Joint Colleges Nursery Curriculum
At JCN, we believe that children learn best through play and curiosity exploring their environment, sometimes in solitary but also with the support of more knowledgeable adults or peers.
Our intent is to provide a stimulating and challenging environment for children to strive and develop their skills and knowledge to their best potential. We want to equip them with everything they need to become a successful and confident learner.
We implement our curriculum through play and by applying a holistic approach, taking the child’s lead and considering their personal, social, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being, and their cognitive learning.
The impact is reflected in what the children have learned and achieved, looking at their starting points and observing a continuous progression. They acquire social and cognitive skills, mature emotionally, and gain the self-confidence and resilience needed to manage new experiences and environments, ready to embark on their formal school journey.
JCN follows the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage, widely known as the EYFS. Alongside the framework, we ensure that children meet their age-appropriate milestones through assessments and cohort tracking. The subsequent data shows the successful progression or highlights areas of improvement needed, for the individual child as well as for groups of children.
The 3 areas of characteristics of learning set the foundation for the prime areas and the specific areas of learning and development. All are interlinked and with continuous playing and having a go, children will actively find out new things, progressing in what they can do, and they merge more into the prime and specific areas of learning.
Most of the children that attend our setting start in the baby room, which enables us to develop secure relationships with the children and their families and establish good knowledge about the children’s starting point and their immediate environment.
As we are involved in their development from an early age, we know the children well and have high expectations of them. With the engagement of our dedicated and experienced staff, we implement bespoke learning experiences that will provide children with unique skills that will enhance their mental and physical well-being, and resilience, and prepare them for lifelong learning.
When children join the nursery, the key person will meet with their parents in a welcome meeting and discuss the child’s current stage of development, what they like and dislike, and anything else that is important for a secure transition into the nursery, and the learning environment.
OUR OVERARCHING GOALS ARE
Becoming a confident Learner
Establish Self-awareness and Resilience
Acquire good language skills
Unfold an understanding of STEM
Develop a love for books and create their own
Ride a bike without stabilisers
We have an overarching goal that we want the children to achieve by the time they leave the nursery. To reach the end goal, they will go through a path of general growth and development, various learning processes, and changes. As the children move from age group to age group, they will achieve age-appropriate milestones toward the overarching goal, building stepping stones for the next level in their learning. Below, you will see the individual goals broken down into smaller steps in line with their individual age groups.
All knowledge, skills, and milestones acquired during their learning journey are interlinked with other learning goals set out in the EYFS, and all learning experiences construct a solid foundation needed for entry to formal education.
BECOMING A CONFIDENT LEARNER
Under Two’s (0-2)
Babies and Toddlers develop a secure attachment with their key person, spending time singing, looking at books, and being comforted, when being sad or insecure.
Tummy time and attempts to roll and crawl are encouraged by practitioners and they take every possible opportunity to entice their babies to cruise in preparation to take their first steps.
Toddle boxes encourage babies to crawl over them and they provide the first element of climbing keeping balance and managing risks. Walking toddlers start using the those boxes as a walking path practicing their balance and body control.
With adult supervision, children will further develop their physical skills, explore materials such as bubbles, water, and sand, light sessions with resources producing coloured lights for sensory stimulation, play with dolls, and start pretend-play in the home corner.
Adults use baby signing and verbal language to support children in expressing their individual needs and to support their social interaction and general language development.
Crayons, chalk, paint, gloop, and playdough are popular sensory materials for young children to experiment mark making and exploring textures.
Children learn best when they are physically active. Our baby garden gives adequate space for babies and toddlers to run around and use equipment and resources such as a Pikler climbing triangle, monkey bars, balls, and a trampoline are part of the daily play to enhance their gross motor skills, and take risks. Looking after the planting spot in Forest School supports their understanding of caring for things and taking on responsibilities.
Block play – building towers and knocking them over, using the big marble run and rolling the marbles down over and over again, taking things to other places and back again, putting things in boxes and taking them out again, or even climbing into boxes and out again, show the development of schema.
They are eager to have a go and try out new things more independently, for example, examine items in more detail to work out what the item is for and how it may work, and experiment with cause and effect, for example building a tower and knocking it over and start again or looking at the marks they can make when playing with playdough.
They will start to replicate actions and reiterate words that they hear from songs or rhymes and from what adults will say, often they point at things for the adult to say what it is. They can understand and carry out simple instructions such as, ‘please sit down’, or it is tidy up time.
