Our Early Years

Our Nursery and Reception classes form our Early Years department. Our Nursery is more than just childcare: it is teacher led and one of our major benefits is the opportunity for children to progress into Reception class and continue on their educational journey with minimal disruption. 

Our children have the opportunity throughout their day to engage in play-based activities indoors and outdoors. During COOL time (choosing our own learning) they have access to a variety of areas within the classroom where at times they can independently choose and lead their own learning. Play-based learning provides opportunities for children to actively and imaginatively engage with people, objects and the environment. Children are naturally motivated to play. Our play based curriculum builds on this motivation, using play as a context for learning. In this context, children can explore, experiment, discover and solve problems in an imaginative way.  

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Our play-based approach involves both child-initiated and teacher-led learning. At Freemantle we encourage children’s learning and inquiry through interactions that aim to stretch their thinking to higher levels. Our aim is to have an environment that is welcoming, friendly, supportive and challenging. We wish for both you and your child to have a happy and confident beginning to their school life at Freemantle Academy.

At the core of our Early Years curriculum are the Characteristics of Effective Learning:

Playing and Exploring

Children are encouraged to play with what they know and to develop the confidence to “have a go.” We are committed to offering children an experience that will foster a love of learning within a safe and stimulating environment. We build secure and trusting relationships which allow our children to flourish.

Active Learning

The indoor and outdoor environment is carefully resourced so that children become motivated to be independent learners. Children are supported to become more resilient: to keep on trying and achieve what they set out to do. Children become more engaged; showing high levels of energy and fascination.

Creating and Thinking Critically

As children engage in a broad range of activities in Early Years, they begin to actively think about the meaning of what they are doing. Children will begin to generate new ideas, make links between experiences and learning and become problem solvers.

Curriculum

The curriculum in the Early Years Foundation Stage has been carefully planned and designed to meet the needs of our pupils. You can read more about this in our EYFS Three I's document found further down this page.

Our EYFS area is a carefully planned and well-resourced environment that caters for the various needs of young children. We offer a broad range of experiences for the early years, both indoors and outdoors. Our Early Years team plan a range of purposeful activities which inspire and engage children as well as match the different levels of need.

There are seven areas of learning that shape our educational programmes:

The three prime areas are:

• Communication and Language

• Physical Development

• Personal, social and emotional development

Children are also supported within the 4 specific areas of learning:

• Literacy

• Mathematics

• Understanding the World

• Expressive Arts and Design