Your Childs Personal Record of Learning and Development

At Lavender Pre-School the ‘Learning Journey’ is the name we give to each child’s individual portfolio. It is a collection of observations, photographs, and examples of the children’s work such as drawings, painting and writing and includes contributions from your child, all staff here and very importantly you! This collection is built up over your child’s time at Lavender Pre-school and helps us to develop a picture of the whole child. We use the information in the Learning Journey to help us plan activities and experiences to meet the interests and learning and development needs for each child and to provide summary reports to you about your child’s progress each term.

The Learning Journey is mainly kept here at school but belongs to your child and you. It is always available for your child to access each time they attend. This helps them to be able to look back and reflect on the progress they have made and celebrate all their wonderful achievements.

Each term we hold an open morning where you can read through the Learning Journey with your child and their key person. In addition we encourage you to take the Learning Journey home regularly to share and celebrate with your child and other family members. To support your child’s progress it is vitally important that we are able to liaise with any other professionals who have contact with your child such as childminder or health visitor.

2 Year Progress Check
If your child attends our setting after they turn 2 and before their 3rd birthday then we will give you a written summary of how they are progressing in the 3 prime areas (Communication and Language, Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development). This will usually happen after they have settled and during their first term with us. More information can be found in the Parent’s Guide to the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework.

Parents Story
We recognise that parents/carers are their child’s first and most important educators. That is why your input into the Learning Journey portfolio is so important. In order to develop consistency of care and education for each child we would love you to add to your child’s folder by regularly completing a ‘parent’s story’ sheet. These can include any information that you feel will help us support and plan for your child. They can include photographs, comments, or an example of something your child has achieved at home such as a drawing. We would love to know about anything that is relevant or important to your child. Some examples could include: helping at home with the washing up, tidying or cooking, a trip to the park, a bus or train journey or a special outing you’ve been on, swimming, music or dance lessons, trying out a new toy or puzzle, completing a jigsaw, a trip to the library or any other activity your child has been involved in. As you can see, it’s what’s important to you and your child that matters.

At times you may just wish to add a quick comment on something your child has talked about or enjoyed doing at pre-school or home. These could be included on a sticky label like the observations we make at pre-school. A supply of ‘parent’s story’ sheets and labels are available permanently in our lobby area.

Childs’ Voice
Your child will be encouraged to use the Learning Journey as part of the everyday routines of pre-school. They will be supported to select any examples of their work that they would like to keep in their Learning Journey. They may also take photos of any models they’ve made or areas of school that are important to them. Their voice will also be evident through the observations and photographs made by us here at school and the contributions you make through the ‘Parents Story’.

Observations
We make regular observations of each child. Some are spontaneous to catch ‘WOW’ moments in a child’s learning and development and will be recorded on a sticky label. Some may be more detailed and focused. All observations are recorded in your child’s Learning Journey and are linked to the seven areas of learning in our curriculum-The Early Years Foundation Stage. All of our observations, along with ’Parents Stories’ and your ‘Childs Voice’ are used to help us plan for the possible next steps in your child’s future learning and development. Possible next steps in learning will also be discussed with you and your child at each termly open morning and they will be sent home with suggestions on how you can support the next steps at home.

Supporting Transitions
The London Borough of Sutton requests that with your permission the Learning Journeys folders are passed to your child’s new school or nursery setting when they leave us, to help your child to settle and continue their learning journey in their new setting. A transition day is organised attended by early years staff from all schools in the borough to pass the folders over to your child’s new school and discuss each child’s progress. At the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage (reception class in primary school) the learning journey folders will be returned to you and your child to treasure as a reminder of your child’s early years.

How we support your child’s learning and development in the seven areas of learning

The Early Years Foundation Stage is split into 7 areas of learning, when your child starts with us at Lavender pre-school at the age of 2 ½ they will be working within the 3 prime areas:

• Communication and Language

• Physical Development

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Your child needs to consolidate their skills in these 3 areas before they are able to go on to develop their skills in the 4 specific areas of learning which are:

• Literacy

• Mathematics

• Understanding The World

• Expressive Arts and Design

A large majority of teaching and learning at Lavender is achieved through purposeful play and daily routines which are individually tailored to your child through their key person.

What experiences will your child engage in to support their learning in the 3 prime areas?

Communication and Language – This area of learning and development is about how your child:

• Listens and pays attention

• Understands what is being said

• Communicates with others

• Develops vocabulary and speech

Activities to support this area of learning include:

Participating in 3-a-day story time, listening to individual stories in the book corner, joining in rhymes and singing, going on a listening walk in the garden, responding to familiar sounds such as the music for story time and tidy up time, banging the drum or tambourine to come inside from the garden, recognising the fire alarm, hearing and using lots of language in a language rich environment, building positive relationships with adults and other children.

