Our Curriculum
Westbrook Little People Curriculum 2024/2025
Our curriculum is designed to be accessible for all children, regardless of special educational needs or disabilities. We are ambitious for every child.
· To be offered a wide range of opportunities that spark awe and wonder.
(UW, CL, PSED, L, PD, M. EAD)
VOCABULARY: What, Why, How, If, Imagine, Think.
Awe and wonder are powerful feelings that leave a mark. We seek to develop natural curiosity, creativity, and the ability to make connections. Examples: Special visitors, science experiments, watching tadpoles turn into frogs, looking for rainbows, tasting food from other cultures, planting seeds and watching them grow, discovering patterns and shapes in nature, weights – will something sink or float, roman numerals, Bollywood music, classical music and more. We observe our children at play and plan activities that follow their interests and introduce them to new ideas and concepts. We regularly spark conversations with age-appropriate questions “What would happen if…?”, “What might happen next...?”, “What else could we do…”, “How could you achieve this differently?...”
First Aspiration:
Children demonstrate the first spark of interest in why things are happening and how.
Children start to show care about living things and new items/experiences.
Children want to become actively involved in looking/touching/watching something that sparks awe and wonder.
Second Aspiration:
Children will be able to become immersed in awe and wonder activities.
Children start to offer their own answers, thoughts, and questions about how or why things are happening.
Children begin to notice this learning in the real world (e.g. There is a rainbow its sunny and rainy at the same time).
Children confidently talk about what they have seen or learnt.
· To be independent in self-care such as dressing, undressing and toileting.
(PSED, PD)
VOCABULARY: Put on, Take off, Right, Left.
Empowering children to be independent has many benefits, the core of which is that it builds confidence and self-esteem. We ask all children to first ‘have a go’ with something small like putting an arm through the sleeve of their coat. We find their discovery of doing things for themselves soon has a ripple effect and encourages them to try to do more for themselves. We offer self-service at snack times, their own peg for coats and bags, a hygiene station for nose wiping and teeth cleaning, and a hand washing station. Children are encouraged to use the potty when ready and then move on to the toilet. An adult is always standing by ready to support and encourage. We work with parents/carers to help underpin children’s learning at home.
First Aspiration:
Children can identify their own belongings. With support from a parent or teacher, they can attempt to take off their own items and hang on a peg.
Children can identify that they need the toilet.
Second Aspiration:
Children are able to take their own coats off and attempt to use zips or buttons to fasten.
Children can hang their items on a peg.
Children can take off and put on shoes/boots requiring help with tricky fastenings such as laces.
Children can identify they need the toilet, a tissue, to wash their hands, and communicate this to a teacher.
· To recognize and label how they are feeling and to communicate their needs.
(PSED, CL, UW)
VOCABULARY: Happy, Sad, Calm, Loved, Angry, Scared.
Recognising, understanding, and labeling emotions can have a positive impact on children’s mental health, behaviour, and academic success. We provide numerous resources to underpin this part of our curriculum with the cohesive use of ‘The Colour Monster’ books, cuddly toys, cards and feeling boards. This is upheld and supported by our teaching staff who work closely with all children and their families to ensure their emotional wellbeing.
First Aspiration:
Children start to separate from their parent/carer at the start of the session and become involved in play.
Children form strong relationships with their key person.
Children start to understand emotions using our ‘Colour Monster’.
Second Aspiration:
Children separate confidently and immerse themselves in play.
Children form bonds with teaching staff and can confidently communicate their needs.
Children recognize their emotions and know how to access tools or adult support when necessary.
· To be able to listen, share, and take turns.
(PSED, UW)
VOCABULARY: My Turn, Your Turn, Stop, Wait, Go, Share.
Listening, sharing, and turn taking are vital life skills teaching children about fairness and compromise as well as how to negotiate with others and manage disappointment. Turn taking is built into nearly all our activities at Westbrook Little People whether it is waiting for a preferred colouring pencil or to have a turn on the slide. We also regularly play board games in small groups to embed waiting and the sharing of resources. Staff acknowledge to the children that waiting and sharing can be difficult but that the reward is we get to play with our friends.
First Aspiration:
Beginning to understand the terms sharing and turn taking.
Children begin to progress from parallel play to cooperative play.
Children becoming interested in games involved turn-taking (e.g. dominoes, board games)
Second Aspiration:
Children actively starting to listen, share and take turns.
Children offering to share toys or encouraging friends to listen and/or take turns.
Children can explain what sharing is and why we need to do this.
· To be able to hold and use mark making tools with control.
(PD, EAD)
VOCABULARLY: Pen, Paper, Draw, Paint, Colour, Try, Hold.
Mark making supports children with communicating their ideas, expressing their feelings, developing their imagination, and testing their hypotheses about the world. It also promotes fine and gross motor skills, different grips and control over their bodies. Children have access to art, crafts, and mark making materials every day both individually and in group activities such as large pieces of wallpaper to collectively adorn with their imaginations. We support the use of scissors, paint, crayons, glitter, junk modelling and much more. Children are supported according to their age/ability, with some learning how to hold a pencil and others writing full sentences.
First Aspiration:
Children become interested in mark making opportunities.
Children begin to grasp mark making tools.
Children develop upper arm and shoulder strength.
Second Aspiration:
Children make smaller and more controlled movements, including holding tools in a tripod grip.
Distinguishing between the marks they make (e.g. that is me, that is mummy)
Becoming interested in their name, starting to copy shapes or letters.
· To listen to and retell a story, understanding how a book works.
(CL, UW, L)
VOCABULARY: Book, Story, Author, Cover, Title, Pages.
Listening to stories and rhymes introduces children to words they would not often hear in everyday speech and gives them an introduction to sentence structure. We provide a wide range of reading experiences to our children and encourage a love of reading, curiosity and wonder of the world around them. We remind children that books can be delicate and that we must look after them and place them back in the bookshelf afterwards. We read to children daily, and children will often select the stories they wish to hear. We also use story bags for a more interactive experience. Sometimes the children mirror us and replicate their own story time independently where one child is the ‘teacher’ and the others listen. We offer books to take and share at home and use books to help children recognize differences and similarities between other cultures or needs and abilities.
First aspiration:
Children access books freely and independently.
Adults share a range of literature at every opportunity and demonstrate holding and page turning a book.
Sitting momentarily to listen to a short story or poem.
Second Aspiration:
With teacher support, children begin to understand that a story has characters, pages, pictures, and words.
Children listen with increasing attention.
Children can interact with the reader and suggest what might happen next.
Children begin to make links and connections between their own experiences and what happens in the book.
· Having the social skills and confidence to play alongside or with other children.
(PSED, CL, UW)
VOCABULARY: Together, Friend, Fun, Play, Share.
Through play, children learn how to navigate the world in a way they can understand and process. We support independent play, as well as parallel and cooperative play when a child is ready. We provide opportunities for all types of play in our setting including small group time, together time, outings as a setting, and role play areas where children can play together in imaginative games and scenarios. We role model behaviour and praise effort. We note how well children solve problems, have ideas, and negotiate with their peers, and intervene when necessary to help foster a healthy playing environment.
First Aspiration:
Children will settle into preschool and utilize all areas of the setting.
Children begin to be comfortable with children playing alongside them.
Children are encouraged to sit together for small periods of time in the day (Together time, lunch, circle time).
Second Aspiration:
Children begin to make connections with peers and share an activity or area together.
Children begin associate play and start to build confidence.
Children begin cooperative play (usually aged 4+).
All stages supported and encouraged by teaching staff.
