Registered Charity No. 294330

The Curriculum

The Curriculum

Our curriculum is based round the four principles of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), which is the document produced by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) which all pre-school settings have to work within and continues to the end of your children’s first year at school.

The four principles are;

1. A Unique Child – This acknowledges that all children are unique; they all develop at different rates and have different needs. Each one needs to be valued for their uniqueness. They need to be kept safe, both in their physical environment and with trustworthy adults to care for them.

2. Positive Relationships – This section builds on the relationships with the children and their families. Mutual respect and trust is vital. It works on parents being partners in their children’s learning, sharing information is a two way process. This includes allocating very child a Keyperson who has the duty to help form this partnership with parents and ensure each child has their individual needs met.

3. Enabling Environments – This is about what is available for the children and how the environment is used. It is about observing the children as they play, assessing what they can do and deciding what they need to do next. It supports their learning and development. It is also about working in partnership with other settings and professionals and the community. It supports children’s progress towards the outcomes of Every Child Matters, which is being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and achieving economic well-being.

4. Learning and Development – This is probably what most people will think of when curriculum is mentioned as it is about what and how the children learn but no learning will take place unless they feel safe, relaxed and secure. It is about play and exploration, creative and critical thinking and active learning.

Children learn best through play, play is their work. Most of their play has no outcome to bring home but every minute spent in an enabling environment is important for their learning and development. The staff observe and assess the children each week and plans for the following week taking their observations into account. By doing this each child can be planned for as an individual. It is really important that parents understand that their child is learning all the time, even if they have nothing to bring home. Learning to wait your turn, share and cooperate is one of the hardest things to learn but has no paper outcome! Role-play is vital for their imagination and creative thinking, but has no visual end product. At Tweseldown we have a fantastic environment, both inside and out which enables their learning and development as individuals. We are proud of what we offer and are very lucky to have excellent resources, which your children will love playing with, and learning from.