Towards the end of their time in the Under Two’s, the children independently find a place at the lunch table, recognise their personal belongings, competently drink from an open cup, and show confidence when they are feeding themselves with fork and spoon.
Explorers (2-3 years)
Transition meetings with the former key person and the child’s parents are key for a smooth transition from the Under Two’s to the Over Two’s. The new welcome pack gives parents general orientation and an understanding of what to expect during the transition, how the new key person will support their child in settling into the new group, and how their child will continue to learn and flourish.
Shared information from the child’s former key person, the information shared with the parent at their room transition meeting and observations during the child’s play visits to prepare for the transition, tells the new key person where the child’s development and abilities are at, enabling her /him to plan ahead.
With support from the practitioners, children develop to care for themselves. They will start to put on their coats independently and wash their hands before meals and after toilet visits.
They play alongside other children using the same resources and observe the other children in the same activity. It is also common for children to imitate the actions of their peers.
Younger as well as older 2-year-olds will join in with group activities such as story time, singing, physical exercise, or ring games, and contribute with words, lyrics/rhymes, and movements.
They will express their likes and dislikes and independently engage in mark making, and developed the confidence to have a go with new materials or learning activities through exploration or through introduction by an adult.
Some children will start taking their next step in personal hygiene and will tell when they need changing and ask to use the potty or toilet, and independently wash their hands afterward.
Children become more competent to dress or undress themselves or at least assist to do so, and they will help others.
They are able to take two to three-word directions and often help with tasks such as setting up tables for meal time or snack or to clear tables.
They feel proud of their own achievements and often do not want adult help with completing a puzzle, putting on clothing, or trying something new.
They develop good manners as please, thank you, and excuse me, in appropriate situations.
Begin to understand concepts and sort things by colour size or shape.
Pre-school (3-4)
The children….
Begin to understand rules and routines
Their gross and fine motor skills accelerate:
Gross motor skills; they can throw a ball, run, stop, and go on command, climb in trees up to a designated height, slide down the garden slide, and swing on the tyre swing, ride a trike and scooter.
They are confident in using tools to make things, such as cutting with scissors, cutters, a safe knife for cutting fruit and vegetables, holding a pencil and crayon, using a pipette to apply droplets for mark making or mixing coloured fluids, and folding and gluing paper.
Feelings of others are considered, they begin to have empathy with peers, they strive to have positive relationships with peers and develop friendships.
They take part in collaborative play such as turn-taking play, sharing resources, and start negotiating with others.
Their vocabulary has expanded and they are able to hold a conversation with an adult.
Their memory is developing and they are able to remember stories from a film or favourite book and can re-iterate these to someone else. Alternatively, they will sing familiar songs that they know the words to.
Children are also able to talk about their experiences at nursery and from the weekend or holiday, and they are confident to share at circle time what they have seen, or what they did.
Crockery and cutlery are used confidently at meal times.
Competently count up to ten and recognise smaller and larger groups of items, and recognise their name, and letters of their name that appear in other words.
ESTABLISHING SELF-AWARENESS AND RESILIENCE
Under 2’s
Adults encourage positive behaviour, rules, and boundaries helping babies and toddlers learn to be mindful of others.
Exploring with mirrors in the room toddlers start to realise that the reflection is their own and they experiment with facial expressions or watch their movements in the mirror.
Interaction with the key person and peers intensifies self-awareness
Through consistent modelling and encouraging positive behaviour, it strengthens trust in the learning toddler, enhances their confidence to continue taking risks, and promotes resilience.
Receiving comfort in sensitive situations helps them to develop security and empathy, which is important to understand oneself and others, and to develop confidence.
Explorers
Begin to understand their own needs and become independent, asking for help when it is required (i. e. putting on shoes) and declining help when they are able to manage.
Have a can-do approach and recognise that their achievement (i.e. completing a puzzle) is a skill /strength that they possess and they can expand skills through repeating and trying more difficult ones.
They will start to express a wide range of emotions and begin to talk about their feelings. Adults model good behaviour and strategies are in place to support good social skills and respect for one another. Children predominantly use books as a resource when talking about feelings, behaviour, sharing and turn-taking.
With adult support they begin to manage setbacks and frustration, and slowly overcome their emotions quicker.
With adult comfort and explanation, they develop new thought processes to think of solutions when problems occur.
