Our Curriculum
Young children learn through play and so your
child will be encouraged to play and learn at
their own pace, whilst also being introduced to
new experiences, equipment and activities.
Young children learn best through action and
experience, interaction and finding out for
themselves. Although it sometimes appears that
the children are “just playing”, structure is
provided through routines, specific activities
and direct teaching of new skills.
Early Years Foundation Stage
We promote the areas of learning and
development of the Early years Foundation
Stage, covering the three prime areas :

Personal, Social & Emotional
Development

Communication & Language

Physical Development
We also cover the four specific areas as the child
develops:

Literacy

Mathematics

Understanding the world

Expressive Arts & Design
activities even when a challenge arises. We
encourage children to play games that require
taking turns so that they can learn to work as part
of a group, taking turns and sharing fairly. We
encourage children to be able to sit quietly and
listen attentively when appropriate such as story
time and to be able to work at an adult directed
activity for an appropriate length of time. We try
to foster a “Have a go” attitude.
We aim to help children develop their selfmanagement skills and become more independent.
Children are given the opportunity to make choices
and to select and use resources independently. They
are encouraged to manage their own personal
hygiene so that by the time they move up to school
they are able to use the toilet independently,
including wiping themselves and washing their
hands.
We aim to help children develop positive
relationships with peers and adults and to show
consideration for others. We try to help children
understand and express their own and others
emotions and feelings. We aim to ensure that the
children can understand about making good
behaviour choices and the consequences of words
and actions for themselves and others.
Pastoral care is embodied within the ethos of the
playgroup and all the staff monitor the care, wellbeing and happiness of the children. Each term we
focus on a specific value such as Kindness, Honesty,
Responsibility, Courage, Sharing and Friendship and
aim to help the children understand that we all look
after each other and treat each other with
respect. Our learning on values will continue
throughout children’s school life as British Values
are now part of the Primary and Secondary National
Curriculum.
Communication & Language
Personal, Social & Emotional Development
We aim to help children to develop a positive
attitude to learning. We encourage children to
access a variety of different activities, to be able
to complete a task and to persevere with those
We aim to encourage children to become good
communicators and to use spoken language for a
number of different purposes. We encourage
children to talk about their experiences or
something they have enjoyed, to learn and
understand new words. The children are also
encouraged to ask questions and to take turns in
conversation. They are also encouraged to develop
their listening skills and to listen to other speakers.
written words we would respond to them.
Physical Development
We aim to develop children’s gross and fine motor
skills and an awareness of health.
Through our daily exercise routine we try to
encourage an enjoyment of physical activities. We
encourage children to be able to move in a variety
of ways, to climb and balance and to play with balls.
We encourage children to enjoy moving, running and
physical exercise.
We also encourage children to develop their fine
motor skills which are a pre-requisite of learning to
write, through manipulating small objects and
malleable materials. Through manipulating playdough
and small objects children develop the muscles in
their hands and arms. Without developing these
skills first children may find it difficult to
manipulate a pencil with control.
We aim to develop an understanding of healthy
options through our snack time routines, lunch club
and our daily exercise routines. We also encourage
children to manage and become independent in their
own personal hygiene and to become independent in
dressing themselves.
Our aim is to give children open opportunities for
mark making in a variety of ways for example, paint,
sand, water and pens and paper. We encourage the
children to understand that written symbols and
words have meaning by modelling writing for
different purposes. Where children express an
interest in forming letters we will help them to
write their name. We encourage the correct use of
capitals and lower case letters in word formation as
when children write in all capital letters it is a hard
habit to break.
Mathematics
We encourage children to encounter mathematical
concepts in a way that they will understand and help
children to understand that written numbers have
meaning. We aim to develop an understanding of the
concepts of number, shapes, space and dimension.
We encourage children to count and to recognise
numbers through the use of rhymes and songs,
playing games, and through our routines.
Literacy
We encourage children to listen to stories for
enjoyment on a daily basis through our group story
time, story CD’s and through our book corner where
a variety of fiction and non-fiction books are
constantly available for children to use. We
encourage children to look at books independently
and to tell stories from pictures, or by using
puppets or props. At story time we regularly read
old favourites but also introduce the children to
new stories or poems. We also encourage an
enjoyment of books through our library visits and
shared reading through our book share and story
sack schemes.
Through the Letters and Sounds programme we
encourage children to develop their sound
awareness, a recognition of rhyme and alliteration,
to begin to learn sound awareness and begin to say
the sounds in words. There is no expectation that
children have to be able to match sounds with
written letters before they start school, however
if children show an interest in letters on signs or in
Understanding the World
We aim to develop children’s understanding of the
world around them, particularly their locality
through visits into the community. We encourage
children to talk about their families and
experiences and about the world around them. We
encourage children to develop their knowledge of
places, environments and the natural world. We aim
to build on children’s existing knowledge and
understanding in all areas.
We aim to help the children understand about their
own community and understand that people have
different cultures and beliefs. We celebrate the
major Christian festivals to reflect the cultural
history and nature of our society but we also
celebrate some festivals of other religions.
We encourage children to develop their use of ICT
through programmable toys and interactive CD roms
on the computer.
Expressive Arts and Design
We aim to give the children the opportunities and
skills to express themselves in a variety of ways
such as painting, modelling, small world and role
play.
We aim for music to be enjoyable and fun and
provide regular opportunities for the children to
join in singing, music making, dancing, ring games
and music and movement. We encourage children to
experience many different styles of music.
We encourage children to design and construct
through a wide variety of materials including
specific construction sets, junk and natural objects.
We help children to solve problems using a variety
of resources.
Modern Foreign Languages
The primary foreign language taught at Caroline
Chisholm School is Spanish and children in years 36 at primary school are also taught some Spanish
culture, games and songs and some phrases of
Spanish. The government has also expressed the
aim to introduce this language teaching to younger
children in key stage 1.
We therefore also introduce some parcels of
Spanish language such as colours, numbers, and
some greetings as many of the children are familiar
with them through “Dora the Explorer”
Cookery
We aim to teach children how to cook very simple
recipes. The children are introduced to looking at a
recipe, weighing out ingredients, following the
instructions and cleaning up afterwards! When their
cooking has cooled they serve it up for snack for all
their friends. This activity incorporates a number
of areas of the curriculum including, literacy,
mathematics, physical and social development.