“From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow.” ― Aeschylus
At Appletree we want to make sure that our children leave us ready for school and for the next stages in their learning. We believe that by providing a range of rich learning experiences across the Early Years curriculum, our children build on their natural inquisitiveness, to become school-ready learners. We want to plant the seed and watch them grow!
THE TRUNK AT APPLETREE
It is our intent that our 6 our children leave with our Six Core C’s– A solid trunk that underpins all we do so that the branches of learning can grow and children can blossom.
CURIOSITY– Inquisitive minds
We encourage our children to seek out new knowledge, skills and ask questions, developing their own ideas, and begin to solve problems. The thinkers and the doers.
CONFIDENCE– Having a go at anything
We encourage our children to talk about what they have learned and explain their understanding. We support our children in expressing how they feel and praise willingness to take measured risks and have a go…our ‘Have a go Heroes!’
CHARACTER– Knowing yourself and others
We value the uniqueness of every child. No size fits all at our nursery! We encourage our children to feel proud of their achievements and to recognise how special they are as individuals. Children will leave us more able to understand themselves and able to regulate their emotions ready for school.
COMMUNICATION- Listening and responding
Communication and language are at the heart of learning. We support our children in developing their understanding and use of key vocabulary allowing them to explain their ideas and express their needs and feelings. We understand that communication comes in a range of forms and staff are highly skilled in language development and sensitive to every child’s differing needs. We ensure that our children know that what they say and do matters and develop language in every aspect of our setting. Staff are skilled at tuning into children’s individual forms of communication and moving their learning on.
CARE- Taking care of themselves and others
We encourage our children to be kind to others, learning to take turns and share. We look after our learning environment by keeping it tidy and looking after the toys and resources. Children develop self-care skills and learn how to become independent through this with their toileting, hygiene, eating and dressing. They also become physically strong. We want our children to learn about how to care for the environment- around them and beyond, and how to care for and respect living things.
CORE- Motor skills, maths, reading, writing and understanding of the world
It is our job to ensure that our children have the key skills ready for school. This includes developing individuals that love learning, adore reading, develop number sense, and have good motor skills and develop their understanding of the world.
Yes, our curriculum is based on the 7 areas of learning in the EYFS, but we aim to teach so much more. Like our apple tree, given the right environment, care and love our children can grow to do great things- reaching for the sky!
So how is this all possible?!
THE ROOTS AT APPLETREE
FAMILY
At Appletree we work hard to ensure that we know our children through our own observations but by also working closely with families. We believe that Family is the single most important influence in a child’s life- our children’s roots. Positive parental relationships and engagement is a powerful lever to a child’s success and progress. We work with families to ensure all their needs are met. Knowledge is power not only for our children but also for us and we are always learning about them! We want to know as much as we can about our children in order to support them develop and grow.
“There’s no place like home.” Wizard of Oz
RELATIONSHIPS AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE CHILD
Our implementation focuses on nurturing children and celebrating individuality. The strong emphasis on relationships ensures staff know the children well, which enables us to provide experiences for the children to build on their existing skills, knowledge and understanding constructed around their current interests. Highly skilled practitioners use careful observations to follow the child’s lead. We know children learn best when they are interested and motivated. ‘In The Moment Planning’ allows us to capture the moment a child is highly engaged and inspired, allowing practitioners to build and extend on learning which is appropriate to the unique child. We call this a ‘Learning Interaction’.
BASIC NEEDS
We understand that children cannot learn if they don’t feel safe and their basic needs aren’t met. We provide a safe environment where the children feel loved and cared for and have access to healthy meals, snacks, water and milk. Every child is allocated a key worker who spends time with them in small sessions each day, however ALL our staff know our children.
THE BRANCHES OF LEARNING AT APPLETREE
BROAD AND BALANCED CURRICULUM
We provide a rich, balanced, creative curriculum where children actively learn through play experiences. Our planning is schematic in approach and allows children to embed learning across a range of areas in provision. We have developed a sequence of learning, tailored to the needs of children in our setting and based on the ‘Early Learning Goals’. These sequences allow us to observe small steps of progress and move children’s learning on quickly though provision and communication to ensure rapid development. We are always waiting for those ‘learning interactions’ to help children understand new concepts.
CHARACTERISTICS OF LEARNING
The Characteristics of Effective Learning, namely ‘playing and exploring’, ‘active learning’, and ‘creating and thinking critically’, underpin the children’s learning and development across the seven areas. As well as creating opportunities through our curriculum, we have developed child friendly characters from our reading books that relate to these characteristics of learning so that the children can identify when they are using them. We use the prime areas of learning as a vehicle to deliver the specific areas through focused teaching.
CURIOSITY APPROACH
Following the ‘Curiosity Approach’ enables learning possibilities to be endless, encouraging curiosity, awe and wonder. We love seeing our children’s imagination and creations. Give them some junk, crates, tubes, twigs- whatever it may be and the possibilities are endless.
“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
In line with our Curiosity Approach, we make the most of our outdoor area. We are lucky to have a great space for the children to learn and our nursery is set next door to our wildlife area where our children get to understand about the local habitats and nature. No matter what the weather, our children go outside. The doors are always open and they love to explore- be that in the mud kitchen, planting areas or construction. There are no limits!
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Throughout the child’s journey at Appletree Nursery School, we focus on language. From early language to aspirational language. Language unlocks learning! We are aware of the word gap that exists between our most deprived children and their peers, both locally and nationally, and this continually drives our focus. Staff act as a responsive partner, with warmth and interest, encouraging children to take an active role in communication. Staff are skilled at using the correct level of communication to the child’s interaction level as they play.
READING
One of the most important influencers on a child’s future success is reading. At Appletree we foster a love of books through sharing and discussing stories with the children. We read to them at least twice a day and every child has access to a book that they can take home. They can change these whenever they want. We regularly plan from a story prompt and introduce new concepts such as safety through stories.
“It’s not about what it is. It’s about what it can become.” Dr Seuss, The Lorax
PHONICS
We deliver daily phonics for all our children in order to ensure that they all leave secure in phase one phonics. Children are split into small groups to ensure focused teaching and assessment. As our children become secure in their phonics, we develop their phase 2 phonics and continue to support this through their reading and learning provision.
NUMBER
At Appletree Nursery Children develop their own working theories by using numbers in everyday contexts. They learn to communicate these to others and over time remember mathematical concepts. Maths is used for counting and quantities, but children develop the other ways numbers are used. For example, for measurements, putting things in order and understanding values. Like our language based provision, we try to find meaningful contexts for maths during interactions and play. Focused, direct teaching of number and patterns also takes place in small intervention groups to support each child’s development.
INCLUSION
All children are treated fairly regardless of gender, race, religion, disadvantage or ability, and we strive to treat children equitably, which is not always equally. We use careful observations and assessments and the 2-year check to recognise additional needs as early as possible. Highly trained staff use their knowledge to target support accordingly. The use of visuals and signing is embedded into teaching, alongside highly effective interventions.
Children classed as vulnerable learners are identified as early as possible and advice is sought from our more experienced staff and external professionals. Our vulnerable learners include: those with special educational needs and disabilities; looked after children and those with other safeguarding concerns; learners with behaviour and attendance needs; early years pupil premium children; and learners with social emotional and mental health needs. We ensure all behaviour is treated as communication, unpicking the root causes and nurturing the child to a calm state of mind. Our aim is to provide the right help at the right time.