They comfortably join in group activities and support one another, such as comforting peers or assisting them when putting on clothes.
Preschool
Begin to realise that working in small peer groups can be helpful – receiving help and ideas but also giving advice and help.
Children independently work in collaboration with peers and adults; it inspires ideas and helps solve problems.
Start to manage their emotions better when experiencing disappointments and frustrations and sometimes develop strategies to solve their own problems, like revisiting activities at a later time with fewer emotions and enhancing their perseverance skills.
They are very eager to try out new things and experiences – take on a challenge – and be focused and confident, and independently start to manage setbacks.
ACQUIRE GOOD LANGUAGE SKILLS
Under 2’s.
Sing and sign accompanied by spoken words encourage language development and thinking.
Babies hear their mother tongue spoken by practitioners, which strengthens the bond between caregiver and baby and they develop trust.
Babies start using signs to communicate and express their needs.
Babies and toddlers love looking at picture books and being read to.
They point at things in the book and wait for the adult to name what they are pointing at.
Babies understand simple requests (please sit down), directions (name… we go this way), and questions to which they shake their heads for no, and nod for yes.
When singing in small groups, babies and toddlers copy movements and actions.
Babies and toddlers start pointing at things in their environment and wait for the adult to name what they are looking at, and they repeat pointing at the same things to listen to the words over and over again, establishing a broader vocabulary.
Babies and toddlers repeat familiar words.
By the time they leave the Under Two, children will speak two or three-word sentences.
Explorers
Speak in two- and three-word phrases or sentences.
Use their name as I
Ask questions that start with what, who, where, and why, such as “What are you doing?”
Answer verbally to simple yes and no questions when asked.
Say their first name when asked.
Develop a core vocabulary of at least a hundred words and join some words together.
Speech is not always clear and understandable
Understand and follow directions during familiar activities.
Refer to themselves with pronouns, such as I, me, my, or mine, when they are closer to the age of three.
Focus on a story when read to, sometimes asking questions when they want to know more.
Compare stories with similar stories that they heard before.
Pronunciation becomes clearer and speech is more fluent
Preschool
Able to reiterate scenarios that happened and tell imaginative stories about themselves.
Have a conversation with one peer or adult, and have group chats taking turns talking.
Tell parents what they have been doing at nursery
Established a broad vocabulary and speak extensively long sentences, sometimes up to 6-8 words.
Ask when and how questions.
Recognising the difference between letters and numerals
Rhymes words like house and mouse
Uses pronouns such as you, me, he, she, they
DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF STEM
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). In the early years, it is about learning concepts and how things work, in the social world (social science) as well as in the technical world that constructs our modern life. The elements below set the foundation to unfold a curiosity and drive to explore the four categories.
Under Two’s
Babies and toddlers start to adapt to daily routines.
Play and explore with all their senses (touch, feel, taste, smell)
Try out a variety of foods and their texture and taste
Examine everyday objects such as wooden pegs, egg cups, small paintbrushes
Explore various materials such as playdough and finger paint
Filling and emptying when playing with sand and water
Build towers with wooden bricks, and connect magnetic shapes
Play with large boxes and hide in them or use them as tunnels
Play with pop-up toys and small battery-operated toys
They play outdoors watching things grow, feel, and examine different plants
Looking at and exploring bugs and insects
See what is in the sky – moon, sun, clouds, birds flying, and airplanes
Observe different kinds of rainfall and experience wind and snow
Begin schema – transporting things, enveloping (hiding and covering things or themselves), Trajectory play (climbing up to slide and repeat, throwing things), positioning (lining things up), rotating (spinning things or themselves)
Explorers
The above experiences are taken to the next level as their abilities increase, children are able to extend their exploration and manage to persist with activities to achieve the below goals.
Sort and match objects and count reliably up to 3 objects
Complete small puzzles fitting pieces into the cutouts
Sand and water play – fill moulds and buckets appropriately to create mud cakes, and build mounts with sand.
Build towers and small constructions with wooden blocks and observe the height
Make comments on the way they look when they observe themselves in the mirror, and also on the change in look when dressing up.
Use malleable materials (i.e. playdough) to create things, like making small rolls, cut-out shapes, squashing them, flattening, and making imprints.
Independently look for natural things in the garden to play with or examine them with magnifiers.
Play and experiment with light using torches and resources from the light sessions.
