Nursery School

Nursery School

Nursery School

Green Hills Academy Nursery offers quality care and education in a happy interactive environment that supports relationships among children, parents, and educators. Together we question, investigate, negotiate, and learn.

We follow the UK’s Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum which sets the standards for learning, development and care for children from birth to 60 months +. The Early Learning Goals at the end of the curriculum overlap with expectations in N3. In N3 we begin to use the Cambridge International Curriculum together with the French Curriculum for 50/50 classes. However, our approach to teaching and learning remains the same.

The Early Years Foundation curriculum includes seven areas of learning and guidance for supporting children from birth through various stages of maturity and development. We use the areas of learning in our planning, assessments and communications with parents rather than subject names.

Prime Areas

There are three prime areas which underpin children’s learning.

  • Communication and language
  • Physical development
  • Personal, social and emotional development

As children grow they will be supported to develop skills in four specific areas.

  • Literacy
  • Mathematics
  • Understanding the world
  • Expressive arts and design

Our Approach to Teaching and Learning

Children’s interests and projects
We base our curriculum on how children learn and develop projects based on their interests and motivations. This approach helps teachers to foster children’s characteristics of effective learning:
  • Playing and exploring
  • Active learning
  • Thinking critically
Play
Both in English and 50/50 classes, we will offer opportunities for both pure play and playful learning experiences. Through play:
  • Children explore ideas, feelings and relationships
  • They take risks, make mistakes and try things without fear of failure
  • They can push out the limits of what is possible and help children to be creative, flexible and imaginative for sustained periods
Literacy
Literacy development involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. We have a progressive guide for teaching phonics and reading as well as a wide range of reading materials to ignite children’s interests.
ClassPhonics focus
Toddler center and Nursery 1
  • Awareness of different sounds
  • Recognising letters in their name
Nursery 2
  • Recognising phonemes (letter sounds) and beginning to form graphemes (letters)
  • Reading some keywords
Nursery 3
  • More complex sounds and letters
  • Reading and writing more keywords
Literacy and Mathematics in the 50 / 50 classes will be taught in French for a secure foundation and to develop skills transferable to English.

Useful documents:
Early Years Foundation Stage, GHA Nursery: A Guide for Parents

Positive Behaviour Policy

We take a positive approach to managing and encouraging positive behaviours. We also encourage and assist children to be able to resolve conflicts that might occur among them following a six step process:

  • Approach the situation calmly
  • Acknowledge children’s feelings
  • Gather information- What is the problem?
  • Restate the problem
  • Ask for solutions and choose one together
  • Be prepared to give follow up support