Children have the opportunity to become involved in a wide range of first hand experiences leading to the acquisition of knowledge, skills and concepts. Concentration and perseverance are encouraged as the children are introduced to appropriate aspects of the Early Learning Goals
Books
Through stories and pictures, both fiction and non-fiction, children will understand, enjoy and learn to appreciate books, text, and words and begin to appreciate their value. Enjoying a wide variety of books in this way helps the child later to enjoy learning to read.
Painting
Children paint freely and choose their own colours and are not limited in the number of paintings they do. We have easels, paints and large sheets of paper as well as other painting mediums. They are not shown how to paint and at first children may simply wish to cover the paper with colour.
Sand and water play
The children find this fascinating and they need not get soaked in the process, aprons are provided. Play can be experimental, studying the effect on water or sand when it is poured, raked, moulded, filtered, sieved, splashed, dripped etc. Sand and water can be soothing to the excited or tired child, it releases the timid or restricted child and is a safe outlet for the aggressive child.
Music
Everyday sounds are a vital part of the child's work. In our Pre-school his/her attention maybe drawn to the variety of sounds around us, birds, cars, wind, rain, bells, drums. Children will have the opportunity to play musical instruments for themselves to listen to stories and music tapes. He/she may wish to join in singing and moving to music and learning to listen, but not all children do.
Pre-writing skills.
It is essential in early years that children have as much practice in manipulative skills as possible. We encourage fine motor skills essential to writing, by offering considerable opportunity for the development of pencil control, by the use of pencils, paint brushes, scissors, crayons and chalks in play activities. It is important that all children have the opportunity to practice tracing, cutting, threading, drawing, colouring, painting and puzzles all these activities will help the child to achieve writing readiness which needs good hand eye co-ordination.
Pre-reading skills.
By sorting and matching activities children learn to recognise similarities and different patterns in e.g. coloured beads, playing matching games such as Lotto, jigsaws and dominoes, which can form a basis for word recognition later. Children practice memory games as they play snap games, pair games etc.
Language development.
Each child is encouraged to talk not only to the Pre-school staff and their immediate companions on an individual basis, but also to share their experiences and ideas with the wider group of their peers at Pre-school.
Physical development
Children use large and small apparatus to promote confidence and competence, and work with a wide range of materials to develop manipulative skills.
Fine motor skills
The children take part in many activities which promote the learning of manual dexterity, e.g. use of scissors in cutting and pasting, sewing, baking and handling the small items of play equipment such as threading beads all aid fine motor development.
Gross motor skills.
Ring games, music and movement activities, and the use of the parachute, fantasy cube, climbing frame and “PE” time all strengthen balance, co-ordination and confidence and provide opportunity for self-expression. Outdoor activities like ‘tennis’ help hand eye co-ordination, and walks round the grounds - observational and listening skills.
Computer
Children will be given the opportunity to use the computer and printer and a variety of software to produce and printing their own work.
Play is a powerful motivating factor for learning; children are engaged in activities, which lead to increased understanding of themselves, other people and their environment.
With no preconceived ideas children may enquire, investigate, experiment, practice and elaborate, beginning to form concepts and perceive some order, predictability and pattern in discrete events.
Opportunity for play in a stimulating environment should encourage children to use language effectively and enhance the development of imagination.
Pre-school ‘free play’ sessions
We work on planned termly themes. We offer a free choice activity time where the children are encouraged to move freely between the wide selection of activities and experiences. These may including: – Painting, craft, baking, gluing, drawing, cutting, natural materials, dough, clay, construction, small world, book corner, large physical, imaginary play, table top toys, jigsaws, computer and suitable educational software we also timetable for stories, songs, music, PE or drama and weather permitting, nature walks etc. We hold a formal register time during which the children are encouraged to participate in group discussions over e.g. the weather, day, passage of the seasons, month, what they did over the weekend etc. also we also take this opportunity to, work as a group to develop the children's awareness of numbers, letter sound's, colours and shapes. We encourage children to contribute to an interest table with items brought from home aiding memory and recollection skills.
Children's work
What we see as play children often see as work and they can sometimes treat it with great seriousness. We encourage children to explore and learn from different materials, such as water, paint, sand, glue and clay. They may well get messy, so please dress your child so that he/she feels comfortable in some easily washed clothing
Learning
