Foundation Stage

How do we achieve the Foundation Stage?

We provide a safe, secure and stimulating environment for the children to play in with clearly defined and well-resourced areas which promote decision making and independence. We strongly value children’s interests and encourage a life-long love of learning. Children experience an array of challenging opportunities to learn through play with a real ‘have-a-go’ ethos that builds confidence and self-esteem. We ensure there is a balance of child and adult-initiated activities. Specialist teaching in French, PE and music ensure a broad curriculum.

The following is a list of the areas found in Nursery but it is important that the children have the choice to move freely between them taking resources from one area to another to allow them to make connections in their learning:

Outdoor Area

Our beautiful outdoor environment is an integral part of our early years provision. It is not just a place to play in a large scale but a place where all aspects of the curriculum can be investigated. The garden is a large, versatile and dynamic place where the children are encouraged to explore, create, develop a sense of freedom, interact with nature, become environmentally aware, take risks and above all, have fun!

Construction Area

Block play is one of the most important unstructured pieces of equipment in Nursery. They provide endless opportunities for creative, social, physical and intellectual development. The blocks encourage the children to explore scientific and mathematical principles as they explore concepts including shape, number, quantity, length, area, weight, spatial awareness to reconstruct their experience of the world around them. Small world equipment including people, animals and cars extend the play opportunities.

Music Area

Children have free access to the music area in Nursery, as we believe that singing and making sounds should be an integral part of the child’s day. It is equipped with an array of instruments to allow different sounds to be explored. Instruments from various cultures help to celebrate diversity. Here, children can listen to different pieces of music including jazz, classical and folk, as well as music from different countries all with different rhythms, tempos and tones. This provides opportunities for aural discrimination which has positive values in other areas of learning.

Book Area

Books are found in all areas of Nursery helping to enrich the learning experience. Our book area has a wonderful selection of fiction and non-fiction texts, poetry books, number books, homemade books and picture books that promote an interest in the written word. Story sacks and puppets help children bring stories to life and enable the children to retell their favourite tales in their own way. A listening station ensures children can independently listen to stories whenever they choose.

Creative Area

This is a self-motivating area where an wide range of materials and media encourages children to work creatively and expressively. Children have the opportunity to paint, draw and model with clay, dough, wood and junk materials as well as looking at famous works of art and other stimuli to develop aesthetic awareness.

Role Play Area

Our exciting role play area changes along with children’s interests. Here the children enjoy enacting real-life situations as well as engaging in fantasy play and story-making. Stimulating environments include a space rocket, jungle, shop, doctor’s surgery, as well as a home. Open-ended resources including large pieces of fabric empowers the children to create whatever they want. A cloak for a king, a picnic blanket, a wrap for a baby or maybe a magic flying carpet?

Investigation Area

Children love to explore and investigate and need to do so with all their senses. Here they have the opportunity to examine magnets, light and dark, shadows, colour and light, minibeasts and growing. Equipment, including magnifying glasses, bug boxes, an incubator and microscope allows deeper exploration, encouraging questions and answers about how things work in the world in which they live.

Mark Making Area

We encourage children to realise that there is a purpose for writing and they have an opportunity to practise this during their play in all areas of the Nursery. The Mark Making Area is resourced with all the equipment they need to make books, write letters, create tickets and gain an understanding of the importance of ‘writing’.

Sand and water Area

Children can explore the properties of sand, water, gloop, soil, peat and cornflour in this area. Wonderful sensory experiences take place as the children fill and pour, mould and shape and play imaginatively with the addition of small world resources.

Numeracy Area

Our well equipped Numeracy Area presents opportunities to develop number recognition, spatial awareness, shape recognition, ordering, sorting, creative thinking skills and problem-solving. We have exciting ‘open-ended’ resources which have no right or wrong way to be used to encourage children’s creative thinking skills.

Computers and ICT

There is a wealth of ICT resources for the children to use in Nursery. The interactive whiteboard encourages collaborative work and enables the children to interact with activities without needing good mouse skills. The children are supported to use video cameras, digital cameras, digital microscopes, CD players, Bee Bots and stand alone computers to support their learning. Their pride in seeing their own photographs printed out is inspirational.

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