Pre-School for Ages 3 to 4 years old:

As your child develops, the nursery staff will gradually introduce them to four Specific Areas of learning which is to prepare them for reception class. These areas are as follows:

1. Literacy:

Including reading and writing, begins with the child showing an interest in books. Your child will increasingly enjoy rhyming and rhythmic activities and join in familiar stories and poems. Children learn how to handle books, and will gradually link sounds to letters and begin to read simple words. By the end of the pre-school year most children can read and understand simple picture reading. Their writing skills develop from giving meaning to marks drawn or painted, then identifying letters and increasingly linking these to sounds, moving on to writing their own name and other things.

2. Mathematics:

Counting numbers

Under the EYFS framework, children should be able to count from 1 – 20 but at Hephzibah children learn to count up to 100 and beyond. They are able to identify which number is one more or one less than a given number, use objects and quantities to add and subtract two single digit numbers, and solve problems including doubling and sharing using single digit numbers. We also encourage parents to help their children to have mathematical objects or symbols around the home environments.

They are able to recognise patterns and create these, and explore the characteristics of everyday objects and shapes, using mathematical language to describe them.

3. Understanding the world:

Cultural Capital

Cultural Capital is about giving children the best possible start to their early education and future success. Cultural Capital comprises the social assets of a person (education, intellect, style of speech, style of dress, etc.) that promote social mobility in a stratified society. In early year it is about preparing children with the knowledge and skills for what comes next, because what children learn in the early years of life stay with them forever.

The world

This covers a range of later subjects, including an awareness of the past in their own lives, appreciating similarities and differences between themselves and others, being able to talk about features of their environment, make observations of animals and plants and talk about changes. The nursery has a fish tank, globe and many things that will challenge children learning under our care.

Technology

Hephzibah children, staff team and management acknowledge the role modern technologies play in children’s learning and development, hence we continually update our ICT suite with current computer and multimedia equipment. For example, we recently acquired six new computers which are shared between the toddlers and preschools. Equally, the staff are trained in basic ICT to enable them support the children to efficiently use interactives equipment to enhance their knowledge of technologies.

We are also continually, embedding “Letters and Sounds” to support children’s phonic skills, this is also helpful for children who have English as an additional language.

We have other action plan in place to develop interaction with babies and the older children to guide them to effectively implement the characteristics of effective learning practices. For instance ‘Explore and investigate when playing, develop critical thinking when learning and have a sustained shared thinking and communication through play and learning.

4. Expressive arts and design

Materials

Children use a range of media materials, ranging from music and singing, dancing, using construction materials and exploring colours to express their artistic flair.

Imagination and thinking

Children present their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through design and technology, art, music, dance, role play and stories. Besides the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile which continues to be completed by the end of the school year in which the child is five, we continue to implement the Progress Check - Age two, to track their development and is evidenced in children’s individual learning journey pack.