Able to name colours and shapes
Begin to create patterns
Handle scissors safely and with confidence
Preschool
Count reliably up to ten and begin to count further
Recognising and naming written letters and numbers
Recognise and name small and smaller, large and larger, more and less
They know and are able to name more complex shapes such as hexagons, and spheres
Recognising familiar words
Know their address and that they live in Cambridge
Take on tasks, such as taking the mail to the office – developing responsibility
Block play – outdoors; create constructions and ramps for intended play scenarios
Play with a clear purpose in mind in water play, experimenting with items floating and sinking
They understand how to blow air with their mouths to play with bubbles and blow out candles
Begin to understand the concept of teamwork and roles and responsibilities, when they play using the Lego therapy with adult supervision.
DEVELOP A LOVE FOR BOOKS AND CREATE THEIR OWN
Under Two’s
Repeatedly looking at baby books and indestructible books
Handing books to adults to look at books together
Hand a chosen book to an adult and sit with the adult to read the book.
Being attentive when they hear familiar stories, songs, or nursery rhymes
Show excitement when they hear popular recited phrases such as “and I huff, and I puff….”, and show some personal expressions relating to it.
Show an interest in hand puppet play when an adult reiterates familiar parts of a story
Share single words or noises from a story or song with a parent or carer to express the wish to hear the story or song.
Explorers
Begin to have favourite books and stories that they repeatedly look at or want to listen to
Bring in their personal books from home and share the story with their peers
Take up interest in books with subject matters, such as dinosaurs or rockets
Identifying with characters in books emerges, especially when the character has their name
Children become aware of themes in books dealing with personal matters such as feelings, rules, and life changes.
Children start to share their interest in feelings and themes within their play, such as reiterating word-for-word phrases that they remember from a book.
Preschool
Part of their play is reiterating scenes with small world figures, or hand puppets, or using other items for representation.
Able to discuss in small and larger groups of peers what the book read to them was about and talk about individual characters, scenarios, or topics.
Storytelling cards and the magnet board are used with their own initiative
Children who are managing additional languages are aware of their skills and start conversing with children of the same language
Being aware that stories can be found in other places than books, such as images that they see throughout the day (for example “Where do you think this plane is flying to?).
They recognise their own name, and the names of their friends, and begin to understand that some names/words sound the same but are spelled differently (for example Carla and Karla).
They draw pictures of their ideas, interests, and characters in films and books.
Children can give meaning to what they have been drawing, begin to write their own names, and pretend write.
Children have the ability and skills to focus on personal projects and create their own book using a variety of tools and methods, involving the adult as a facilitator.
RIDING A BIKE WITHOUT STABILISERS
Under two milestones:
Increase walking skills using the baby walker
Competently walk with push and pull along toys
Climb over the pickler frame
Run and stop to recover objects
Transport things (i. e. small chair to sit on)
Swing on monkey bars and sit independently on a see saw
Sit on a small trike without peddles and move in either direction
Uses the trampoline but not using both feet at the same time
Balance on wobble boards
Explorers
Competently sit on a trike and move, but not use the peddles.
Repeatedly arrange and use obstacle courses, sometimes with adult support
Walk up and down the stairs unaided using one foot at a time
Jump off the bottom step or bench
Uses the trampoline with both feet
Stand on one foot for short periods of time
Kick catch or throw a ball
Begins riding a scooter
Sits on the trike and uses its pedals to move
Begins to ride on the balance bikes
Preschool
Runs and changes direction to avoid obstacles
Runs and stops on commando during group games
Balances on a narrow bench
Gaining competence balancing on a slackline
Swinging on the tyre swing
Climbing up a hanging tree ladder
Running whilst holding objects
Competently rides on balance bikes lifting their feet off the ground at speed
Understand bike safety and why it is important to wear a helmet
Able to sit on a bike and peddle with adult support at the bike seat
Children begin to increase speed and balance and adult only give a supportive start up and let go
Children replicate this activity
They master to stop and start again by themselves; they have successfully gained the ability to ride a bike without stabilisers
JCN follows the statutory framework and Birth to Five Matters. For more information about the EYFS and children’s development in the Early Years, please visit
Statutory Framework:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2
Birth to Five Matters:
https://birthto5matters.org.uk/
Birth to Three Matters:
https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/eyfs-development-matters-2020-birth-to-three-tf-pa-2548610
If you wish to learn more about your child's learning and development, there is a guidance that you can download called: "What to expect, when?" from the following website
what+to+expect+when+eyfs+2021+parent+guide
At JCN, we believe that children learn best through play and curiosity exploring their environment, sometimes in solitary but also with the support of more knowledgeable adults or peers.
