Intent, Implementation and Impact
Intent
At Tiddlywinks Preschool we intend that our ambitious and inclusive curriculum educates all the children in knowledge, skills and understanding, to be effective, inquisitive, curious, independent learners and influence their wider thinking across all areas of the curriculum. We endeavour to give the children the Cultural Capital they need for future success i.e. giving each child the best start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their full potential, understanding that children’s experiences and backgrounds will differ when starting Tiddlywinks. We are dedicated in ensuring that the children in our care develop excellent communication skills. We want our children to be confident and enthusiastic learners. We focus heavily on Personal, social and emotional development, ensuring that our youngest children are fully supported, build strong relationships with adults and peers and feel safe and secure in our care. We understand that our children and families are diverse, being part of a military community. We support our children to become resilient and confident individuals, cementing the foundations to ensure smooth transitions to new environments and relationships.
It is our intention that children experience the seven areas of learning through a balance of whole class/group teaching and play based learning. This is through the children’s interests, topics, themes and continuous provision activities. Learning is carefully planned by the staff to support all areas of learning.
Implementation
Our curriculum is designed to recognise children’s prior learning by providing first-hand learning experiences and allowing the children to develop social skills, build resilience and become creative, critical thinkers to enable them to challenge themselves. We ensure the content of the curriculum is catered to meet the needs of all learners and is taught in a logical progression so that children build on prior learning. We plan through a topic-based approach on an annual basis, but these plans are adapted and amended to address the ever growing and changing needs and interests of all our children.
We believe learning through play is vital and provides a variety of opportunities for children to learn, express themselves and develop a strong sense of self.
We understand that the wellbeing of the children is essential to their development. We support this through strong relationships with their keyperson, making child feel safe and secure in the knowledge that they are heard and that their needs are being met. Children are learning to understand and express their feelings in a variety of ways for example, our feelings registration board, small group activities, daily interactions, Yoga sessions, exercise and rest/sleep time.
We recognise that language and communication are vital in all areas of a child’s development. We welcome children from culturally diverse backgrounds with some of our children being at an early stage of learning English as an additional language (EAL). We support children’s development by providing a rich language environment, where conversations, singing and sharing stories become a constant part of the children’s day. We lead ‘small group’ times for all of our children and 1:1 intervention daily to support children in different areas of need.
We have ‘core books’ which we read frequently with the children. These books are stories that can be re-visited again and again, on different levels to support language development. The idea is that children will develop language and increase vocabulary in addition to gaining a love of stories.
Our core books are:
Caterpillar Room
Dear Zoo - Rod Campbell
Brown Bear, Brown Bear - Bill Martin Jnr and Eric Carle
Shark in the Park- Nick Sharratt
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Each Peach Pear Plum- Janet and Allan Ahlberg
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Something Beginning with Blue- Nick Sharratt and Sally Symes
Butterfly Room
The Tiger that Came to Tea- Judith Kerr
The Hungry Caterpillar- Eric Carle
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt- Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
3 Little Pigs- Tony Ross
Handa’s Surprise- Eileen Browne
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Children join song time at the end of each session, learning a variety of well-known nursery rhymes and songs. We also sing freely during our day.
Our preschool considers the overall development of children. Our children are immersed in lots of practical, first-hand learning experiences through which they are encouraged to explore, experiment, and develop their language. The children use both the indoor and outdoor environment engaging in adult led and child-initiated activities. We enjoy our time in the garden each day. Being a shared space, the garden offers opportunities for all of our children to engage with each other. The younger children love to learn from the older children and the older children learn the importance of being caring and considerate of their younger peers. This assists transition from Caterpillar to Butterflies as the children have already formed relationships.
Throughout the year we hold different events for our families such as craft afternoons and family BBQ’s, as well as outings.
Staff regularly observe children during adult led and child-initiated activities. We use Tapestry as a tool to record snapshot evidence of children’s progress and achievements to build an overall picture and to set next steps for their learning. We continuously assess children’s development which also helps us to identify any children who may need more support.
We understand the importance of continued professional development (CPD) to ensure we maintain high quality teaching. Through supervision and appraisals, we identify training needs and support staff in their personal development
Impact
Our curriculum ensures that the needs of all children are being met and supported effectively. We endeavour for our children to be school ready and prepared for the next phase of learning. We wish for our children to be happy, healthy, confident and curious learners and well-rounded individuals.