Aims
1. The nursery will strive to develop each child's use of the English language and widen his/her knowledge and experience of various English-speaking cultures and traditions.
2. The nursery will cater for the individual needs of each child, developing his / her social, emotional, physical and intellectual skills.
1.
To
help each child to become independent by, for example,
a) Encouraging and allowing each child to dress and undress him/herself
b) Keeping his/her clothes and belongings in order.
2. To teach each child the importance of cleanliness and hygiene, together with the skills necessary for independence in this area.
3. To satisfy each child's need for rest and relaxation.
4. To provide physical stimulation and opportunity for gross motor development in a balance of both indoor and outdoor environments.
5. To promote each child's awareness of seasonal change and teach him/her to adapt to differing weather conditions.
6. To develop the older child's capability to be responsible for him/herself when outside.
7. To teach each child the appropriate skills necessary for excursions, both as a pedestrian and using public transport.
8. To stimulate each child's social awareness, feeling of responsibility for our environment, its natural and man-made attributes.
9. To give each child opportunities to experience stimulating, enjoyable activities in natural surroundings.
10. To satisfy each child's nutritional needs.
11. To encourage good food habits, table manners and considerate behaviour.
12. To promote awareness of foods from other cultures. To recognise the foods associated with festivals in English-speaking cultures.
13. To encourage active participation in food preparation and consideration of the qualities of healthy foods that provide good nourishment.
14. To promote each child's awareness of hygiene requirements when handling and preparing food.
1. To teach each child to show consideration, respect and care for peers, teachers and all nursery members.
2. To provide opportunities in which each child learns to function in co-operation with others.
3. To provide situations in which each child can establish a sense of self- respect and positive self-esteem.
4. To encourage each child to accept and understand the routines and expectations established within the nursery group.
5. To teach each child to be responsible and realise the consequences of his/her actions.
6. To provide situations that are conducive to the development of a sense of empathy in each child.
NOTE: The nursery’s anti-bullying action plan, aims to support children’s social skill development.
1. To stimulate each child's understanding and use of the English language.
2. To encourage speech development by stimulating musculature in the speech organs, auditory perception, and feedback.
3. To provide an environment which stimulates language development by providing bountiful opportunities for children to experiment with language through rhymes, songs, action rhymes, poetry, voice exercises.
4. To provide opportunities in large and small groups for children to relate stories and information.
5. To train skills of listening and responding to both an adult and peers.
6. To familiarise children with literature from English-speaking cultures.
7. To familiarise children with the phonetic alphabet, upper and lower case letters.
8. To encourage emergent literacy by providing meaningful opportunities and materials for emerging reading and writing.
1. To provide opportunities for both free and directed play.
2. To train social skills through free play, e.g. deciphering play signals, mutual agreement, taking turns, consideration, taking responsibility.
3. To provide the opportunity to develop understanding of feelings and experiences through experimentation in play.
4. To provide regular and undisturbed periods of free play which develop powers of concentration and creativity.
5. To provide guidance through active adult participation in play situations.
6. Through directed games to train social skills necessary to enable each child to follow a framework of rules and the consequences of games.
1. To make available the materials and techniques which each child can use in his/her creative activities.
2. To encourage each child to use a variety of media for their expression.
3. To enable each child to gain confidence and satisfaction in his/her ability to use creative media as satisfactory outlets for his/her creative expression.
4. To provide stimulus for each child to create, present or perform his/her own work.
5. To encourage children to experience satisfaction in the process of creation as much as in the result.
(Strive to check that goals 1 - 7 are achieved in the term prior to school transition)
1.Ensure that children can communicate with others-adults and children. Be able to express own feelings, opinions and thoughts. Wait for his/her turn in a group-talk one at a time. Give and take information. Listen to each other. Take part in a discussion. Play with language-rhymes, poems, word games. Listen to stories and follow up with drama, discussions etc. Enjoy self -selected activities and sustain these to their chosen conclusion.
2. To provide opportunities for children to develop confidence in a larger group of peers from other schools, and be able to respond appropriately to instruction from other teachers.
3. To have experience of sorting and classification. Be familiar with materials for construction and develop building skills.
4. To use paints, clay, various creative materials, song, music, and dance as media for self expression.
5. To participate in group games/activities, attempt to sort out conflict situations, identify problems, search for solutions, put these into practice.
6. To identify the whole nature of a project or task and follow this through to completion.
7. To acquaint children with the school environment, leisure centre staff, school caretaker, school nurse.
The nursery curriculum is developed through a series of themes that aim
1. To form a cohesive, stimulating centre of interest for development of social, emotional, intellectual and physical skills.
