Our Curriculum Design

Our curriculum encompasses everything we do and provide so that our children learn and make progress from their starting points with us. This includes the way we set out the rooms and use our garden, the specific learning experiences we plan for, and the way a child’s key person will plan individual next steps for their key children, based on their knowledge of what that child can already do and what they need to learn next. The role of the key person is very important in providing a bespoke curriculum that is just right for each child and you can read more about how we do this here.

Our curriculum goals below describe what we want each child to have learned at the end of their time at Abercromby, as they move on to a Reception class in a Primary School.

OUR 8 CURRICULAR GOALS November 2022

Each class has developed a curriculum map which shows how the curriculum at Abercromby is sequenced to enable children to make the best progress, in all 7 areas of learning. We aim to give all our children the knowledge, self-belief and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. They will then achieve our 8 curricular goals at the end of their time with us.

Willow Curriculum Map November 2022 (our room for 2-3 year olds)

Oak Curriculum Map November 2022 (our room for 3-5 year olds)

Abercromby Safeguarding Curriculum year November 2022

 

Our Teaching Learning and Assessment Policy provides detailed information about how we deliver the Early Years Curriculum at Abercromby.

Children aged 0-5 follow the Early Years Foundation Stage or EYFS stage of learning. Four guiding principles shape our practice. These are:

• every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured;
• children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships;
• children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers; and
• children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates. The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

The areas of learning and development

There are seven areas of learning and development that shape the education we provide. All areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected. Three Prime areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive. Click on the links below to find out more about the programmes of study for each area:

• Communication and Language
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Physical Development

We also support children’s learning in four Specific Areas, through which the three Prime Areas are strengthened and applied. The Specific Areas are:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning

When planning and guiding children’s activities, we reflect on the different ways that children learn. This is about helping children to see themselves as competent learners, developing metacognition, and to develop their skills and abilities in learning to learn. Three characteristics of effective teaching and learning are:

1. • playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’
   • active learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements
   • creating and thinking critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things

 

Further information about the EYFS and how your child learns in those vitally important first years, can be found in the following document

What to expect in the EYFS 2021

This will also give you ideas for how to support your child’s development at home.