Curriculum

Children make a strong relationship with the adults. Increasingly, they separate confidently from their parent at the start of the session and become involved in their play. They use the adults as a‘secure base’ throughout the session, ‘touching base’ as/when needed.

additional help, this will be offered

promptly. Teachers will talk with parents

to map a way forward.

As children grow in confidence, their

involvement in nursery activities deepens.

They explore a wider range of activities.

They play for longer periods of time. They

begin to seek out the company of others

and play alongside their friends.

Children confidently take part in a wide variety of play activities. They are willing to take risks and try new activities. They begin to develop friendships with others and play cooperatively – talking, listening and responding to each other.

perseverance grows, they either

challenge themselves with more difficult

activities, or they respond positively to

adults challenging them.

Children think of their own ideas. They persevere with difficulties and work together with their friends to solve any problems they encounter. They make comments about their learning and play and show pleasure/pride in what they have done.

collaboratively, for longer time

periods, they begin to take part in more

challenging activities.

Children express their own ideas. They work together with their friends extending their thinking

and solving problems. They talk about what they are learning. They talk about difficulties and how

they overcame them. They show pride in working hard to achieve their

Children show more interest with group times and engage with the activities and their peers during these times for a short period of time.

muscles in their hands and arms to

make big movements and bring

together hand and eye movements to fix

on and make contact with objects.

Children will increasingly become

confident in engaging in activities

such as: throwing and catching balls,

pushing the wagon, exploring a

musical instrument, playdough and

paint.

motor skills they engage in activities for

a longer period of time. They can grasp

objects and can focus on what they are

doing e.g. hold arms out and wait to

catch a ball, thread beads on to a piece

of string or build a stable tower of up to

10 blocks etc

Where children need individualised and

additional help, this will be offered

promptly. Help includes: individualised

support from key person; small group

work; individual meetings with parents

to map a way forward.

random marks with their fingers and

some tools. Children will engage in a

variety of ways to make marks e.g.

making marks in dough/clay/sand,

holding a paint brush to make marks or

using chalk on the ground in the garden

etc.

making marks they begin to talk about

their marks with others and give

meaning to these e.g. “That’s mummy”

or “It’s a dinosaur.”

making develops they make more small

controlled movements and can draw

lines and circles. They can distinguish

between these marks e.g. ‘line, circle,

zig zag’ etc. They begin to use

anticlockwise movements and retrace

vertical lines. Children are familiar with

language of directionality such as ‘up,

down, round and round.’

are look at it when attempting to write

their name.

As children use their name cards

repeatedly and becoming familiar with

the RWI formation sheet they become

more confident in attempting to form

letters. Some children will begin to form

recognisable letters.

write the first two letters of their name clearly and with correct directionality

First milestone: children take part in

pretend play, making up or developing a

story.

on their own with toys like farm animals,

wild animals, dinosaurs or Duplo

people. They may put on a costume to

become a superhero or another

character. Over time, their play

becomes more complex. They are able

to play with other children, developing

the play together (e.g. deciding who will

play what role in the home corner, or

telling a story with the Duplo people

where different Duplo people have

different characters).

in interactive reading. They respond to

the features of the story. Children

engage in number rhymes with props

and join in with the actions.

interactive reading, they ask questions

and make links between what happens

in the story and their own experiences.

Children join in with rhymes and songs

e.g. repeating words or following

actions.

Children play with props to retell/make

up their own stories.

telling a story using the story creator with

adult help or can create their own story

of their day using a visual timetable.

They begin to become familiar of the

way stories are structured

The story creator, they can increasingly take

over and use the symbols and the props

They can make up their own story or

‘tell the story of their day in nursery’ with

little prompting from the adult.

Children express their own ideas. They work together with their friends extending their thinking

and solving problems. They talk about what they are learning. They talk about difficulties and how

they overcame them. They show pride in working hard to achieve their goal.

moving their whole bodies to sounds

they enjoy, such as music or a regular

beat.

experiences they grow in confidence

and begin to join in with repeated

words or actions e.g. “If you’re

happy and you know it clap your

hands.”

Children develop their spatial

awareness and enjoy moving to music,

listening to rhymes/songs and join in.

joining in with dancing and ring games.

They can follow simple instructions such

as “Clap your hands” or “Let’s turn

around.”

of music develops they begin to move

rhythmically and in response to the

music they hear. They can use props

such as ribbons or pom poms to create

different actions.

wide range of music from different

cultural backgrounds and can describe

the sudden changes they hear e.g.

Loud, fast, slow etc.

They explore different ways of moving

their bodies and can follow an adult’s

lead.

themselves and the space they can

follow a simple dance routine led by an

adult.

They can then perform their dance

routine in front of a small group.

They create their own dance routine, moving in time to the pulse of the music

being listened to and physically responding to changes in the music, e.g. jump in

response to loud/sudden changes in the music.

Children are interested in the numbers in the environment and show an interest in counting and joining in with number rhymes

Children can count up to 5 in a sequence.

Children can show you up to 5 objects. recognising that the last number said represents the total counted so far.

Responds to and uses language of position and direction.

Children can use their fingers to show an amount e.g. when asking another child to share resources, to show on their fingers how many they need

natural world. Encourage children’s exploration, curiosity, appreciation and respect for living things.

to be gentle and caring towards living things

Observe and describe what I can see in the

natural world– growth, change, decay

natural materials.

observe an apple core going brown and mouldy over time.

Discuss animal life cycles, such as caterpillars or chick eggs.

Explore and talk about seeds – in fruit at snack time and the plants I see outside

Know that some plants are grown from seeds

Encourage children to refer to books, wall displays and online resources.

This will support their investigations and extend their knowledge and ways of thinking

Develops a sense of belonging to their family and their key carer

Recognises key people in their own lives

Be positive about differences between people and support children’s acceptance of difference. Be aware that negative attitudes towards difference are learned from examples the children witness.

family and other families

Is curious about people and shows interest in stories about people, animals or objects that they are familiar with or which fascinate them

Is interested in photographs of themselves and other familiar people and objects

Provide books and resources which represent children’s diverse backgrounds and which avoid negative stereotypes, ensuring different cultures are represented but especially the backgrounds of the children in the room.

Provide positive images of all children including those with diverse physical characteristics, including disabilities.

Has a sense of own immediate family and relations and pets

In pretend play, imitates everyday actions and events from own family and cultural background, e.g. making and drinking tea, going to the barbers, being a cat, dog or bird

Beginning to have their own friends

Learns that they have similarities and differences that connect them to, and distinguish them from, others

Support children’s understanding of difference and of empathy by using props such as puppets and dolls to tell stories about diverse experiences, ensuring that negative stereotyping is avoided.

Ensure children have resources so that they can imitate everyday actions and events from their lives and that represent their culture.

Children decide what they would like to include in a book all about themselves and their family. They draw pictures of themself, family members, pets, their favourite toys etc. They use emergent writing with marks and letter shapes to label their drawings, while adults scribe any words they segment orally. They find their name card and use it to write their name with recognisable letters. Some children may write their name without the aid of a name card.