Why?

Children thrive when they feel safe, valued and loved. Executive function includes the ability to hold information, focus attention, regulate behaviour and plan what to do next.

First milestone:

Increasingly, children separate from their parent as they grow in confidence and develop relationships.

Children identify and begin to name their emotions and regulate their behaviour with support.

Children will learn to use the zones of regulation.

As children grow in confidence, their involvement in nursery activities deepens. They explore a wider range of activities. They play for longer periods of time.

Adults co-regulate with the children supporting them to bounce back when things get difficult and be patient for what they want.

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Children manage their strong emotions and regulate their behaviour with support.

Second milestone:

Children regulate own strong emotions by monitoring and managing their feelings and the way they make them behave.

Children learn to comment about their learning. They begin to hold information in their mind, focus their attention and plan what to do next.

Adults support children to think of solutions to issues that cause them to feel strong emotions, choosing the best solution for the situation and putting it in place.  As children’s engagement and perseverance grows, they either challenge themselves with more difficult activities, or they respond positively to adults challenging them. Adults model, narrate and explicitly teach metacognitive strategies.

With adult support they begin to engage in a plan, do review cycle.

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Most of the time children manage their strong emotions and behaviour independently. They begin to think and talk about their learning processes.

Third milestone: 

Children organise and effectively manage their learning independently.

Children talk about and reflect on what they and others are learning and thinking.

As children play and learn more collaboratively, over long periods of time, and take part in more challenging activities, they talk about and reflect on their learning.

As the plan, do, review cycle is embedded children think flexibly, plan and prioritise and use their working memory.

Component

Children independently self-regulate so they can persevere, challenge themselves and focus for sustained periods of time.

Final milestone:(Composite) Children reflect on their learning and comment on their thinking. They work through problems and solutions through a plan, do, review cycle. Children self-regulate and use metacognitive skills as they learn.

Why?

We want all children to feel secure, accepted and have a sense of belonging. We want all children to value and celebrate difference and be free from stereotypes.

First milestone: Children talk about a range of story books where gender roles are challenged and in which children from all backgrounds, especially those from black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, see themselves represented in the characters.

Jo and/ or Lucy, our Personna Doll is introduced.

A wide range of children’s books which reflect our diverse society without gender stereotypes are read and discussed.

Component

Share and talk about a range of story books

Second milestone:Children can notice and celebrate differences and similarities between themselves and value their uniqueness.

Group Times are planned to incorporate Jo/ Lucy colour and gender to challenge prejudice. Learning about our diverse community is shared through stories of Jo and Lucy’s experiences, celebrations through our children’s home experiences and visitors to Nursery.

Component

Take part in Group Times celebrating diversity and be able to talk about differences and similarities between us.

Third milestone: Children explore the feelings of others and think of ways to help including gender and racial bias as a teaching focus.

Through our Personna Doll, help children to explore the feelings and issues she experiences, such as gender and racial bias. Use the problem, solution model to help her share and resolve conflict and use this model with our own conflicts. Books incorporating diversity, special needs and disabilities are shared

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Begin to talk about how others may feel by relating to a problem that doesn’t directly affect them.

Final milestone:(Composite) Be able to share and discuss our feelings and find solutions to problems

Why?

First milestone: 

Component

Use part of the climbing equipment independently and communicate what they are doing to an adult.

Second milestone:
 

Adults ask questions and verbalise thinking, modelling the process of 'what should we do and how should we do it?'

Adults verbalise the process of making and using the equipment to scaffold to children.

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Third milestone: 

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Build and use an obstacle course with others. Talk about what they are doing and why.

Final milestone: (Composite) children demonstrate strength, balance and co-ordination when climbing independently. Children build a safe, solid structure which is planned for and built collaboratively from a range of equipment where the children must use a variety of physical skills to move around the course.

Why?

First Milestone: 

Component

Access resources in the Creative Areas to produce a piece of art with adult support.

Second milestone: 

Children will choose to use our creative areas independently. Areas will be well stocked and organised.  
Children will be taught how to use the scissors and tape dispenser  

Component

Join 3D art materials together with tape.

Third milestone:

Every child will have an opportunity to experiment with various artistic styles during Group Time and artist’s art work will be available to the children during free flow to inspire and talk about.

Children will plan, do and review their work.  

Component

Talk about what you want to make and create it.

Final milestone:(Composite)children independently use a variety of techniques they have learnt to create pictures or models.

Why?

Being in touch with nature is important to our well- being and having knowledge of the natural world is an essential part of our lives as humans. We want our children to notice, value and investigate the natural world around them.

First milestone: 

Adults will help children to explore the natural environment and provide opportunities to observe things closely through a variety of means, e.g., magnifiers and photographs and iPad to listen to and recognise birds. We will use non-fiction books to reference aspects of the natural world that the children have experienced, providing opportunities to extend vocabulary by naming living things.

Component

Can name some living things in the environment.