Our intent is to provide a stimulating and challenging environment for children to strive and develop their skills and knowledge to their best potential. We want to equip them with everything they need to become a successful and confident learner.
We implement our curriculum through play and by applying a holistic approach, taking the child’s lead and considering their personal, social, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being, and their cognitive learning.
The impact is reflected in what the children have learned and achieved, looking at their starting points and observing a continuous progression. They acquire social and cognitive skills, mature emotionally, and gain the self-confidence and resilience needed to manage new experiences and environments, ready to embark on their formal school journey.
JCN follows the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage, widely known as the EYFS. Alongside the framework, we ensure that children meet their age-appropriate milestones through assessments and cohort tracking. The subsequent data shows the successful progression or highlights areas of improvement needed, for the individual child as well as for groups of children.
The 3 areas of characteristics of learning set the foundation for the prime areas and the specific areas of learning and development. All are interlinked and with continuous playing and having a go, children will actively find out new things, progressing in what they can do, and they merge more into the prime and specific areas of learning.
Most of the children that attend our setting start in the baby room, which enables us to develop secure relationships with the children and their families and establish good knowledge about the children’s starting point and their immediate environment.
As we are involved in their development from an early age, we know the children well and have high expectations of them. With the engagement of our dedicated and experienced staff, we implement bespoke learning experiences that will provide children with unique skills that will enhance their mental and physical well-being, and resilience, and prepare them for lifelong learning.
When children join the nursery, the key person will meet with their parents in a welcome meeting and discuss the child’s current stage of development, what they like and dislike, and anything else that is important for a secure transition into the nursery, and the learning environment.
OUR OVERARCHING GOALS ARE
Becoming a confident Learner
Establish Self-awareness and Resilience
Acquire good language skills
Unfold an understanding of STEM
Develop a love for books and create their own
Ride a bike without stabilisers
We have an overarching goal that we want the children to achieve by the time they leave the nursery. To reach the end goal, they will go through a path of general growth and development, various learning processes, and changes. As the children move from age group to age group, they will achieve age-appropriate milestones toward the overarching goal, building stepping stones for the next level in their learning. Below, you will see the individual goals broken down into smaller steps in line with their individual age groups.
All knowledge, skills, and milestones acquired during their learning journey are interlinked with other learning goals set out in the EYFS, and all learning experiences construct a solid foundation needed for entry to formal education.
BECOMING A CONFIDENT LEARNER
Under Two’s (0-2)
Babies and Toddlers develop a secure attachment with their key person, spending time singing, looking at books, and being comforted, when being sad or insecure.
Tummy time and attempts to roll and crawl are encouraged by practitioners and they take every possible opportunity to entice their babies to cruise in preparation to take their first steps.
Toddle boxes encourage babies to crawl over them and they provide the first element of climbing keeping balance and managing risks. Walking toddlers start using the those boxes as a walking path practicing their balance and body control.
With adult supervision, children will further develop their physical skills, explore materials such as bubbles, water, and sand, light sessions with resources producing coloured lights for sensory stimulation, play with dolls, and start pretend-play in the home corner.
Adults use baby signing and verbal language to support children in expressing their individual needs and to support their social interaction and general language development.
Crayons, chalk, paint, gloop, and playdough are popular sensory materials for young children to experiment mark making and exploring textures.
Children learn best when they are physically active. Our baby garden gives adequate space for babies and toddlers to run around and use equipment and resources such as a Pikler climbing triangle, monkey bars, balls, and a trampoline are part of the daily play to enhance their gross motor skills, and take risks. Looking after the planting spot in Forest School supports their understanding of caring for things and taking on responsibilities.
Block play – building towers and knocking them over, using the big marble run and rolling the marbles down over and over again, taking things to other places and back again, putting things in boxes and taking them out again, or even climbing into boxes and out again, show the development of schema.
They are eager to have a go and try out new things more independently, for example, examine items in more detail to work out what the item is for and how it may work, and experiment with cause and effect, for example building a tower and knocking it over and start again or looking at the marks they can make when playing with playdough.
They will start to replicate actions and reiterate words that they hear from songs or rhymes and from what adults will say, often they point at things for the adult to say what it is. They can understand and carry out simple instructions such as, ‘please sit down’, or it is tidy up time.
