Our Curriculum

At Hephzibah Day Nursery, our curriculum or teaching and learning have been carefully planned and tailored to the needs of the individual child allowing him/her to develop a love for learning at an early age.

The key principles of Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework are embedded into our curriculum and this enables us to maintain a high quality and consistency in all early year settings, particularly in the four key areas:

A secure foundation for learning
Development planned around the individual child’s needs and interests
Partnership working between practitioners and parents/carers;
Equality of opportunity Besides these aims, clear principles are set for working with children:

Besides these aims, clear principles are set for working with children.

That each child is to be regarded as unique
That children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships
That the environment in which they learn should be stimulating, using play and appropriate learning opportunities
That they learn and develop in different ways

The Revised EYFS Identifies Seven ‘Areas of Learning And Development
All the areas of learning are seen as interconnected. Well planned learning experiences will address several learning goals and aim to spark children’s interest as well as supporting their well-being and a sense of belonging.

Our Approach

Under the EYFS we consider the following:

How well our nursery meets the needs of the range of children

We provide regular opportunities for outdoor activities, and these are time-tabled to ensure adult supervision which is essential for children's safety. Children enjoy being active physically. Our outdoor area gives children an exciting opportunity satisfies their curiosity by investigating and exploring their environment.

The contribution of our nursery to the well-being of each individual child

Parents complete an All About Me form enabling staff to see how the child/ren is developing based on their age. Working from the All About Me form, the Keyworker is then able to plan stimulating activities, formulate a plan for the child/ren, with parental involvement, in order for them to eventually reach their milestone. This is done through observation and monitoring throughout the child/ren’s time at Hephzibah Day Nursery. In this way any under-achievement can be quickly identified and further plans put into place to bring that child back on target. At Hephzibah Day Nursery we believe in ensuring that our children’s nutritional requirement is well catered for, and to meet the standard we set we have a permanent cook on site who prepares hot nutritional meals for the children, along with various snacks including Tea-time meals throughout the day.

The effectiveness of the leadership/management in our nursery

Hephzibah Day Nursery have a clear directive and have developed an Action Plan to implement a programme of ongoing improvements.
These include:

Regular staff supervision
Peer supervision
Appraisals
Regular staff training and ongoing educational development
Tracking and monitoring children’s learning and development to ensure individual milestones are being met.
Regular supervision of children profiles.
Establish and maintain good relationships with parents
Implement and monitor daily risk assessments both internally and externally
Work with external agencies and early year advisory teachers
Open door policy
Monitor and use information from PVI, SEF and Cluster meetings to support the staff team.
Support and monitor staffs’ personal and professional development