Monarchs Childcare

              Curriculum              

“When we give every child the best start in their early years, we give them what they need today. We also set them up with every chance of success tomorrow.”

Department of Education, 2021

At Monarchs we believe every child is unique, it is our duty as practitioners to ensure they are constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured. We understand children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships. We recognise children learn and develop well in enabling environments in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and we must ensure there is a strong partnership between us as practitioners and their parents and/or carers. We tailor our teaching and learning to each unique child as they develop and learn in different ways, whilst we appreciate they learn at different rates we firmly believe that it is our responsibility to ensure they make excellent progress daily, reach their full potential whilst in our care and go on to become successful, lifelong learners.

Pedagogy

We recognise that all children are unique.

A blend of factors and early experiences means that all children have their own learning style. Adhering rigidly to one child development theory, practice or methodology will benefit some and disadvantage others. So, we draw inspiration from many: Bruner, Piaget, Vygotsky, Reggio Emilia, Forest School, Curiosity Approach, The Froebel Approach… and we use Birth to Five Matters to guide our practitioners. What children need most is love and care from responsive practitioners who recognises their child’s individual needs and adapts their nurturing, interactive style to suit.

We recognise that children learn best through play.

Play’s vital role in promoting young children’s healthy social and psychological development is well recognized. Play not only aids children’s mental and physical health, it teaches them risk taking and problem-solving skills, promoting imagination, independence and creativity. Adult facilitation through play and ensuring children have an enriched environment to explore their interests, free access to resources whilst acting as collaborators, inspiring, encouraging, challenging and extending teaching and learning is vital to a child’s success.

Intent

As we only get one childhood, it is our intention to ‘Enrich, Enhance and Educate’ each unique child. We aim to provide quality and consistency so that every child thrives and gains a secure foundation in the EYFS and the very best start in life; ensuring that every child makes excellent progress daily. We aim to have excellent partnership working between practitioners and parents and carers and knowing that each child develops and learns in different ways we aim to provide equality of opportunity ensuring every child is included and supported. Our intent is for each child to develop verbally, physically, emotionally and cognitively whilst embedding a positive attitude towards learning and life. In providing children with an effective, tailored ‘Quality of Education’, we aspire to deliver a child centred curriculum that puts each child at its heart. We aim to meet each child’s individual needs, enabling them to become ‘school ready’ and ignite them with a love and passion for learning building core knowledge and skills, reaching their full potential whilst in our care and enabling them to become successful, lifelong learners.

Implementation

At Monarchs we place each unique child at the heart of our curriculum.  We provide a tailored, broad and balanced curriculum providing each child with essential skills and knowledge enabling them to become ‘school ready’ and instilling a lifelong love for learning. We use Birth to Five Matters to guide our practitioners in the areas of learning and development which shapes activities and experiences for each unique child, practitioners have an excellent understanding of the progression of development and skills from birth to the early learning goals meaning teaching and learning can be scaffolded and tailored to each child’s stage of development ensuring they reach their full potential and make excellent progress through our effective assessment arrangements. We have very high expectations for each child and provide excellent activities that link to children’s interests and high-quality interactions to promote language development, captivate their curiosity, facilitate learning and develop critical and sustained thinking.

How is the curriculum sequenced?

We follow the EYFS Curriculum and use Birth to Five as guidance for our practitioners. The EYFS covers:

The Prime Areas

• Personal, Social, Emotional Development
• Communication and Language
• Physical Development

The Specific Areas

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design 

Throughout all of these areas of learning and at the heart of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum are the ‘Characteristics of Effective Learning’. These are:

• Playing and Exploring – Engagement
• Active Learning – Motivation
• Creating and Thinking Critically – Thinking

Practitioners provide high quality, meaningful interactions to deliver the curriculum.

Practitioners create tailored next steps planning for each unique child using their interests, scaffolding teaching and learning and building upon prior knowledge and skills.

A wide range of activities and experiences are provided including adult led 1:1, focussed small group activities and child led play. Activities are led by children’s current interests and planned to build on prior knowledge and skills and support any gaps in their development.

Practitioners also record observations and ‘wow’ moments and narrative observations and EYFS reports termly using our nursery software ‘Blossom’. ‘Blossom’ is used as a Learning Journey alongside parents to create a holistic view of each individual child; this supports planning and assessments and also provides a dialogue of communication between parents and practitioners. Parents also upload their child’s learning and development from home so this can be shared and celebrated together at nursery. Parent communications are effective through daily feedback, regular parents meeting and nursery events. Resources and lending libraries are sent home to ensure parents are part of their child’s learning journey at nursery. Prior to a child starting Monarchs and during their first few weeks of settling in parents and practitioners together complete a Baseline Assessment to help inform planning and personalise learning. Parents and teachers from the child’s new school are part of the transition to school process where familiarity through visits, school uniform, activities enable a child to become confident in their next journey starting school life in Reception Class.  

On-going formative assessment is at the heart of our early years practice, it ensures timely intervention is put in place so that no child is left behind. The observation, assessment and planning cycle inform how we plan for each unique child ensuring they reach their full potential. Our summative assessments of narrative and termly EYFS Reports enhances development and learning opportunities by informing improvements to our planning, provision and practice at Monarchs.

Invention programmes or Special Educational Needs and Disabilities plans are put in place for any child below the expected level in the Prime Areas of Learning together with close working with other professionals to ensure children reach their full potential, make excellent progress, ‘narrow the gap’ and ‘catch up’. Monarchs have held the esteemed accreditation of the ‘Portage Stamp of Approval’ year on year since 2018 which demonstrates our determination to deliver inclusive education.

Continuous provision is planned inside and outside to incorporate a wide range of opportunities ensuring effective teaching and learning and are adapted regularly to meet the needs of our children. An enabling environment is paramount to each child’s development, and this supports each child to apply their skills and knowledge through independent and group activities and play.  We aim to ensure that these areas are always inspiring, stimulating and exciting.

We use a range of methods to determine a child’s development and progress such as daily observations, wow moments, communication with parents, activity evaluations, narrative observations and termly reports. This is called triangulation which gives us a robust, reliable and objective judgement. Children’s levelling is moderated at staff meetings and educational audits to ensure consistency and accuracy of judgements.   

Impact

At Monarchs, we strive to ensure that all of our children (including those with SEND or who are disadvantaged) have made excellent progress in their journey with us and that we have equipped them with essential knowledge, skills and understanding so they are ready for their next step in their journey into school.

We want to ensure all children are happy, confident, independent and resilient lifelong learners.