Nursery

Welcome to Lakey Lane Nursery

 The Nursery curriculum is broken down into seven main areas which are explained in more detail below.

 Personal, Social and Emotional Development

This is one of the most important areas of learning in our Nursery. The children are taught the life skills such as;  making relationships with their peers and adults, becoming self-confident individuals, becoming aware of their own feelings, knowing how to manage those feelings and how to adapt their own behaviour.

We also focus on self-care within this strand. We encourage children to be independent when going to the toilet and washing their hands. We also help children to dress independently - including putting on their coat - and to be able to use objects and equipment safely. At Lakey Lane we strongly encourage that children develop their independence early on and we are always happy to work alongside parents to facilitate this through support and advice. 

At Lakey Lane PSED is a key strand, particularly during the Autumn Term where we work hard to make the children feel SAFE SECURE and SUCCESSFUL!

Communication and Language

Another key area which is continually modelled by staff. Here children will develop the skills they need to become proficient listeners and speakers who can maintain their own concentration when they are listening, who can understand what is being said to them and can use speech to communicate their needs, wants and interests.

At Lakey Lane, we offer a very language rich environment and curriculum, using schemes such Well Comm to support children who need additional help with communication.

The children will learn some simple sign language, to further break down barriers in speech and communication. We also send home 'Talk Homework' to raise the profile of talk both at home and at school. 

Physical Development

This area has two parts. The first is Gross Motor Skills – this is where we teach the children how to use their bodies to make large movements such as climbing play equipment or kicking a ball. We aim to develop their upper body strength, which in turn helps with finer movements such as cutting and writing. 

The second part of this area is focused on Fine Motor skills. This is where we teach children how to use smaller movements, including using a pincer grip, in order to develop control when writing and drawing.

Through Physical Development we can develop other key skills such as perseverance, co-ordination and spatial awareness. 

Literacy

We initially teach a range of pre-reading and writing skills such as mark making, listening to stories, handling books carefully and enjoying rhyming activities. For those children who are ready we introduce initial sounds through songs and rhyming games.

As a school we follow The Little Wandle phonics approach. We support this scheme by 

exposing the children to the mnemonics they will encounter when they start their formal phonics lessons in Reception. In Nursery we use Letter & Sounds: Phase 1 activities, which includes skills such as listening to sounds around us, using our voice to make different sounds, exploring rhyming words, breaking down words into smaller parts (syllables) and beginning to hear initial sounds in words.

 Stories and Rhymes play a huge part in fostering a love of reading. We read to the children everyday and teach them familiar songs and rhymes. Later in the year we set up a story lending library, where the children can borrow a story book each week to read at home.

Mathematics

Here we teach the children about numbers, shapes and measures. We teach in an interactive and exciting way which often involves practical activities. At Lakey Lane we believe in the Number Sense approach which concentrates on UNDERSTANDING numbers rather than just learning by rote. We also teach in a very cross-curricular way, incorporating the children's own interests. This may involve measuring out ingredients to make bread for the Little Red Hen or finding the right shape box to make a Batmobile!

Understanding the World

This area is split into three main ideas; learning about people, culture and communities, the natural world and past & present. They are all integrated into our daily learning throughout the year and often support our topic work. For example during our topic on The Little Red Hen, we look at growth & change - talking about how plants grow and investigating where our food comes from. We also enjoy talking about celebrations and special days such as Christmas, Eid, Diwali and birthdays, sharing experiences from home.

 Expressive Arts and Design

In this area the children will have lots of opportunities to be creative and use their imaginations to create songs, dances, pictures, construction models and role play.

At Lakey Lane we encourage the children to be creative when learning and playing. Although it CAN get a little messy, it's also lots of fun and encourages talk and collaboration with others.

Click Here for a copy of the Nursery Long Term plan.

This gives a clear picture of our curriculum goals and intentions, as well as giving more information on what themes/topics we explore across the year.

You will see what we aim to cover in Maths, Phonics and Communication & Language, as well as what we will be learning in the Prime areas each term.

 Useful Links 

Click on the link below to access to lots of nursery rhymes we sing in school.
https://f48510d9-6937-415b-bdb2-25eaa3388556.filesusr.com/ugd/603045_1153fa331bc4434481dd77a7380cb844.pdf

Watch this video for a super trick for putting on a coat click here

Advice on sleep routines click here

Advice on toilet training click here

General Advice on starting school can be found on the BBC Bitesize School Site click here