Welcome to St Paul's Nursery!
Our Vision
Our main aim at St Paul's Nursery is to create a welcoming environment, build strong relationships with our families, engage in playful learning and provide experiences that create awe and wonder for our children. Ultimately you will find us playing and having fun because that is how we learn best! We want all of our children to experience a varied curriculum and to learn new skills but we equally focus on developing positive learning attitudes, a love of learning and reading and brilliant understanding of our 5 core Nursery and School values Courage, Respect, Enjoyment, Hope and Community.
Our Curriculum
Our ambitious curriculum has been designed based around the statutory guidance and Development Matters. However, we wanted to design a curriculum that is unique to our Nursery based around the important skills, attitudes and values that we want our children to learn. There are 4 elements that build our Nursery curriculum. The first is our children and families. We want to ensure that part of our curriculum is designed around our children's interests, cultures, family backgrounds and home life. The second is a planned curriculum, which is made up of the knowledge, skills and values that we want to teach our children. This curriculum has been designed in 2 parts, one linking to statutory guidance and the other designed around the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and understanding of our children. The third element to our curriculum design is areas of learning that we feel our children need more support on to aid their development and the fourth is that we also teach our school and Nursery values, British Values and the Characteristics of Effective learning through all that we do. There is more information about our curriculum and each strand below.
The Areas of learning
The EYFS is divided into 7 areas of learning.
Communication and Language - This underpins all other areas of the EYFS - Healthy Speech and Language development is vital.
Personal, Social and Emotional - This helps children to learn important social skills and to understand their own and others emotions.
Physical - Children develop gross and fine motor skills, co-ordination, balance and independence.
Literacy - The children build a love of stories through many hands on play experiences and an understanding of letters and pencil control through large mark making opportunities, messy play and early phonic sessions.
Maths - Children learn about Number, shape and measures in a fun playful way through games, cooking, songs and rhymes.
Understanding the World - Children learn early knowledge and skills linked to Science, History, Geography, RE and Modern Foreign Languages.
Exploring Media and Materials. - The messy part! we encourage exploration of concepts, colours, artists, materials and natural objects, the use of the senses, exploration of forces, an understanding of past and present, differences between places around the world and a hands on approach to exploring other cultures and religions.
Our Building
St Paul’s Nursery is situated in a self-contained building close to the main school but is located on the school site. It has a wide range of facilities including a large nursery garden. The outside area benefits from adventure playground apparatus, a trim trail, mud kitchen, storytelling chair and reading, sand and water and building sheds. We also have many resources inside to support the children with every area of learning.
The aims of the nursery are to ensure:
•Your child is safe and happy!
•Your child makes a gentle transition from home to nursery.
•We work in partnership with you to create the best learning environment for your child.
•We encourage home learning by sending home activities relating to nursery topics which could be completed at home. This strengthens our partnership and more learning from home linked to our learning.
•We provide a broad and balanced curriculum following the ‘Early Years Foundations Stage Curriculum’ - the learning environment includes provision both indoors and out.
•Children are encouraged to learn through play and first hand experiences - learning is fun!
•Learning is tailored to the individual through close observation and monitoring by all the staff - topics and activities are planned around the interests and needs of each children.
Nursery Teacher - Miss Sims - Monday - Friday (all day)
Nursery Practitioner - Mrs Bennett - Monday - Friday (all day.)
Nursery practitioner - Mrs Croall - Monday to Friday mornings including lunch cover.
Nursery Practitioner - Mrs Browning - Monday and Tuesday afternoon.
Growth Mindset
Growth Mindset is the belief that we can achieve what we set out to do as long as put in effort, practise, learn from mistakes and embrace failure to move us forward. In Nursery we are always encouraging the children to have another go, try another way and also using the phrase you can't do it....yet! Helping to develop this belief and mindset in children is so vital from a very young age and at St Paul's we foster independence, a can do attitude and perseverance using the growth mindset theory.