Physical Development – this area of learning and development is about how your child:

• Moves and uses gross motor skills

• Develops fine motor skills

• Learns about healthy living

• Manages self care independently

Activities to support this area of learning include:

Engaging in outdoor physical activities such as climbing, kicking and catching balls, rolling hoops, bikes and push along toys, waving scarves and ribbons, walking, running, skipping, hopping, balancing, threading, peg boards, pegging on washing line, buttering bread, cutting fruit, hammering, puzzles, using mark equipment, squeezing, patting, rolling play dough, dressing, undressing, using the toilet and washing hands independently, pouring from a jug and drinking from an open cup, using tissues, learning to be healthy such as knowing when to take a drink, why they wear a sun hat and learning about healthy eating.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development – this area of learning and development is about how your child:

• Is confident and self-assured

• Manages their feelings and behaviour

• Makes friends

• Shares and takes turns

Activities to support this area of learning include:

Engaging in role play alongside other children, following daily routines such as story time, snack time, tidy up time, turn taking in games and conversation with other children and staff, working together in groups, talking about and being able to describe emotions, playing co-operative games e.g. parachute games, ring games “what’s the time Mr Wolf?”, using the choosing book to add resources to their own play, making choices and being independent at snack time, learning how to use equipment and being trusted to use them independently e.g. pencil sharpener, scissors, dust pan and brush, broom, hose pipe and being encouraged to carry out small tasks such as sharing fruit around at snack time, setting up lunch tables, sweeping up any mess, show care and concern for all living things e.g. mini beasts in the garden, vegetable patch and digging in appropriate areas, learning why certain behaviours are unacceptable and being supported to think of a more appropriate way to behave.

Once they have consolidated their skills in the 3 prime areas we begin to interlink the 4 specific areas of learning.

What experiences will your child engage in to support their learning in the 4 specific areas?

Literacy – this area of learning and development is about how your child:

• Enjoys reading books

• Likes making marks

• Learns to write

• Starts to explore phonics and letter sounds

Activities to support this area of learning include:

Retelling familiar stories through their play, engaging in 3-a-day story time and reading books together in small groups and 1:1 with adults, engaging in Jolly Phonics rhyme sessions, recognising their own names on trays and name cards, supporting children to make marks within their role-play, e.g. making shopping lists, encouraging children to write their own name on models and art work.

Mathematics – this area of learning & development is about how your child:

• Will develop and improve their skills in counting

• Understands and uses numbers

• Is curious about number problems

• Begins to describe shapes, spaces and measure

Activities to support this area of learning include:

Counting rhymes such as 5 current buns / 5 little ducks, using props and laminates, playing games such as hopscotch or skittles, sorting and matching games, engaging in water play such as filling jugs or containers, pouring, weighing, measuring and comparing using mathematical language such as big/small, more/less to describe outcomes, making arrangements with objects such as wooden blocks, Duplo or junk modelling, recognising shapes in the environment, shape sorters and puzzles.

Understanding The World – this area of learning & development is about how your child:

• Finds out about nature and the world around them

• Talks about people and their local community and learns about similarities and differences

• Learns to confidently use technological toys and resources e.g. friction cars, remote control toys, desk top pencil sharpener, ball pump, children’s laptops and cameras.

Activities to support this area of learning include:

Digging, composting, bug hunts, celebrating different festivals and cultures, visits from local services such as Police, parents coming in to pre-school to share their special skills and talents such dance teacher, role playing such as using tills for shopping, small world toys such as farms/trains, using resources to investigate, explore and experiment to discover why things happen and how things work, encouraging children to think and to be able to offer ideas and explanations.

Expressive Arts & Design – this area of learning and development is about how your child:

• Enjoys being creative, using a wide range of media and materials

• Sings, dances and makes music

• Plays imaginatively

• Explores colour and texture

Activities to support this area of learning include:

Art and craft activities, exploring messy play such as shaving foam, gloop etc, colour mixing activities, junk modelling, exploring musical instruments, listening to sounds, songs and rhymes, learning about music and dance from different cultures around the world.

s to support this area of learning include:

Art and craft activities, exploring messy play such as shaving foam, gloop etc, colour mixing activities, junk modelling, exploring musical instruments, listening to sounds, songs and rhymes, learning about music and dance from different cultures around the world.

When will my child learn to write?

This is a question that we are always asked by parents.  The answer will vary from child to child, below we will explain the reasons why.

According the EYFS curriculum, by the end of their reception year (age 5) in school, children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds, they also write some irregular common words.  They will write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others.  Some words are spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible.

To be able to achieve this goal, they have to build up their fine motor skills to be able to control writing equipment efficiently.

