Open Mobile Menu

Nursery

Mrs Sherlock

Follow us on X/Twitter @AHMrsSherlock to see all the latest activities in our Nursery class.

Welcome to our Nursery

Before we tell you more about our Nursery, we thought it would be useful to explain the following for those who are not already familiar:

The EYFS curriculum sets standards for the learning, development, and care of children up to 5 years old. At Acre Hall this includes our Nursery and Reception classes.

What is Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)?

Key stageAbbreviationClassesChild’s age
Early Years Foundation StageEYFSNursery and ReceptionAges 3 to 5
Key Stage 1KS1Year 1 and 2Ages 5 to 7
Key Stage 2KS2Years 3 to 6Ages 7 to 11

Our EYFS vision and ethos

At Acre Hall Primary school we want the time your child spends in our nursery to be happy!

Our EYFS school ethos is: At Acre Hall we are passionate about our children being happy and well-rounded learners. We celebrate each child’s individuality and take a holistic, nurturing approach. We work in partnership with parents to provide stimulating learning experiences, through high quality interactions, in play. As your child embarks on their school journey, we strive to foster in them a lifelong love of learning.

Our Outdoor vision and ethos is: Messy, loud, curious explorers of nature.

Our intent

Our main focus in Nursery is to develop children’s ‘Prime Areas’ of development, enabling them to become socially aware and able to play and learn alongside others. Children become familiar with the rules and daily routines of school life and their continuous provision learning environment. The learning environment both indoors and outdoors is set up to be open ended, developing children’s characteristics for effective learning by building their independence to learn and explore. Adults support this development through modelling language, demonstrating, exploring, recalling and providing a narrative. We also plan activities and provide opportunities for children to develop their fine and gross motor skills, such as painting, gluing, dough, chopping up their snack, which are essential for early reading and writing as they enter Reception.

We follow the statutory guidance for the EYFS and complete EYFS Baseline assessments, as well as the EYFS Profile at the end of the Reception year. The EYFS Curriculum is organised into seven areas of learning:

Educational ProgrammesEarly Learning Goals
Three PRIME areas: 
Communication and LanguageListening, attention and understanding Speaking
Physical DevelopmentSelf-regulation Managing self Building relationships
Personal, Social and Emotional DevelopmentGross motor skills Fine motor skills
Four SPECIFIC areas: 
LiteracyComprehension Word reading Writing
MathematicsNumber Numerical patterns
Understanding the WorldPast and present People, culture and communities The natural world
Expressive Arts and DesignCreating with materials Being imaginative and expressive

The importance of a play-based learning curriculum for children

In play a child develops physically, intellectually and emotionally. Play develops key communication and social skills such as negotiating, discussing plans and sharing resources. Play underpins all development and learning for young children and it is essential they have opportunities to play both indoors and outdoors.

How we monitor and celebrate your child’s progress

Our EYFS team observe your child daily during independent self-initiated play and guided learning. As well as celebrating achievements in class, the team make written, photographic and electronic observations of each child’s achievements. These observations are linked to and assessed against the EYFS curriculum they are also uploaded to a secure online system to which you will have access.

When in Reception we use both your child’s writing books, their self-initiated learning and our observations to actively track their progress. This information helps with future planning and in identifying where additional support or interventions are required.

Progression from Nursery to Reception

In Reception children still have access to a language rich learning environment with extended periods of continuous provision, in order to develop their knowledge and understanding in each of the prime and specific areas, and they continue to build on their characteristics of learning through the same observe-assess-plan cycle. However, there is more focus on guided group and teacher led learning to develop children’s basic skills, for example learning how to read and write. Enhancements in areas and home learning opportunities are often linked to children’s understanding and development in Literacy and Numeracy. Within Reception we also follow a systematic approach to developing the children phonic and early reading skills by using the phonics programme Little Wandle.

Proud to part of the Bright Futures Education Trust
Acre Hall Primary School
Irlam Road, Flixton
Manchester M41 6NA
CEOP