Learning at Woodlands Nursery

Our unique curriculum ensures that learning at Woodlands Nursery is wide, fun, active and appropriate for our children. We strive to make each child’s daily learning challenging and ambitious, to capture their curiosity and enable them to explore and develop new ideas.

The Early Years Team have developed and refined the Woodlands’ Curriculum since the Nursery opened in 2015. Our highly qualified Nursery staff plan from day to day, which in Early Years Education we call ‘In the Moment Planning’. We offer each of our pupils opportunities for personal self-expression, whilst still ensuring that early academic skills and knowledge are creatively woven into Nursery life, through play and kinaesthetic learning. Our adopted motto, from the work of Alistair Bryce-Clegg is; ‘Thrill, Will and Skill.’ We strive to excite the children with what we offer, so they have the will to engage. This is how their skills will develop and improve.

Here is an overview of a week in Woodlands:

• Child initiated learning times, indoors and outdoors;
• In The Moment Planning sessions, where we ‘go’ with the children’s interests IN THAT MOMENT or very shortly after we recognise them;
• Register time;
• Phonics sessions;
• Story and Rhyme time sessions;
• PE in the Sports Hall with specialist Beechwood PE staff;
• Music lessons with a member of the specialist Music Department  – learning about sound, instruments, styles of music and lots of singing and dancing;
• Craft, painting, collage and cooking;
• Small group learning times (max of 6 children in a group);
• Science;
• Environmental learning and Forest School activities;
• Assemblies with our Chaplain;
• French;
• Story times;
• Talking and sharing sessions.

Our Nursery Curriculum is also devised and delivered to ensure that our pupils will experience a smooth and stress-free move into one of our Reception classes as they meet the next step of their learning journey.