Towards the end of their time in the Under Two’s, the children independently find a place at the lunch table, recognise their personal belongings, competently drink from an open cup, and show confidence when they are feeding themselves with fork and spoon.
Explorers (2-3 years)
Transition meetings with the former key person and the child’s parents are key for a smooth transition from the Under Two’s to the Over Two’s. The new welcome pack gives parents general orientation and an understanding of what to expect during the transition, how the new key person will support their child in settling into the new group, and how their child will continue to learn and flourish.
Shared information from the child’s former key person, the information shared with the parent at their room transition meeting and observations during the child’s play visits to prepare for the transition, tells the new key person where the child’s development and abilities are at, enabling her /him to plan ahead.
With support from the practitioners, children develop to care for themselves. They will start to put on their coats independently and wash their hands before meals and after toilet visits.
They play alongside other children using the same resources and observe the other children in the same activity. It is also common for children to imitate the actions of their peers.
Younger as well as older 2-year-olds will join in with group activities such as story time, singing, physical exercise, or ring games, and contribute with words, lyrics/rhymes, and movements.
They will express their likes and dislikes and independently engage in mark making, and developed the confidence to have a go with new materials or learning activities through exploration or through introduction by an adult.
Some children will start taking their next step in personal hygiene and will tell when they need changing and ask to use the potty or toilet, and independently wash their hands afterward.
Children become more competent to dress or undress themselves or at least assist to do so, and they will help others.
They are able to take two to three-word directions and often help with tasks such as setting up tables for meal time or snack or to clear tables.
They feel proud of their own achievements and often do not want adult help with completing a puzzle, putting on clothing, or trying something new.
They develop good manners as please, thank you, and excuse me, in appropriate situations.
Begin to understand concepts and sort things by colour size or shape.
Pre-school (3-4)
The children….
Begin to understand rules and routines
Their gross and fine motor skills accelerate:
Gross motor skills; they can throw a ball, run, stop, and go on command, climb in trees up to a designated height, slide down the garden slide, and swing on the tyre swing, ride a trike and scooter.
They are confident in using tools to make things, such as cutting with scissors, cutters, a safe knife for cutting fruit and vegetables, holding a pencil and crayon, using a pipette to apply droplets for mark making or mixing coloured fluids, and folding and gluing paper.
Feelings of others are considered, they begin to have empathy with peers, they strive to have positive relationships with peers and develop friendships.
They take part in collaborative play such as turn-taking play, sharing resources, and start negotiating with others.
Their vocabulary has expanded and they are able to hold a conversation with an adult.
Their memory is developing and they are able to remember stories from a film or favourite book and can re-iterate these to someone else. Alternatively, they will sing familiar songs that they know the words to.
Children are also able to talk about their experiences at nursery and from the weekend or holiday, and they are confident to share at circle time what they have seen, or what they did.
Crockery and cutlery are used confidently at meal times.
Competently count up to ten and recognise smaller and larger groups of items, and recognise their name, and letters of their name that appear in other words.
ESTABLISHING SELF-AWARENESS AND RESILIENCE
Under 2’s
Adults encourage positive behaviour, rules, and boundaries helping babies and toddlers learn to be mindful of others.
Exploring with mirrors in the room toddlers start to realise that the reflection is their own and they experiment with facial expressions or watch their movements in the mirror.
Interaction with the key person and peers intensifies self-awareness
Through consistent modelling and encouraging positive behaviour, it strengthens trust in the learning toddler, enhances their confidence to continue taking risks, and promotes resilience.
Receiving comfort in sensitive situations helps them to develop security and empathy, which is important to understand oneself and others, and to develop confidence.
Explorers
Begin to understand their own needs and become independent, asking for help when it is required (i. e. putting on shoes) and declining help when they are able to manage.
Have a can-do approach and recognise that their achievement (i.e. completing a puzzle) is a skill /strength that they possess and they can expand skills through repeating and trying more difficult ones.
They will start to express a wide range of emotions and begin to talk about their feelings. Adults model good behaviour and strategies are in place to support good social skills and respect for one another. Children predominantly use books as a resource when talking about feelings, behaviour, sharing and turn-taking.
With adult support they begin to manage setbacks and frustration, and slowly overcome their emotions quicker.
With adult comfort and explanation, they develop new thought processes to think of solutions when problems occur.
They comfortably join in group activities and support one another, such as comforting peers or assisting them when putting on clothes.
