THE DRIVE PREP SCHOOL EARLY YEARS  CURRICULUM

THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN IN A HAPPY AND SAFE ENVIRONMENT.

PERSONAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT.

Our aim is to support and encourage children and help them grow in self-confidence.  We want to acknowledge their efforts as well as their achievements. We have a drama / dressing up section in our activity room and we feel that this is important in their development. 

Our staff feel that it is vital to set good examples to the children, encouraging patience, perseverance, good manners, co-operation and fairness.  The children are involved with group activities and are encouraged to work independently.

Self- care skills are important. The children are encouraged to do things for themselves where possible. Helping to put away equipment used, place litter in the bin etc. and personal care such as hand washing after the toilet and before meals.

Respect for others, learning to listen to others is all part of the curriculum. Respect for a child’s culture and / or belief  is shown.  

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY.

We encourage the children to listen to others.  We are immersed in a very ‘visual’ world and it is important to help them to develop good listening skills. Listening to stories and poems and radio programmes are all part of the day.

Children are encouraged to express themselves. There is a daily ‘show and tell’ slot.  Times for drama and role play and imaginative play.

We have built up an interesting selection of children’s books and these are displayed around the school.

We use an ‘action’ based reading method which is enjoyed by the children and encourages a lively start to their recognition of words.  Flashcards and later phonics are used. Children progress at varying rates with their reading, what is of most importance is that they continue to enjoy being read to and looking at books.

Much labelling is used on the displays and around the nursery.   We feel that this encourages the children to write.  A theme eg;  The Sea, is used  each half term and dictating ideas, copy writing and  computer print-outs all contribute to the child’s own book.  Holding a pencil correctly is encouraged from the start and regular writing practice is incorporated into the curriculum to show the correct formation of the letters. The children all have a writing book for drawing and labelling plus their own alphabet book which they contribute to letter by letter.  The children are encouraged to use different materials for writing; chalk, felt-tips, paint etc.

Where English is a second language and parents are eager for their child to make good progress in English a strong emphasis is placed on a stepped vocabulary and sentence structure approach to give the child time and the opportunity to absorb the language. This involves repetitive speech and simple sentence structure along with stimulating pictures, sounds etc.

Regular trips to the library.  The children are encouraged to help tidy the library room after their visit.

We teach French in a lively , fun setting from four years.

MATHEMATICS.

We offer plenty of practical experience to the children and progressive maths language. Children need to talk about what they are doing to help them understand.  Counting, number recognition and number writing .  Shape and size, construction toys, number rhymes and games. Sorting, weighing, sharing. We use maths software packages and theme approaches eg; shops / money. The children have their own number books for writing numbers etc  and we also use the S.P.M.G. books which are colourful and interesting. We have  science and maths areas which the children visit for their practical sessions.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD.

We want to develop the child’s interest in the world around. Nature and other displays of interest are regular features of their environment. There are regular outings and these incorporate a road safety programme. 

Children are naturally curious and as they get older they are encouraged to talk about their observations and begin to record them.  We explore local history and talk about past events through projects eg; My Family and Homes. Memory is explored with accounts of holidays, moving house, a new baby etc.  Visitors are invited to talk about past events and also about the country that they live in.

Geography is taught through exploring their own surroundings and by trips.  There are regular visits to the beach, park,  etc. Collections are made for displays...driftwood, stones. Simple models of buildings, transport. Map work...aerial views.  Topics eg; The Street, The Jungle etc.

There is a science room incorporating magnets, lenses, displays, books etc.  Plants are grown and the children are encouraged to look after them. The weather is regularly observed and recorded. We have indoor sand and water play for basic experiments. The children cook on occasions. They bring pets in from time to time and observe insects and other creatures. We have ‘George’ the school fish and stick insects. We have visitors to talk about their experiences.   The children have a large science book for drawings and recording observations.   We have ‘safety’ topics to help children understand dangers around them and ‘health’ topics to encourage self-care.   

Our Science software packages also provide stimulation.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT.

We value highly physical activities within the curriculum. Even our reading scheme involves movement! Many of our maths games are physical. We provide a safe indoor environment with suitable equipment, for climbing, jumping, balancing etc. Simple games using bats, balls, beanbags, hoops. Outdoor space for tricycles and prams.  Large apparatus in the local park is also used occasionally. We go swimming weekly and have a sports fun day every year.  Children use the apparatus in the activity room regularly throughout the day but there are also structured P.E sessions and a weekly dance session..

The finer physical movements of self-care...fastenings, brushing teeth etc are encouraged.  Play activities are arranged to develop co-ordination of hand and eye, eg ball games, jigsaws, sewing cards and scissor work.

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT.

Music is a regular feature of the week. There are lots of musical instruments. We have a qualified music teacher and the children also do music and movement lessons.  They learn songs and sing these to others in the school setting. We introduce examples of music and dance from other countries.

There are drama sessions and story sessions. We have a home corner and different types of shop are set up periodically. 

We have an art/craft room. Plenty of materials for modelling, painting, drawing, printing and building are to be found here. The children express themselves through artwork regularly.