Pre-School

Personal Social and Emotional Development

We want the pre-school children to be developing good social skills with both their peers and their key workers. We want the children to become independent in their personal skills, which includes ensuring they can access the bathroom when they need to, to wash their hands after each toilet use, and before eating , and to help themselves at meal times, serving themselves with the foods they like, and trying foods which they may not have experienced before. We want the children to talk with others to try to solve conflict, and to try to remember the rules without an adult reminding them.	We will have small group activities which will allow the pre-school children to interact with their peers in a smaller quieter area. We will encourage the children to use the bathroom as independently as possible, sometimes requiring some assistance, and helping them to understand the importance of hand washing after using the toilet and before meal times. We will allow the children to serve their own food, and to make their own choices. We will be on hand if the children sometimes make a mistake, they will have reassurance that it is ok to sometimes get things wrong.	They will become independent children who will have the confidence to make their own choices, to be confident in nursery life. They will gain a sense of achievement in serving their own meals, and will be able to choose what they do and do not want to eat. They will take turns and share with others and take part in some pretend play.

Physical Development

We want the children to become confident with their fine motor skills. We want them to use their pincer grip with ease. We want the children to gain confidence in using tools such as pens and pencils, playdough tools and knives and forks for lunch. We want the children to go up the stairs or climbing frame using alternate feet. We want them to use large muscle movements. We want the children to choose the right resources for their activity, and manage large tasks well. We want the children to become independent as they get dressed and undressed.	We will help to develop fine motor skills by ensuring that we have continuous provision available throughout the day. We will provide a range of media and activities to enable the children to use their fine motor skills. We will model how to use the equipment safely. We will encourage and help where needed when taking coats on and off and dressing themselves.	They will be gaining the skills they need in order for holding a pencil and getting ready to start using writing skills. They will have a clear understanding of rules and how to abide by them. The children will be able to put on and take off their own coats.

Communication and Language

We want the children to communicate in a way that is suitable to each individual child. We want the children to feel comfortable in how they communicate, and we want them to understand that communicating is not only using the English spoken language. We want the children to use our visual prompts to help them when they don't understand, and we wish that the children who have English as an additional language will speak in their first language to any other child who may speak the same language. We want the children to use a wider range of vocabulary, and understand an instruction that has two parts. We want them to understand 'Why' questions. we want the children to start conversations with an adult or a friend.	We will provide various ways of communicating with our pre-school children, from using verbal language to using our visual prompts to aid the children who have additional needs, or who have English as an additional language. We will ensure that we are talking to the children appropriately throughout the day, we will make sure that we treat each child as an individual and take into account their own personal needs where communicating is concerned. We will read stories and sing songs, and we try to have books in various different languages so we can show children that communicating comes in lots of different forms.	They will all get a chance to have their voice heard. The children will understand that what they say is of importance, and will always be listened to at nursery. They will be able to communicate their own wants, needs and feelings in the best way they can, and feel comfortable in doing so. They will start using sentences of four to six words and start using joined up words like; 'because', 'or', 'and'.

Expressive Arts and Design

We want the children to show attention to sounds and music, to respond when the music changes. We want the children to enjoy their voices and enjoy making sounds. We want the children to explore a range of instruments and play them all in a different way. We want he children to explore paint, using their bodies as well as brushes and other media to paint with. We want them to take part in action songs, and start to enjoy music of their own choice. We want the children to make simple models using their own ideas and technique, becoming imaginative. We want the children to explore colour and colour mixing, and start to show their emotions through their drawings.	We will give the children the opportunity to listen to music from all cultural backgrounds, and the change to express themselves through dance. We will encourage the children to use the instruments to expire how they sound. We will help the children to develop their modelling and their techniques by introducing some that they might not know. We will provide different textures and resources to help them to become imaginative, and explore the new materials.	They will be able to enjoy a wide rang of music, and be able to choose the style they like the most. They will become inquisitive in building models, and reflecting on new techniques.

Literacy

We want the children to have a love of books and understand that print has meaning, and can have different purposes. We want the children to understand that we read English text from top to bottom, and that other cultures read in a different way. We want the children to start to name the different parts of books and begin to recognise the characters and the storylines. We want the children to ask questions about the books they read.	We will draw children attention to a wide range of examples of books, with different print. We will demonstrate how to handle a book and show the children that sentences start with a capital letter and end with a full stop.	They will enjoy reading books, and understand the difference between English text and the text from another culture.They will enjoy singing and dancing. They will be able to choose songs and stories from other cultures.

Maths

We want the children to compare amounts saying, lots, more and same, we want them to count in everyday context in sequence. We want the children to take part in finger rhymes with numbers in the rhymes. We want the children to experiment with their own symbols and marks along with numerals. We want the children to start to make some comparisons between objects in size, length and weight, and notice and correct an error in a repeating pattern.	We will draw attention to changes in amounts. We will help the children to match their counting with objects, pointing to each object as it is counted. We will use language of size and weight in everyday context. We will discuss mathematical language throughout the day, and support children to notice any errors.	They will have an understanding of size and weight, they will be able to count beyond 5, and be able to notice errors in patterns. They will be able to build counting into their everyday lives such as snack and dinner time, and play counting games.