Second milestone: 
 

Adults will teach skills and knowledge in the context of practical activities, e.g. learning about the characteristics of liquids and solids by involving children in melting or making porridge, bread, or ice. Adults will support children in developing their knowledge of living things in the environment by close observation and opportunities for lots of discussion using all our senses.

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Extend vocabulary to be able to describe and compare living things/ materials

Third milestone: 
 

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Name changes in materials/record findings.

Final milestone: (Composite) children can notice and talk about the similarities and differences between living things, materials and growth. They can predict what may happen and why.

Why?

We want children to be able to plan, construct and learn to handle tools confidently and safely. We want then to be able to take measured risks, to explain their choices and talk about what they have made and how they have made it.

First Milestone: Children undertake woodwork induction with 1:1 support.

Component: 

Children know what they need to do to use the woodwork area safely.

Second milestone: Children independently use a hammer to tap a nail successfully into wood.

Children access the woodwork bench and explore using the hammer and nails when an adult is close by.  

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Third milestone: Children have repeated experiences at the woodwork bench.

With support children use tools safely and with increasing confidence. They talk about what they are doing.  

Component

Use a variety of tools and resources independently.

Final milestone: (Composite) Children make decisions about the tools and resources that they want to use and manage the resources as independently as possible to design their own piece of wood.

Why?

We want to instil a love of cooking in our children whilst developing the ability to work independently and follow instructions in sequential order.

First milestone: With adult support, children mix different ingredients, including; sand and water, and flour and water to make simple playdough. They talk about measures for example full, not full, empty and they follow simple recipes in areas such as the mud kitchen.

As children take part in these activities, they become more precise in using scoops (filling the scoop carefully to the top); they use a wide range of different-sized containers. Children become confident in using tools at the snack table to prepare their own snack

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Second milestone: In a small group, children follow the steps to make porridge with an adult. The adult draws children’s attention to the recipe card. With adult help, children use measures e.g teaspoon, tablespoon, cup etc and check that they are full, stir and use the microwave to cook the porridge. They reflect on the process and talk about the changes.

As children become more used to cooking, the adult reduces their support for the group. Children also mix other substances together carefully, with adult guidance, e.g. mixing water and powder paint.

Component

Follow all the steps in the recipe card with support.

Third milestone: In small group cooking activities, children follow the instructions and steps in making a fruit/ vegetable kebab/ skewer

As children become more used to following the instructions the adult reduces their support.

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Follow all the steps with minimal adult support

Final milestone: (Composite) Children follow the steps independently.

Why?

First milestone: children join in with role-play and play imaginatively with ‘small world.’ Children join in with repeated refrains with well-known stories.

The Nursery environment has lots of opportunities for children to play imaginatively. Stories are read for children to join in with, repeating phrases and ‘acting out’ parts using facial expressions and hand movements.

At Group Times, adults read Core Books over the term so that the children know these stories really well and begin to know how stories are structured.

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Second milestone: The Tales Toolkit structure is introduced. Children act out a short story as part of a group.

The structure and specific vocabulary of Tales Toolkit in introduced and children begin to create a collaborative story using character, setting, problem, solution.

Helicopter Stories are introduced.

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Third milestone: 

children tell stories that they have made up and well-known stories using props/ picture books.

Children become confident at telling their own stories which adults scribe.

Children act out stories together both in Group Times and in Free Flow. 

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Final milestone: (Composite) Use Tales Toolkit inside and out at Group Times and during free flow.

Why?

We want children to see themselves as writers and use mark making, symbols and letters in their play as a way of communicating to others.

First milestone: 
 

Adults use group time and play opportunities to model writing every day, highlighting its meaning. Adults make sure that print, books, and mark-making resources are everywhere.

As children watch adults modelling writing for a purpose, are read to and see print around them that is read to them; when they have exciting resources with which to mark-make, they will begin to really value writing and will want to have a go themselves.

Component

Use mark making equipment independently

Second milestone: 
 

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Third milestone: 
 

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Use writing type marks independently

Final milestone: (Composite) Children choose to write in a range of play situations with a purpose in mind, making letter-type marks.

Why?

First milestone: 

Adults introduce, model and children join in with a range of number rhymes with props e.g. Five Green and Speckled Frogs, Five Little Ducks, One, Two, Three, Four Five. Children learn to subitise up to 3 counters and know that they are subitising when they can see how many without counting. Adults do lots of noticing with children – mathematical vocabulary is used.

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Join in with a Number rhymes. Can subitise to 3. Children talk about Number.

Second milestone: 

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Children explore number within 5 and build up a range of number skills.

Third milestone: 

 

Children are given learning opportunities to see what totals are made up of e.g. 5 is 4 and I and 3 and 2, 2 and 1 and 1 and 1. (Part, whole)   This is done through 5 frames and resources for 5 Green and Speckled Frogs, 5 Little Ducks for example.  Children experience moving objects in different ways and realise that the number stays the same even though the resources have moved. (Move it to prove it) Children represent 5 in a variety of ways.

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Final milestone: (Composite) Use, talk about and apply knowledge of cardinality and conservation, comparison and composition in different play/real life situations.