Our Pre-school Vision
‘Those who are wise will shine like the sky and those who lead others to goodness will shine like the stars forever’ Daniel 12:3
At Little Learners, we believe that every child is a shining light, unique and valued. Our motto, “We all shine like stars,” reflects our commitment to nurturing wisdom, kindness, and faith in all we do.
Linked to the school houses—Strive, Think, Act and Respect (STARS)—we encourage our Little Learners to shine: work hard, be thoughtful, make positive choices, show respect, and let their light shine brightly. Rooted in Christian values, we aim to inspire every child to grow in confidence, character, and love, making a difference in our Pre-school, community, and beyond.
Early Years Foundation Stage Framework
Activities are planned based on the development matters statements of the EYFS Framework. The areas of learning are:
· Personal Social and Emotional development: Children’s personal, social and emotional development (PSED) is crucial for children to lead healthy and happy lives, and is fundamental to their cognitive development. Underpinning their personal development are the important attachments that shape their social world. Strong, warm and supportive relationships with adults enable children to learn how to understand their own feelings and those of others.
· Communication and Language: The development of children’s spoken language underpins all seven areas of learning and development. Children’s back-and-forth interactions from an early age form the foundations for language and cognitive development. The number and quality of the conversations they have with adults and peers throughout the day in a language-rich environment is crucial. By commenting on what children are interested in or doing, and echoing back what they say with new vocabulary added, practitioners will build children’s language effectively.
· Physical Development: Physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives. Gross and fine motor experiences develop incrementally throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and the development of a child’s strength, co-ordination and positional awareness.
· Mathematics: Developing a strong grounding in number is essential so that all children develop the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically. Children should be able to count confidently, develop a deep understanding of the numbers to 10, the relationships between them and the patterns within those numbers.
· Literacy: It is crucial for children to develop a life-long love of reading. Reading consists of two dimensions: language comprehension and word reading. Language comprehension (necessary for both reading and writing) starts from birth. It only develops when adults talk with children about the world around them and the books (stories and non-fiction) they read with them, and enjoy rhymes, poems and songs together. Skilled word reading, taught later, involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words. Writing involves transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech, before writing).
· Expressive art and design: The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their imagination and creativity. It is important that children have regular opportunities to engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. The quality and variety of what children see, hear and participate in is crucial for developing their understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability to communicate through the arts. The frequency, repetition and depth of their experiences are fundamental to their progress in interpreting and appreciating what they hear, respond to and observe.
· Understanding the world: Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community. The frequency and range of children’s personal experiences increases their knowledge and sense of the world around them – from visiting parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of society such as police officers, nurses and firefighters. In addition, listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world. As well as building important knowledge, this extends their familiarity with words that support understanding across domains. Enriching and widening children’s vocabulary will support later reading comprehension
Characteristics of effective learning
In planning and guiding what children learn, we continually reflect on the different rates at which children are developing and adjust our practice appropriately. We ensure that our planned activities provide opportunities for the three characteristics of effective teaching and learning to be present. These are:
· Playing and exploring: finding out and exploring, playing with what they know, being willing to ‘have a go’.
· Active learning – motivation: being involved and concentrating, keep trying and enjoying achieving what they set out to do.
· Creating and thinking critically – thinking: having their own ideas, making links and choosing ways to do things.