Children start at our pre-school from the age of 2½ and this is often their first experience of using mark making equipment such as chalks, crayons, paintbrushes, pencils, pens and glue sticks.

At this stage they often use a fist grip to hold the implements and need lots of practice.  We build up their fine motor skills with activities such as threading, squeezing and patting play dough, hammering, exploring messy play, pegging, buttering bread, cutting fruit, doing jigsaws and making marks with fingers in shaving foam / fine sand.

All of the above are important pre-writing skills that they need to practise and consolidate before they can move on to the next stage.

As they become more confident in the activities above their skill and control over mark making equipment develops and they start to hold their pen/pencil in a more effective way.  Their emergent writing begins to become clearer and more recognisable e.g. lines of scribbles going across the page representing a written word or sentence.

As their phonic knowledge of sounds and letters develops you will gradually start to see some recognisable letters emerging in their writing.

Children begin by recognising letters that are familiar to them such as letters in their name.

So the answer to the question “when will my child learn to write?” is:

From the moment they enter pre-school they are participating in pre-writing skills activities.

There is a wide gap in abilities in schools, for example one child may have just turned four whereas his classmate is about to turn five and yet they are in the same year.

Your child will be ready in their own time, all children develop at their own pace.

Our aim is to develop your child’s overall “Readiness for school”.

So what does “School readiness” mean?

Between the ages of four and five, children should be;

• prepared to be separated from their parent or main carer.

• able to clearly demonstrate their ability to listen and follow age appropriate instructionsable to show an interest in a variety of subjects, paying attention to the subject or activity they are taking part in.

• have enough of a range of vocabulary and language to express their needs, feelings, thoughts or ideas.

• able to identify themselves by name, age, state factors in their life, name family members etc…

• able to interact in an age appropriate way with another child or adult.

• able to interact, share and play, taking responsibility for their actions, understanding repercussions for their actions.

• able to focus on and also show interest in the work they are undertaking.

• able to observe, notice, discuss and ask questions about their environment and experiences.

• able to engage with books, have some understanding of words and language.

• able to respond to boundary setting.

• able to vocalise their needs such as toileting, thirst, hunger illness etc…

As you can see there are many important aspects for them to learn and consolidate in order to be ready for the next stage of their education, the rest will come in time.

Our Story Time Session

Our Story Time plays an important role for the children building a love of books. At our story time sessions, we split the children into two groups choosing age and stage appropriate books which we continue to read for the week, enabling the children to become familiar with and join in with the repetitive refrains and rhyming phrases. We choose our story time books very carefully and they may differ from other books that we may read generally with the children.

Towards the end of the session we play the Story Time Music which signals to the children it is time to make their way to their story time group and sit on the carpet. Staff sit amongst the children to support them and help them retain focus and concentration also role modelling joining in with the repetitive refrains. The member of staff reading the story sits on the Magic Story Telling Chair and puts on the Magic Story Tellers Cloak these are visuals to gain the children’s interest and focus, we may also use props to support the story and keep their concentration. As we read the stories we start with the title and the name of the author. The Magic Story Tellers cloak, chair and the books are left in the book areas to allow the children to play the role of the Storyteller, pick up the props and re tell the stories themselves.

After the stories we sing the rhymes for two Jolly Phonic sounds (the books and jolly phonic sounds for each week are on the outside notice board, the notice board in the reception and on the website). Phonics is a system that helps us understand how words are formed. For children to be able to read they need to understand the connection between letters and sounds, at pre-school we start to learn the first phase of this which is letter sounds and letter formation.

After this we “show and tell” anything in the Special Box, look at where Lavender Bear has been and see who he is going to visit next and sing the Lavender Bear song ( printed on the notice board in our lobby alongside staff photo’s). These both promote the children’s confidence and self-esteem and helps them to bond as a group.

We then finish the session with songs and rhymes and the Lavender Good-Bye song as parents and carer’s start to arrive to pick up the children.

We have compiled a booklist of the books that we read  which is available for parents in the lobby to take so they can talk to their child about what they are reading and consolidate their learning by visiting the library if they wish and finding the books the children have enjoyed and share them at home.

For children to be successful independent learners they have to build emergent literacy skills.

Skills such as knowing that:

• Books are read from front to back
• That pictures should be the right way up
• Reading is done from left to right
• The language from books is different from spoken language
• Words have different sounds in them
• There are familiar and unfamiliar words
• Stories have a beginning a middle and an ending.

