The Family Nursery Company
tel 0121 505 5950 fax 0121 556 0616

Curriculum

We believe that every child deserves the best possible start in life and our staff will always be on hand to help support you and your child. Children develop rapidly in their early years and a child's experiences between birth and their fifth birthday have a huge factor on their future life chances. A secure, safe and happy childhood is vital and good parenting and a high quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow. 

Early years providers use a special curriculum for all children under the age of 5. This is called the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). The EYFS sets out the standards for Early Years providers to make sure children are able to learn and develop properly, and that they will be kept safe from harm. 

The EYFS has 7 key areas of Learning and Development around which activities should be based: 

  • Communication and language
  • Physical Development
  • Personal, social and emotional development
  • Literacy
  • Maths
  • Expressive art and design
  • Understanding the World 

At our nurseries we believe play is crucial to your child’s learning and the delivery of the EYFS framework. Play helps children build their confidence as they learn to explore, to think about problems and to relate to others. Our staff will provide age appropriate, stimulating environments to encourage children's curiosity, learning, and development through play. Below are some of the ways that we deliver the EYFS curriculum: 

Messy play  - Most children enjoy getting messy and we encourage this by ensuring we provide resources such as sand and water play where children can explore and discover.

Imaginative opportunities – Imagination is at the heart of everything we do for the children in our care. We offer rooms stocked full of role play activities, dressing up costumes (the superhero costumes always seem to be a favourite). We want children to lead on their own play and so we ensure the staff always encourage  their imagination. Children can be anyone and do anything in the pretend world!

Creative – At our settings we want children to have free access to all art materials whenever they want, so we have art stations where children can pick if they want to paint, colour, cut, stick, modelling, making or drawing……the list is endless with endless creative possibilities. All children love being creative if they are given the chance. There are so many important benefits of creative play, why wouldn't we want to encourage it?

Physical – We pride ourselves on our outdoor play spaces. the children love spending time outdoors, no matter the weather! The children can use their energy, develop gross and fine motor skills, learn new things and socialise. The benefits to your child’s health are also so important to us, building strong hearts, muscles and bones while they play.

ICT – the children have daily access to interactive white boards, computers, iPads and cameras. We want children to be able to use different media and encourage the use of technology while they play - children are often motivated by using ICT!

Children thrive from a loving and secure relationship and this is why each child is allocated a ‘key person’. A key person is a named member of staff with responsabilities for helping children feel safe and cared for. The role is essential and is set out in the EYFS, it involves responding to children's feelings and behaviours and meeting their emotional needs. A key person uses observation and records each milestone and development to ensure they are always encouraging the very best for your child. The role ensures the worker is following the EYFS and meeting all the needs of your child and creating stimulating activities to move them forward. We encourage parents to update their child’s key person with significant events or development milestones so we can celebrate them together but also to continue to encourage your child. We offer regular ‘parents evenings’ where you can see your children’s learning journey, observations and development.