Nursery & Reception
Our curriculum is full of learning, exploring and fun. We learn lots of things inside and outside the classroom. It is made up of the seven elements from the development matters document which can be found on the Government’s website in ‘Education’. We developed our curriculum content around the knowledge and skills that we want children to learn and this is delivered through an investigative approach of ‘I wonder’ overarching themes.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
This is divided into three areas; ‘Building Relationships’, ‘Self Regulation’ and ‘Managing Self’. We make lots of new friends, share and take turns. At school we follow ‘REACH IT’ and the Mr Men rules.
Physical Development
This is divided into two areas; ‘Gross Motor Skills’ and ‘Fine Motor Skills’. We develop our handwriting skills, PE skills and exploring outside. We learn about keeping healthy and how exercise helps us to develop.
Communication and Language
This is divided into three areas; ‘Listening & Attention’, ‘Understanding’, and ‘Speaking’. We learn to talk to each other by taking turns, and we listen to people when they talk to us. We use ‘Talk for Writing’ and ‘Picture Talk’ to develop children’s vocabulary which is then practised in our Oracy sessions where we play lots of games to practice new vocabulary.
Literacy
This is divided into three areas; Reading – ‘Word Recognition’, ‘Comprehension’ and ‘Writing’. We like sharing books with our friends and adults. We are busy learning our phonic sounds and learning to read.
All children in Foundation Stage have daily phonics sessions. We are using the Little Wandle scheme for phonics.
We have fun learning how to write our names and simple sentences.
Mathematics
This is divided into two areas; ‘Number’ and ‘Numerical Patterns’. We sing counting songs, play games and learn how to count to 10 and beyond.
Children learn their Maths through practical tasks and investigations. We learn about Maths around us in our environment. The children enjoy going outside and finding different shapes and patterns. The children are taught numbers to 10 by being able to recognise, count, order and write them. They learn about shapes and how we can measure different things. We follow Maths Mastery and Mastering Number to support our learning.
Understanding the world
This is divided into three areas; ‘Past & Present’, People Culture & Communities’ and ‘The Natural World’. We like to explore inside and outside. What can we see and hear? How do things work? Who lives in our families? We learn about our environment and how it is different from environments in other countries. We learn how to care for things and how they grow. We learn about things in the past and how we have changed over time. We learn about the similarities and differences between religions and cultures within the UK.
Children at Braunstone Frith Primary Academy begin their exploration of technology through play and discovery. They ask questions about why things happen and how they work.
Expressive Arts and design
This is divided into two areas; ‘Creating with Materials’ and ‘Being Imaginative & Expressive’. We learn how to paint, draw and collage using different tools and media. We look at which colours we can see and what textures we can feel. We join objects together and learn new creative skills. We dance and sing and use our imaginations from stories and our own experiences.
RE in the Foundation Stage
The children begin to explore Religion through learning about special people, objects and events. We celebrate a number of religious festivals throughout the year including Diwali, Christmas, Easter, Eid and Holi. We aim to develop children’s knowledge and respect for their own cultures and beliefs and those of other people, while at the same time developing their appreciation and wonder of the world. Children in the Foundation Stage will visit a Church during Easter.
Our Curriculum:
We have a blended approach to learning through ‘I Wonder’ topics and provide a mixture of adult led and child led learning opportunities.
The I wonder topics for this year are;
I wonder if everyone is like me?
I wonder how people celebrate?
I wonder about the colours around me?
I wonder where people live?
I wonder how things grow?
I wonder why we celebrate Easter?
I wonder how many different animals there are?
I wonder how pirates lived?
The Core books we are learning about in Foundation Stage are:
