Curriculum Intent:

At St Swithun’s we believe that children’s early learning experiences deeply affect their future development. We understand that building secure and nurturing relationships with children and their families at this early stage is essential to enable us to maximise learning opportunities for each and every child in our setting.

• We follow a combination of Development Matters and Birth to 5 Matters Curriculum Guidance for The Early Years Foundation Stage, and in doing so have tailored our curriculum to suit the needs of our children.
• We are fully committed to taking the time to get to know our children and provide a rich curriculum that supports learning, consolidates and deepens knowledge and ensures that children achieve their next steps:
• We promote a real love of reading through story time and both our indoor and outdoor provision is enhanced to reflect current learning and children’s interests showing a deep understanding of the way in which our children learn.
• We aim to equip our children with a sense of self and self-belief by promoting independence, confidence and resilience to enable them to achieve their potential.
• We offer our children rich learning experiences and our ultimate goal is to prepare our children with the knowledge and skills needed for the next stage of their learning journey in KS1 and have a life-long love of learning.
• Our ultimate goal is to prepare our children with the knowledge and skills needed for the next stage of their learning journey in Key Stage 1 and beyond.

Little Big Maths 

We deliver daily Little Big Maths sessions which are both enjoyable and interactive and allow children to develop core Maths skills. Concepts explored within these session are then carefully planned and placed into the learning environment for children to practice and deepen their knowledge, skills and understanding further.

Speech and Language 

Here at St-Swithun's we work alongside Speech and Language Therapists to support children's speech and language needs. We use a speech and language screener to identify early speech and language needs and provide additional speech and language interventions that develop area’s specific individual needs. To support our more complex speech and language needs we use a Makaton programme that uses symbols, signs and speech to enable children to communicate. You can learn more about Makaton here https://www.makaton.org/aboutMakaton/

Sign of the week.

March

Forest Schools 

Every year we work closely with the staff at Hallcroft Children's Centre to provide our children with the opportunity to take part in Forest School sessions. Through Forest School activities children develop confidence and an understanding of the world, the environment and everything within it by partaking in a variety of outdoor experiences and activities.

We have enjoyed activities such as making bird feeders, looking for minibeasts, creating play dough faces on tree trunks using natural objects and building habitats. We have visited the Bassetlaw Museum gardens to take part in Forest School activities and also ran an after school club here at St Swithun's, where the children practised sawing wood and toasting marshmallows over a fire, as well as a variety of other outdoor activities.

Muddy Monday! 

Every Monday we get on our wellies and wet suits and carry our activities in the garden centered around the natural world. 

Tasty Tuesday!

Every Tuesday we put on our baking aprons and bake something delicious for snack time. 

Phase One Phonics

Our daily ‘letters and sound’ programme allows all children to explore sounds and go onto to read effectively. Discrete sessions are used as a starting point and again are embedded into the rich, playful environment which allows children to deepen their understanding apply their learning.

Children develop their Christian values through weekly RE sessions along with regular visits to church. Children are also given the opportunity to learn about different diverse faiths and cultures.