The benefits of enjoying books for children is extensive. Storytelling inspires the imagination, encourages thought processes and develops communication, empathy and compassion. During the story time the children listen to an adult read to them in a group and even the youngest children learn from watching other children get engaged in a story. The children are exposed to a wide range of stories written and illustrated by a variety of authors with different writing styles. The children also learn essential school readiness skills ( age and stage appropriate to each story time group)  such as how to sit still for an extended period of time, how to pay attention to an adult other than their parents, how to take turns, how to be quiet at appropriate times and how to join in at other times.

Listening to stories will:

• Help to develop a child’s imagination
• Help a child to discover new ideas
• Help nurture a child’s listening abilities
• Help children comprehend the world around them
• Expose children to a wider vocabulary
• Introduce and reinforce concepts such as colours, shapes, letter’s etc.
• Encourage a love of reading
• Introduce authors and illustrators to children and their families in a fun way.
• Increase children’s willingness to communicate thoughts and feelings
• Encourage active participation.

Free Flow at Lavender Preschool

At Lavender Preschool we have a Free-Flow system in place, where the children can embrace the outdoor or indoor environment for most of each day. The door to the garden is open for most of the day for free flow which allows the children to independently choose to move between the different Indoor/Outdoor areas. It offers children many learning and development opportunities and it enables us to provide a richer learning environment. When at pre-school the children will be using the outside environment each session as it is so beneficial to them, we will not keep any child indoors due to the weather conditions if we have the outdoors environment open and available.

Ways in Which Free-Flow Can Benefit Children’s Development

• Greater Independence – making independent choices
• Progress at Own Pace – caters to all learning styles and preferences
• Decision Making Skills – helps practice dealing with the consequences of choice
• Physical Well-Being – developing large scale physical skills
• Learning about Different Environments & Surroundings – Indoors and Outdoors

So, it is very important the children are appropriately dressed for each season with;

A Warm Play Coat – not their best coat as it will get paint / water / mud and grass all over it. (please name)

Wellington Boots – to be left at preschool. The children will be outside in WET conditions, so canvas shoes, pretty boots and shoes, trainers will get muddy and wet (please name)

Hats and Gloves – when needed. No scarves due to choking hazards. Please provide a snood if you think a scarf is necessary. (please name)

Spare Clothes – to be kept in their bags, (please name) for times when their clothes get wet or soiled. We have a very limited stock of underwear and socks as they often do not get returned to us.

There will be times when they will be outside in the rain. We will provide them with a plastic rain cape to put on over their coats.

Sun Hat – named and preferably with protection for their neck.

Sun Cream – already applied on arrival and a named bottle left for the session if they need more applied or stay all day.

Snack Time

Snack time provides an opportunity for each child to develop their conversation skills, good manners, and nutrition awareness. Staff sit at the table with the children during Snack time to facilitate positive conversations.  It is important to make snack time an enjoyable and positive experience.

Snack time is as much a social learning time for the children as it is a nutritional break.

As a society, we are becoming more aware of the benefits of healthy eating habits, and so it makes sense that we share this with our children. Instilling the idea of good nutrition at an early age can influence a lifetime of food choices and balance.

Snack time is an excellent time to let children learn to do things independently. Our snack time routine begins with the children going to the bathroom to wash their hands.  Those that can manage it, do so independently, although staff are on hand to help those who need support.

The children then come to the snack area and practice their name recognition by finding their name card on the board before sitting down at the table.

The snack table is a small area which seats 6 children at a time in order to keep it as an intimate time allowing the children the chance to practice their skills, socialise and have their snack.

The adult serving the snack welcomes the children to the table and asks them if they would like “milk or water?” using verbal communication alongside sign along.  The children are then encouraged to sign their choice back e.g. “water please”. Using sign along allows every child the chance to participate and make choices even if they have little or no speech or have English as an additional language.

The children go on to practice more self-help skills such as choosing the fruit they would like, passing the snacks around to each other, cutting or peeling their own piece of fruit, buttering crackers or bread and pouring their own drinks.

By sharing, helping each other and taking turns, especially when new to the group, the children will learn and improve their social skills. Through preparing/cutting their own snack, washing their hands and clearing up after themselves the children will become increasingly independent.

The social and independence skills the children learn will ease their transition to school.

Parents sign up to bring in a snack donation each week and this gets the children excited about what they are having for snack time and sharing their contribution with their peers.  The sign up sheet has a very varied list of healthy snack items so the children get to try things that perhaps they are reluctant to try at home. Eating patterns developed in early childhood tend to be carried into adulthood.  If children are introduced to fruit and vegetables at a young age it is more likely they will enjoy them and eat them more frequently.  By trying different foods the children gain experiences of the wider world around them.

Once the children have finished their snack, they throw away their own rubbish, put their left over food into a container ready to be composted & put their plates and cups in the washing up bowl.

Snack time is completed by the children taking the compost container out to the compost bin and learning about the compost cycle.

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