| ETHOS OF WESGREEN EARLY YEARS UNIT & Greenbelt Nursery |
To welcome each child into a safe, happy and stimulating teaching and learning environment; where children’s first experiences of school are positive; where each child is cared for and encouraged to develop as a capable, confident and independent individual; and where each child can obtain a variety of skills, concepts and attitudes which will form a firm basis for the transition to formal education. |
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| THE AIM |
To introduce children to the British Curriculum for Under- Fives adapting it to the specific requirements of Wesgreen International School within an enriching and purposeful environment. The curriculum is referred to as “The Foundation Stage” and it is based on six developmental teaching and learning areas, broken down into Early learning goals, which can be reached through the stepping stones outlined in the Foundation Stage document. |
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| 1. Personal, Social and Emotional Development |
Children are encouraged to become confident, secure and independent; to form relationship with peers and adults; and to play, co-operate and function in a group beyond the family. It is an introduction to life outside the home. Children are encouraged to develop concentration, initiative and perseverance, express feelings, behave appropriately and treat each other and the environment with care and respect. Children are encouraged to consider consequences, to understand what is right and wrong and why and to learn about self-control and discipline. It is extremely important that young children learn to listen to teachers and parents for their own safety and the safety of others. |
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| Early Learning Goals |
 Disposition & Attitudes |
Continue to be interested, excited & motivated to learn
Be confident to try new activities, initiate ideas & speak in a familiar group Maintain attention, concentrate & sit quietly when appropriate. |
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| Self-confidence & Self-esteem |
Respond to significant experiences, showing a range of feelings when appropriate Have a developing awareness of their own needs, views and feelings of others Have a developing respect for their own cultures and beliefs and those of other people. |
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| Making Relationships |
Form good relationships with adults and peers
Work as part of a group or class, taking turns and sharing fairly, understanding that there needs to be agreed values and codes of behaviour for groups of people, including adults and children, to work together harmoniously. |
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| Behaviour & Self-control |
Understand what is right, what is wrong and why
Consider the consequences of their words and actions for themselves and others |
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| Self-care |
Dress and undress independently and manage their own personal hygiene
Select and use activities and resources independently |
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| Sense of community |
Understand that people have different needs, views, cultures and beliefs, that needed to be treated with respect Understand that they can expect others to treat their needs, views, culture and beliefs with respect |
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| 2. Communication, Language and Literacy Development |
In one-to-one, small and large group situations children develop the skills they need to begin the route to becoming writers and readers. Children learn about reading and about writing. They are encouraged to develop their speaking and listening skills, (we must speak before we read and write), develop an understanding of books and the meaning of print, know how to handle and enjoy them. Through a variety of language and literacy tasks they become familiar with letters and words and demonstrate an awareness of the purpose of writing by beginning to do their own “emergent writing”. They begin to associate sounds with patterns in rhymes with words and letters. Listening and speaking tasks and activities to develop these skills are vital parts of the Early Years curriculum. |
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| Early Learning Goals |
| Communication |
Interact with others, negotiating plans and activities and taking turns in conversation |
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| Language and Communication |
Enjoy listening to and using spoken and written language and readily turn to it in their play and learning Sustain attentive listening, responding to what they have heard by relevant comments, questions or actions Listen with enjoyment and respond to stories, songs and other music, rhymes and poems Extend their vocabulary, exploring the meanings and sounds of new words Speak clearly and audibly with confidence and control and show awareness of the listener, for example by their use of conventions such as greetings, “please” and “thank you”. |
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| Language and Thinking |
| Use language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences Use talk to organise, sequence and clarify thinking, ideas, feelings and events |
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| Linking Sounds and Letters |
Hear and say initial and final sounds in words, and short vowel sounds within words
Link sounds to letters, naming and sounding the letters of the alphabet
Use their phonic knowledge to write simple regular words and make phonetically plausible attempts at more complex words. |
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| Reading |
Explore and experiment with sounds, words and texts
Retell narratives in the correct sequence, drawing on language patterns of stories Read a range of familiar and common words and simple sentences independently Know that print carries meaning and in English is read from left to right and top to bottom Show an understanding of the elements of stories, such as the main character, sequence of events and openings, and how information can be found in non-fiction texts to answer questions about where, who, why and how. |
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| Writing |
Use their phonic knowledge to write simple regular words and make phonetically plausible attempts at more complex words Attempt writing for different purposes, using features of different forms such as lists, stories and instructions Write their own names and other things such as labels and captions and beginning to form simple sentences, sometimes using punctuation. |
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| Handwriting |
| Use a pencil and hold it effectively to form recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed. |
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