Our Curriculum

Hanborough Pre-school provides a well-planned curriculum, which follows the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework; this provides excellent support to children’s progress towards the early learning goals in all seven areas of learning.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) covers children’s development from birth to the end of their first year in school.  It describes how early years practitioners work with children and their families to support development and learning. The EYFS is built around four main principles:

  1. A unique child: Every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
  2. Positive relationships: Children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person.
  3. Enabling environments: The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning.
  4. Learning and development: Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates. All areas of learning and development are equally important and interconnected.

These four principles underpin how Hanborough Pre-school operates. We provide a loving and secure environment for children to learn through play at their own pace.

The EYFS is made up of seven areas of learning and development, which Hanborough pre-school uses as the basis of its curriculum.

Prime areas of development:

  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development: We nurture children so that they grow in confidence and self- assurance.  We lead by example and guide children, so they can develop an understanding of what is right and wrong.
  • Physical development: We offer daily activities for energetic play both indoors and outdoors.  We promote good health by developing the children’s understanding of hygiene and a balanced diet along with learning about the importance of oral health.
  • Communication and Language: Children are encouraged to develop their communication skills throughout the session and staff take time to support and their language skills through conversation and listening games.

Specific areas of development:

  • Literacy: We give daily opportunities for the children to read and share books, make marks and experiment with writing.
  • Maths: We give opportunities for the children to learn about numbers, shapes and mathematical language through our daily routines and innovative activities.
  • Understanding of the World: The children explore their local community and learn about other cultures. We investigate and observe the natural world and conduct experiments. We provide the children with access to a computer, digital cameras and tape recorders to develop their ICT skills.
  • Expressive Arts and Design: the children express themselves using a wide range of media and materials during both adult-led and free-play session. We offer daily opportunities for imaginative play and creating music.