2. To provide a stimulating network into which basic skills may be integrated.
3. To stimulate parental co-operation in the planning and evaluation of activities within the nursery
4. To provide future resource material for activities within the nursery through documentation and evaluation.
1.
To set an example, by following as environmentally firendly a
life-style as possible within the nursery. To purchase KRAV /
environmentall products whenever available.
2.
Requests
suppliers (lunch, cleaners), to choose environmentally friendly
products if available.
3.
Collect and recycle waste materials.
4. Save energy / resources (water, electricity).
5. To explore the concept of recycling and saving resources in practical ways, with children.
6. To give all children the opportunity to participate in looking after the nursery environment and develop a sense of responsibility for this co-operative activity.
Regular Activities
1. To encourage all parents to join in activities each afternoon as they collect their child/ren.
2. To strive towards each child being secure and comfortable with all parent members in the co-operative (a prerequisite for parents to act as substitutes in a teacher's absence).
3. All parents are required to spend time (full or half, contact days) together with their child/ren in the nursery each term.
4. To ensure all parents are conversant with nursery routines, teaching methods, and philosophy.
5. To ensure daily, verbal contact between parents and staff.
6. To provide a scheduled time for parent meetings, at least once per term.
7. To encourage parents to be well-informed of daily activities, current theme work, and evaluation by providing ready access to daily planning file, weekly schedule, co-operative theme work files, and their own child/ren's file/s.
8. To encourage parent participation through contributions to documentation.
Substitution
9. To require a parent substitute (14.30-16.30) on specified days to allow all staff to participate in staff meetings.
10. To require a parent substitute when necessary in cases of staff illness.
11. To request a parent substitute when necessary to facilitate staff participation in further education and network meetings.
12. To encourage parent participation on excursions outside the nursery.
13. To encourage visits with parents in their places of work.
14. To require a parent to co-ordinate substitution needs.
Extracurricular Activities
15. To provide regular social gatherings for parents, children, and staff.
Responsibilities
16. To require a parent - volunteer to be responsible for organising substitution.
17. To require a parent - volunteer to be responsible for repairs and regular maintenance of nursery premises and equipment.
18. To require parents to form the administrative and economic body of the nursery.
19. To require a parent - volunteer to co-ordinate admissions and to distribute nursery information.
20. To require a parent - volunteer to be responsible for fund raising activities, together with a member of staff.
Further Education
1. To make information about current lectures, courses etc. readily available to staff.
2. To provide financing (full or partial) and the opportunity, for participation in further education during working hours.
3. To provide time at staff conferences for course information to be shared with colleagues.
4. To support an interest in pedagogical developments world-wide by providing access to international educational journals and Internet.
5. To provide opportunities every two years for the full staff group to jointly renew their knowledge and practical experience in,
a) Health and Child safety b) Fire Safety
Personal development
1. To provide the opportunity for each member of staff to be responsible for all activities, throughout the nursery curriculum.
2. To provide regular opportunities for staff to plan and lead discussions or workshops with colleagues at staff conferences.
3. To provide personal development forms and encourage all staff to use these individually and with colleagues.
4. To provide development discussions each term, for staff with both Head teacher and Board members.
5. To enable each member of staff to hold responsibility for co-ordination of development planning for a group of 4-7 children.
6. To provide opportunities for staff to develop their own interests with groups of children within the curriculum (e.g. skating, nature exploration, creative art).
Documentation /Planning /
Evaluation
Nursery Activities
1. To document and regularly evaluate all nursery activities. Use the recorded documentation and evaluation as a basis for future planning.
2. To make readily available for staff, parents and interested parties documentation of planning and evaluation.
3. To make readily available for staff the weekly planning. Provide scheduled time for each member to contribute to the planning.
4. To review evaluation and apply the findings to long term planning on each of the six annual planning days.
5. To use evaluation, and written observations, as tools by which the suitability of existing methods, activities and policies can be judged.
Children
6. To maintain ongoing files for each child currently present in the nursery. To review each child's progress through discussions which take place at staff meetings, on planning days and in development discussions with parents. To document this review in each child's file. To encourage parents to contribute to this documentation.
Staff
7. To provide resources and possibilities for determining job satisfaction through teacher self-evaluation.
8. To conduct development discussions between each member of staff and the head teacher once per term-or more if requested by either party.
9. To conduct development discussions between each member of staff, the chairperson of the board and the parent holding position of personnel manager once per term-or more if requested by any party.
Revised and approved by staff and Board November 2009