Learning and Teaching

At Brougham Street Nursery School we believe that high quality nursery education is about learning to be independent, confident, resilient and curious. We develop our children's innate thirst for knowledge and support them to be positive about themselves and others, form strong relationships and contribute to our community. We want children to try new experiences, not be frightened of taking calculated risks, make mistakes and try again. Learning at nursery is learning for life and not simply a preparation for primary school. Young children learn by doing things for themselves, by exploring and investigating, watching and listening, talking and discussing, creating and communicating. We offer a rich and varied curriculum in a safe and inviting environment. Each child is an individual and comes to nursery with their own unique experiences and personality; we recognise this and aim to work with children to develop their interests and skills as well as introducing them to new and different ideas and possibilities. As well as extending children’s thinking through their play we also plan and deliver clear, focused adult directed learning experiences for children.

Observation, Planning and Assessment

The children in the nursery school learn through a combination of continuous provision, inthe-moment and themed planning based on their own interests, and calendar events e.g. RSPB bird watch and science week. Children’s learning is through play and is developmentally appropriate. We observe children while they play to find out more about how they learn, their interests and to ensure that they make progress. This helps us to plan for their future learning. We offer opportunities that build on children’s existing experiences enabling them to become independent and self-motivated learners. We want children to have a thirst for knowledge and aim to provide a learning environment tailored to meet their needs. Each child has a tailored curriculum with curricular goals which are selected during the school term by your child's key person with support from the class teacher. These goals are individual to each child and are appropriate to their age and stage of development. Previous observation, discussion with parents and children's interests are used to help select the focused targets. Our cycle of observation, assessment, planning, observation is carried out on a moment-by-moment basis whilst our children play.

Sharing Progress

Learning opportunities are recorded and shared through our on-line learning journal 'Tapestry'. It can be accessed on any computer, tablet or Smartphone. When your child starts nursery, we will give you information that explains login and access. Your child’s profile is only accessible to you and those who you share it with; it is not open to the general public. More details can be found at: http://tapestry.info. We encourage parents to use Tapestry to respond to our posts and to share activities done at home e.g. trips out, play activities. We also provide a written formative report during the summer term prior to a child starting a reception class.

We invite you to read our 'Parent Handbook' (link below) to learn more about our provision and invite you to 'like' and 'follow' our regularly updated Facebook page and YouTube Channel.