Planning for Learning
In the Nursery, our goal is to provide our children with a happy, safe and stimulating environment. We offer the children opportunities to explore, discover and have fun in a secure and positive setting.
We plan our curriculum through termly topics, in accordance with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum, which encompasses the Nursery year and the Reception year. Consequently we liaise closely with Reception staff in order to ensure continuity of learning for the children throughout their Foundation Stage experience. Each child is regularly assessed and a profile is developed using the whole school monitoring system to ultimately chart their progress from Nursery entry at age 3 to leaving the Primary School at age 11.
Each curriculum area is delivered through carefully planned topic-based play and every day we carefully lay out activities and toys, which the children play with and learn through. We place great importance on the value of learning through both indoor and outdoor play and this is reflected by our ‘free-flow’ policy, enabling the children to move freely between inside and outdoor activities. Indeed, we consider our outdoor area to be an extension of the classroom. We play outside in all weathers and have the flexibility to use the main school's field and playground too.
We emphasise appropriate behaviour and encourage good social skills. Together with extensive pre-reading, pre-writing and number experiences, the whole Nursery experience equips the children with a sound basis for their seamless transition into Reception.
We are part of an exciting East Sussex initiative called The Village Project, which promotes links between pre-school providers and their feeder primary schools. The Wadhurst Village Project offers close working relationships between Sticky Fingers Play Group, Wadhurst Nursery and Wadhurst Primary School to ensure well planned and supported transition for both children and their parents at each stage of their Early Years education.
The EYFS curriculum is divided into 7 areas of learning:
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Personal, Social & Emotional Development (PSED)
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Communication & Language (CL)
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Physical Development (PD)
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Literacy (LIT)
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Mathematics (MD)
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Understanding of the World (UW)
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Expressive Arts & Design (EAD)