Our children’s days are organised in accordance with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), a government framework for the care and education of children comprising of the Statutory Framework including the standards for Early Years providers and welfare requirements used for the running of the nursery and planning and development of the setting. The EYFS also comprises of the Development Matters material which gives practitioners a guide for planning activities for children’s development and ages and stages through which they can do so.
Meeting individual and group needs
The EYFS guidance supports practitioners in planning for both individual and group needs, allowing us to centre planning for individual children and track learning whilst providing opportunities for children to flourish and develop. Using the Development Matters guidance ensures that key persons are flexible in their use of children initiated and adult guided activities and that we are receptive to children in real interaction.
The EYFS framework consists of both Prime and Specific areas of learning, as well as Characteristics of effective Learning. The prime areas are Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSE), Communication and Language (CL) and Physical Development (PD) and are the main focus when planning for under 2 year olds, considered to be fundamental principles to support development. The specific areas are Literacy (L), Mathematics (M), Understanding the World (UW) and Expressive Arts and Design (EAD) designed to support and extend essential skills and knowledge for children to successfully participate in society. These areas are mostly used when planning for children over the age of 2 years. Within every area there are aspects for practitioners to link children’s development to. All practitioners plan with the Characteristics for Effective Learning in mind – Playing and Exploring, Active Learning, and Creating and thinking critically.
Whilst at Growing Up Green both parents, carers and children will benefit from our fully implemented key person system, meaning that planning is based around individual children’s interests taken from the activities and toys that they have particularly enjoyed during the week. We welcome parents and carers to get actively involved within the nursery and regularly ask for your input into your child’s learning, whether this is verbal or written.
Within each room, activities, resources and the room layout itself are structured to give children an environment which enables them to enjoy and achieve, whilst giving that homely feel and extending development. The emphasis is on learning through play and planning activities that children actively participate in – whether this is a favourite toy, a drawing or playing in the sand and water. All of our nursery practitioners understand the importance of early childhood interactions and experiences, and know when to extend children’s learning through the use of open questions and opportunities.
To ensure that we are meeting individual needs we assess and evaluate our plans daily, weekly, termly and yearly so that throughout the nursery all children are meeting their potential. We are now using Tapestry – an online learning tool to map and share children’s learning journeys. Key persons upload written and photographic observations which are then linked to the EYFS for parents and carers to view and reply to if they wish. Parents are also able to update their child’s learning journey with their own observations giving a lovely way of including those special moments from home into the nursery environment.
Tapestry is a secure database and parents only have access to their own children’s learning journals. We ask permission for children to be included in others photographs and ask that no information is ever shared over social media. Parents are able to talk to us about the level of privacy they would like to have for their child. Observations may be planned or spontaneous, and we record all aspects of children development. Key persons also currently complete paper records of children’s ongoing progress in the form of progress reports and we keep folders for children’s artwork as well as displaying it around the nursery. When the time comes for your child to leave nursery, their tapestry file can be saved to a disc for you to take home. If you would prefer to have a paper file please speak to a member of staff.