Preschool
Begin to realise that working in small peer groups can be helpful – receiving help and ideas but also giving advice and help.
Children independently work in collaboration with peers and adults; it inspires ideas and helps solve problems.
Start to manage their emotions better when experiencing disappointments and frustrations and sometimes develop strategies to solve their own problems, like revisiting activities at a later time with fewer emotions and enhancing their perseverance skills.
They are very eager to try out new things and experiences – take on a challenge – and be focused and confident, and independently start to manage setbacks.
ACQUIRE GOOD LANGUAGE SKILLS
Under 2’s.
Sing and sign accompanied by spoken words encourage language development and thinking.
Babies hear their mother tongue spoken by practitioners, which strengthens the bond between caregiver and baby and they develop trust.
Babies start using signs to communicate and express their needs.
Babies and toddlers love looking at picture books and being read to.
They point at things in the book and wait for the adult to name what they are pointing at.
Babies understand simple requests (please sit down), directions (name… we go this way), and questions to which they shake their heads for no, and nod for yes.
When singing in small groups, babies and toddlers copy movements and actions.
Babies and toddlers start pointing at things in their environment and wait for the adult to name what they are looking at, and they repeat pointing at the same things to listen to the words over and over again, establishing a broader vocabulary.
Babies and toddlers repeat familiar words.
By the time they leave the Under Two, children will speak two or three-word sentences.
Explorers
Speak in two- and three-word phrases or sentences.
Use their name as I
Ask questions that start with what, who, where, and why, such as “What are you doing?”
Answer verbally to simple yes and no questions when asked.
Say their first name when asked.
Develop a core vocabulary of at least a hundred words and join some words together.
Speech is not always clear and understandable
Understand and follow directions during familiar activities.
Refer to themselves with pronouns, such as I, me, my, or mine, when they are closer to the age of three.
Focus on a story when read to, sometimes asking questions when they want to know more.
Compare stories with similar stories that they heard before.
Pronunciation becomes clearer and speech is more fluent
Preschool
Able to reiterate scenarios that happened and tell imaginative stories about themselves.
Have a conversation with one peer or adult, and have group chats taking turns talking.
Tell parents what they have been doing at nursery
Established a broad vocabulary and speak extensively long sentences, sometimes up to 6-8 words.
Ask when and how questions.
Recognising the difference between letters and numerals
Rhymes words like house and mouse
Uses pronouns such as you, me, he, she, they
DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF STEM
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). In the early years, it is about learning concepts and how things work, in the social world (social science) as well as in the technical world that constructs our modern life. The elements below set the foundation to unfold a curiosity and drive to explore the four categories.
Under Two’s
Babies and toddlers start to adapt to daily routines.
Play and explore with all their senses (touch, feel, taste, smell)
Try out a variety of foods and their texture and taste
Examine everyday objects such as wooden pegs, egg cups, small paintbrushes
Explore various materials such as playdough and finger paint
Filling and emptying when playing with sand and water
Build towers with wooden bricks, and connect magnetic shapes
Play with large boxes and hide in them or use them as tunnels
Play with pop-up toys and small battery-operated toys
They play outdoors watching things grow, feel, and examine different plants
Looking at and exploring bugs and insects
See what is in the sky – moon, sun, clouds, birds flying, and airplanes
Observe different kinds of rainfall and experience wind and snow
Begin schema – transporting things, enveloping (hiding and covering things or themselves), Trajectory play (climbing up to slide and repeat, throwing things), positioning (lining things up), rotating (spinning things or themselves)
Explorers
The above experiences are taken to the next level as their abilities increase, children are able to extend their exploration and manage to persist with activities to achieve the below goals.
Sort and match objects and count reliably up to 3 objects
Complete small puzzles fitting pieces into the cutouts
Sand and water play – fill moulds and buckets appropriately to create mud cakes, and build mounts with sand.
Build towers and small constructions with wooden blocks and observe the height
Make comments on the way they look when they observe themselves in the mirror, and also on the change in look when dressing up.
Use malleable materials (i.e. playdough) to create things, like making small rolls, cut-out shapes, squashing them, flattening, and making imprints.
Independently look for natural things in the garden to play with or examine them with magnifiers.
Play and experiment with light using torches and resources from the light sessions.
