilities and provide calm, consistent care and supportive teaching.

As children move into the independence of the preschool years the programme for learning develops into a more structured pace of meaningful and purposeful learning, where children are encouraged to approach the world with curiosity and with a positive disposition to learning. At this stage children need confidence and the skills and desire to think for themselves, to solve problems, to work with others, to communicate, and to gain an increasing understanding of the world and how it works.

The language development of each child is the core element of our curriculum. Good speaking and listening skills are the foundation for all other areas of learning. Nursery staff model effective communication with children by commenting, asking open questions, modelling key vocabulary and introducing new words to enable children to become confident communicators. Quality texts from books and stories are often used as starting points for our learning themes.

Our curriculum is further enriched with a variety of first-hand experiences and links with the local community, and where children can develop an understanding of the world beyond their local community. Children enjoy regular field forest session, music and dance session, yoga sessions, PE session and visits to the local community as part of random act of kindness.

Children are given many opportunities to re-visit and consolidate their learning, to widen their vocabulary, to develop positive relationships with other, to develop both gross and fine motor skills and to develop their thinking through high quality interactions with staff and the indoor and outdoor learning environments.

Staff use routines to support learning and support children to develop self-help skills using the transition times between home and school, for example ensuring each child has a peg with a photograph to store their coat and bag.

Impact

Children's achievements are monitored and measured in each child's Learning Journal
Children's learning is assessed on entry to nursery, every month, at 2 years, and then is moderated termly by our nursery teachers
Our curriculum is monitored by nursery managers
Groups of children's learning is monitored and compared on a termly basis
Monitoring and evaluation systems are regularly reviewed and acted upon i.e. Planning and Learning Journal scrutinise identify curriculum strengths and areas for improvement so that the Quality of Education is most effective
Teacher and Staff Appraisal systems ensure staff are accountable for our high-quality curriculum
Staff make professional judgements about the balance between activities led or guided by adults and those led by children.
- Adult directed activities are those which are directed by the adult and can be useful in the teaching of specific skills such as demonstrating how to use tools or equipment.
- Adult guided activities are those which the adult initiates. These activities are often playful or experiential. They are open ended and should motivate a keen interest in learning.
- Child-initiated experiences take place within an environment the adult has set up and planned but will be wholly decided upon by the child, based on the child’s own motivation and remains under the child’s control.
In addition we make suggestions as to how parents may support their child’s learning at home, this is done a variety of ways, including in the welcome pack, displays, verbal communication, parent meetings and at stay and play sessions.
In planning and guiding children’s activities, practitioners reflect on the different ways that children learn and reflect these in their practice. Three characteristics of effective teaching and learning are:
- Playing and exploring - children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’
- Active learning - children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements; and
- Creating and thinking critically - children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.

We chat with our parents daily and share progress reports each month and complete an assessment of all areas of learning every 6 months. For children with additional needs, we use the Ever Child A Talker (ECAT) tool and /or Individual Education Plans (IEPs) to record and plan small step targets which are reviewed termly by staff and shared with parents. We will also escalate concerns, in collaboration with parents, to involve other professionals and apply for additional funding if required.

The curriculum at Scallywags ensures that every child receives the support and challenge they need to thrive. By tailoring learning experiences to individual interests, needs, and developmental stages, we see children who are highly engaged, motivated, and confident in their learning.

We assess the impact through ongoing observations, child voice, and close partnership with families. Children show strong progress in all prime areas, particularly in their communication and language, emotional regulation, and personal and social skills. They develop positive attitudes to learning, build secure relationships with peers and adults, and show increasing independence.

Our curriculum empowers children to be curious, resilient, and prepared for the next stage in their learning journey. Their progress is evident not just in formal assessments, but in the way they interact, express themselves, and take ownership of their play and learning.

We see the curriculum as a shared journey between children, educators, and families. Together, we build a nurturing foundation that prepares children not just for school, but for life.

Early Years Foundation Stage 2021