Home Staff Calendar What's New Curriculum Special Events Before School Contact Us Curriculum At Steeple Nursery the emphasis is on learning through play in an environment planned to encourage discovery, independence and social interaction. Children are encouraged to help themselves, take initiative and become increasingly independent in order to develop self-esteem and social competence. It is important that children develop a sense of trust and are comfortable in their environment. A parent or consistent caregiver is asked to stay with the child until teaching staff indicate that a separation is appropriate and can be comfortably accomplished. We always keep in mind that all children come to school with individual needs, which must be recognised and met. The early years must be seen as a vitally important stage in the child's life and as a foundation for building life skills, not merely as a stepping stone to more formal education. Recently some of our staff have been trained in the HIGH/SCOPE curriculum, and we embrace the High/Scope philosophy as it dove tails well with our existing practice. High/Scope is an approach to early learning derived from developmental principles. Firmly rooted in practice, it has been researched, developed and shaped by new knowledge and understanding since 1962. High/Scope provides optimum opportunities for learning in meaningful situations. There is a strong emphasis on how children learn and the style of adult child interactions which support the development of self-esteem, respect for others, reasoning and language skills. The High/Scope approach helps the adults to focus on sound developmental principles and encourages them to identify and build on children's strengths, interests and achievements. Through daily observations, planning and evaluation sessions, adults provide a balance between child initiated and adult initiated activities which are appropriate for young children and generate strategies to challenge children's emerging abilities to encourage children to develop their own interests, talents and goals. The curriculum in our setting has been thoughtfully planned, facilitating children's choices and opportunities to manipulate materials - ACTIVE LEARNING. Our curriculum encourages children's ability to:- Take initiative Develop self-discipline Work with other children Express themselves Develop creativity and spirit of inquiry Become self motivated Take responsibility for actions Problem solve Our Nursery School offers the children a variety of choices provided with a carefully prepared indoor and outdoor environment. Some of the activities provided for the children include:- Creative arts / music Dramatic play Sand and water play Stories, rhymes and books building and gardening computers running and climbing variety of large and small motor activities In our setting we really value our natural environment and aim to give children daily opportunities to experience this. We hope to develop the child's natural curiosity and help them to become independent learners, by providing the children with many opportunities to learn by doing and acquiring new knowledge and life long skills. This learning is supported by the expertise of the qualified teachers and nursery assistants, who are sensitive to the needs of each individual child in our setting and have the expertise to extend the child's concepts and language by appropriate interaction.