Academy Nursery Information Booklet
Welcome to Academy Primary School Nursery Unit
Our Aims
How do we plan to achieve these aims?
The Nursery Curriculum
Personal, social and emotional development
Language and Literacy development
Early Mathematical Experiences
Early Experiences in Science and Technology
Knowledge and Appreciation of the Environment
Physical development
Welcome to Academy Primary School Nursery Unit
We are delighted that your child will be joining our nursery class and we look forward to having the opportunity to share these important early years with you.Our aim is to provide a happy, caring and enriching nursery environment which will establish a firm foundation for your child's future learning. Nursery is the beginning of school life and a very big first step into the outside world. By working in partnership with you, we hope we can make this a smooth and enjoyable transition and that the time your child spends with us in the nursery will be happy and rewarding.
We have compiled this handbook to provide you with some information about the nursery. We hope you will find it helpful, but if there is anything else you would like to know, please do not hesitate to ask.
Who you will meet:
Mr Moore is the school principal;
Mrs Cockroft is the morning session nursery teacher;
Mrs Barr is the afternoon session nursery teacher
Miss Brown is the nursery assistant (both sessions); Back to top
Our Aims
Our aims are:To foster a positive attitude to learning and help children acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and practical abilities that will become a firm foundation for future learning;
To develop a stimulating and challenging environment where children have fun and feel happy and secure;
To provide children with a wider experience of the world;
To provide opportunities to explore, investigate and to develop curiosity;
To provide opportunities for children to develop relationships with adults and peers;
To recognise and celebrate cultural diversity and provide equality of opportunities for all;
To provide opportunities for children to learn through solitary, parallel and co-operative play;
To recognise and develop each child?s individuality;
To develop children's self-esteem, confidence and independence;
To enhance children's personal, social and emotional development;
To help children become familiar with rules and routines;
To enable children to make choices and develop decision-making skills;
To help children develop the ability to communicate clearly and confidently with adults and other children and to listen with understanding;
To develop creativity through art, music, drama and movement;
To develop children's physical co-ordination and confidence in movement;
To provide a stepping stone from home to school;
To work in partnership with parents and keep them informed about their child?s learning. Back to top
How do we plan to achieve these aims?
Children in the early years learn best through play, it is their 'work' and it is the way they discover things about the world. Play in the nursery is carefully planned and structured to meet the needs of all the children, providing them with a broad and balanced curriculum which aims to challenge, interest and motivate. Each month the play is planned around a topic or theme, with various activities designed to develop skills, knowledge and understanding across the seven areas of the early years curriculum.We aim to provide a safe, stimulating and varied environment for the children to play in and the nursery is set up with different areas such as water, sand, construction, role play, dough, art, painting, writing, interest table, tabletop play, small world play, junk modelling and book area. The resources or activities in these areas are changed either daily, weekly or monthly to support planned activities or to follow interests expressed by the children. In addition we have a well equipped outdoor area which we use each day to extend the experiences offered indoors.
We want the children to be as independent as possible, to make choices and to organise their own learning. For a large part of each day your child will have the opportunity to choose their own activities, or to join in with an adult-led activity, to have some quiet time, to ask questions, to investigate, to play with a friend, alone, or with an adult. They will be supported, encouraged, challenged, listened to, and helped to feel important and secure. As well as this individual time we also have some parts of the day when your child will be part of a whole class group, either to say good morning, to listen to a story, sing a song, make music, play games, take part in drama or just to talk and listen to others. Back to top
The Nursery Curriculum
You are your child's most important teacher and by the time s/he enters nursery a great deal of learning has already taken place. In nursery we aim to build upon this learning and work in partnership with you to help your child develop further. The early years curriculum which we follow has seven areas of learning and the following list provides some ideas of things you can do at home to support the learning which takes place in nursery. Back to topPersonal, social and emotional development
Meeting other children at parent and toddler groups, other pre-school settings and through visiting friends;Learning to share and play together at home as well as outside;
Managing personal needs such as going to the toilet, dressing, opening doors, using tools, cutlery, comb, toothbrush;
Expressing feelings, talking about being happy, sad, hurt upset, angry;
Discovering the pleasure of giving to others;
Learning to meet expectations of behaviour;
Learning how to express their frustrations acceptably;
Learning respect for different people and places. Back to top
Language and Literacy development
Talking about everything seen and done together;Sharing songs, poetry and nursery rhymes;
Visiting the local library and allowing them to choose books;
Reading lots of books together, talking about the pictures, retelling the stories, enjoying them!
Recognising the labels on packets and tins;
Playing word games: finding words that rhyme, 'I spy';
Beginning to write names and other familiar words;
'Writing' birthday cards, shopping lists and letters;
Experimenting with paint, pencils, crayons, felt tips. Back to top
Early Mathematical Experiences
Talking together about the world 'How much?' 'How many?' 'How big?'Learning about shape: circles, triangles, squares, cones, cubes, for example when shopping;
Learning the language of maths: height, weight, distance, quantity;
Learning number rhymes and songs, playing counting games, counting stairs or toys;
Recognising everyday numbers, the telephone, front door, car numberplate, finding any special number;
Sorting: sorting out the sock drawer, the fruit bowl, which goes with which and why?
Setting places at the table;
Proportioning food, sharing sweets;
Matching: matching the clothes from the laundry basket;
Building with bricks, stacking and lining them up, discovering symmetry and shape. Back to top
Early Experiences in Science and Technology
Exploring and recognising living things, pets, animals, plants;Talking, listening and asking questions;
Exploring with all our senses, tasting, touching, smelling, looking and listening;
Experimenting, investigating everything in the child?s environment;
Making things, cutting, joining, folding, building, learning how things fit together and come apart;
Using computers, videos, electronic games together, talking about what happens and why. Back to top
Knowledge and Appreciation of the Environment
Talking together about ourselves, our house, our road, where we live, where we shop, what we buy;Talking about things that have happened in the past and how things have changed over time. Back to top
Physical development
Playing out of doors with balls, ropes, hoops, trikes, scooters;Going swimming or visiting a play park together;
Using small tools, scissors, nuts and bolts, pegs, crayons, pencils;
Learning how to use zips, buttons, velcro and other fastenings. Back to top
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