The Nursery Curriculum

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) covers learning, development and care from birth to the end of the academic year in which a child has their fifth birthday. 

The curriculum at Flagg Nursery School is based on the EYFS, focusing on the needs and interests of every child. We aim to plan exciting, imaginative and practical, hands-on  experiences across all areas of learning and development.

Please click here to open  'What to expect in the Early Years Foundation Stage: a guide for parents'

The EYFS covers seven areas of learning and development. 

There are three prime areas of development which provide a secure foundation for future learning. These prime areas are:

1. Personal, Social and Emotional development  At Flagg Nursery School we treat every child as an individual and work to develop independence, confidence, kindness, respect and compassion.
2. Communication and  Language   At Flagg Nursery School we recognise that language skills at an early age can determine future success at school and in life. We therefore work hard to develop every child's communication skills by providing a language rich environment where children are encouraged to express themselves and are listened to.
3. Physical Development   At Flagg Nursery School children are encouraged to become independent in self care skills and are taught through a range of activities to develop good fine and gross motor skills including physical literacy.

Alongside the prime areas of development we teach four specific areas of learning:

1. Literacy  We like to foster a love of stories and story telling along with linking letters and sounds and playing with langauge through songs, poems, alliteration and rhyming.
2. Mathematics We believe in teaching maths through practical activities such as  shape hunts, capacity in sand and water, construction and junk modelling,  weighing and timing during baking, number songs and stories and practical problem solving
3. Understanding the World  Children learn about themselves and their community and children from other communities; the  jobs people do through role play and listening to visitors such as vets; children look after the school guinea pigs and grow their own fruit and vegetables. We do a lot of cooking eg vegetable soup using our own vegetables, Christmas and birthday cakes, stir fry, pancakes, ice cream and ice lollies. Every year we watch chicks hatch and feed local cade lambs; donkeys from the donkey sanctuary visit sometimes along with the Animal Man with his collection of exotic animals. Children in their pre-school year take part in our forest school programme.
4. Expressive Arts and Design  We like to foster a lively imagination in children through role play, small world play, singing, dancing, yoga and artistic activities. Every child has their own framed square  on the display boards where their pictures/mark making are diplayed. This fosters a sense of pride and encourages children to take ownership of their work, deciding for themselves when they want to change their picture.

Each learning area works towards Early Learning Goals which set out the skills, understanding, knowledge and attitudes which children are expected to reach by the age of five.

Alongside these Areas of Learning and Development, there are also the Characteristics of Effective Teaching
and Learning which describe how your child learns best.

The Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning are:
• Playing and Exploring - Finding out and exploring, playing with what they know and being willing to
‘have a go’
• Active Learning - Being involved and concentrating, keep trying, enjoying achieving what they
set out to do
• Creating and Thinking Critically - Having their own ideas, making links, choosing ways to do things

At Flagg we believe in a holistic, global education and encourage children to play their part in the local and global community. As a part of this we have raised money for many charities including Children In Need, Barnados, Food Banks,  NSPCC, Guide Dogs, Oxfam and local charities such as the Bluebell Childrens Hospice. We celebrate national events such as Royal Jubilees; major sporting events such as the Olympics; Remembrance Day; Christmas; Chinese New Year; Easter; Divali; Hannukah; and we celebrate all of our children's birthdays.

We also celebrate our local community and culture, discussing farming and rural life and comparing it to life in a town or city. Every child is celebrated when they have their birthday: the children bake, ice and decorate their own cakes and then after singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candles (away from the cake!) they share it with their friends in nursery.

Children are given a "This is Me" box during their time at Flagg to take home and fill with things that are important to them, They then share this with their friends at group time. Barnaby Bear, who lives at Flagg, goes on sleepovers to children's houses and then children share what they got up to in a book where parents can write down their adventures and add photographs.

We like to use the local community by taking walks to look for conkers or visit a farm for example and having sessions in our forest school area in the village. We have many visitors in the school during the year: children from primary schools to read to our children on World Book Day, dance and sports coaches, animal workshops,  professionals such as police officers, mountain rescue, farmers, dental nurses, doctors.

We also like to go out on trips: to the theatre, to places such as Crich Tramway museum or the Wildlife Park. Every year we also do a sponsored walk to raise money for Barnados. We visit local primary schools to watch their Christmas concerts, take part in Forest school days or to watch a pantomime.

Each child's progress will be monitored throughout their time at the nursery. We share what your child is doing in nursery using an app called Evidence Me, we post photographs of your child on here and you can send phots back to us if you want to share what they have been doing at home or whilst out and about. We share activities that the whole group has been up to on Class Dojo, we also share songs, stories and ideas for home learning on here. 

There are opportunities to discuss progress through parent consultation sessions every term. Staff will share each child's record of achievement, photo assessments and examples of work. A copy of each child's final record will be passed on to their Primary School to aid transition. Staff will always make time and be available to discuss each child and any concerns their parent may have every day. The most suitable times for a quick chat are at the start of the morning and afternoon sessions, but parents can telephone or email any time.