Able to name colours and shapes
Begin to create patterns
Handle scissors safely and with confidence
Preschool
Count reliably up to ten and begin to count further
Recognising and naming written letters and numbers
Recognise and name small and smaller, large and larger, more and less
They know and are able to name more complex shapes such as hexagons, and spheres
Recognising familiar words
Know their address and that they live in Cambridge
Take on tasks, such as taking the mail to the office – developing responsibility
Block play – outdoors; create constructions and ramps for intended play scenarios
Play with a clear purpose in mind in water play, experimenting with items floating and sinking
They understand how to blow air with their mouths to play with bubbles and blow out candles
Begin to understand the concept of teamwork and roles and responsibilities, when they play using the Lego therapy with adult supervision.
DEVELOP A LOVE FOR BOOKS AND CREATE THEIR OWN
Under Two’s
Repeatedly looking at baby books and indestructible books
Handing books to adults to look at books together
Hand a chosen book to an adult and sit with the adult to read the book.
Being attentive when they hear familiar stories, songs, or nursery rhymes
Show excitement when they hear popular recited phrases such as “and I huff, and I puff….”, and show some personal expressions relating to it.
Show an interest in hand puppet play when an adult reiterates familiar parts of a story
Share single words or noises from a story or song with a parent or carer to express the wish to hear the story or song.
Explorers
Begin to have favourite books and stories that they repeatedly look at or want to listen to
Bring in their personal books from home and share the story with their peers
Take up interest in books with subject matters, such as dinosaurs or rockets
Identifying with characters in books emerges, especially when the character has their name
Children become aware of themes in books dealing with personal matters such as feelings, rules, and life changes.
Children start to share their interest in feelings and themes within their play, such as reiterating word-for-word phrases that they remember from a book.
Preschool
Part of their play is reiterating scenes with small world figures, or hand puppets, or using other items for representation.
Able to discuss in small and larger groups of peers what the book read to them was about and talk about individual characters, scenarios, or topics.
Storytelling cards and the magnet board are used with their own initiative
Children who are managing additional languages are aware of their skills and start conversing with children of the same language
Being aware that stories can be found in other places than books, such as images that they see throughout the day (for example “Where do you think this plane is flying to?).
They recognise their own name, and the names of their friends, and begin to understand that some names/words sound the same but are spelled differently (for example Carla and Karla).
They draw pictures of their ideas, interests, and characters in films and books.
Children can give meaning to what they have been drawing, begin to write their own names, and pretend write.
Children have the ability and skills to focus on personal projects and create their own book using a variety of tools and methods, involving the adult as a facilitator.
RIDING A BIKE WITHOUT STABILISERS
Under two milestones:
Increase walking skills using the baby walker
Competently walk with push and pull along toys
Climb over the pickler frame
Run and stop to recover objects
Transport things (i. e. small chair to sit on)
Swing on monkey bars and sit independently on a see saw
Sit on a small trike without peddles and move in either direction
Uses the trampoline but not using both feet at the same time
Balance on wobble boards
Explorers
Competently sit on a trike and move, but not use the peddles.
Repeatedly arrange and use obstacle courses, sometimes with adult support
Walk up and down the stairs unaided using one foot at a time
Jump off the bottom step or bench
Uses the trampoline with both feet
Stand on one foot for short periods of time
Kick catch or throw a ball
Begins riding a scooter
Sits on the trike and uses its pedals to move
Begins to ride on the balance bikes
Preschool
Runs and changes direction to avoid obstacles
Runs and stops on commando during group games
Balances on a narrow bench
Gaining competence balancing on a slackline
Swinging on the tyre swing
Climbing up a hanging tree ladder
Running whilst holding objects
Competently rides on balance bikes lifting their feet off the ground at speed
Understand bike safety and why it is important to wear a helmet
Able to sit on a bike and peddle with adult support at the bike seat
Children begin to increase speed and balance and adult only give a supportive start up and let go
Children replicate this activity
They master to stop and start again by themselves; they have successfully gained the ability to ride a bike without stabilisers
JCN follows the statutory framework and Birth to Five Matters. For more information about the EYFS and children’s development in the Early Years, please visit
Statutory Framework:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2
Birth to Five Matters:
https://birthto5matters.org.uk/
Birth to Three Matters:
https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/eyfs-development-matters-2020-birth-to-three-tf-pa-2548610
If you wish to learn more about your child's learning and development, there is a guidance that you can download called: "What to expect, when?" from the following website
what+to+expect+when+eyfs+2021+parent+guide