Learning and development

Our provision for children's learning and development at The Barn is guided by the Early Years Foundation Stage framework (EYFS). The EYFS, produced by the Department for Education, is the statutory framework for the early education and care of children from birth until 31 August following their fifth birthday.

There are four themes set out in the EYFS and these inform and shape all areas of our practice at The Barn:

every child is unique, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured
children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships
children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers; and
children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates.

The EYFS identifies 7 areas of learning, Prime and Specific, and our curriculum is carefully designed to support the children in making best progress in all areas.

The Prime areas begin to develop quickly in response to relationships and experiences, and run through and support learning in all other areas. The prime areas continue to be fundamental throughout the EYFS:

communication and language
physical development
personal, social, and emotional development

The Specific areas include essential skills and knowledge. They grow out of the prime areas, and provide important contexts for learning:

literacy
mathematics
understanding the world
expressive arts and design

The Barn uses the EYFS practice guidance to plan and provide a play-based curriculum that promotes exciting and fun learning experiences and opportunities that help children to discover themselves and experience the awe and wonder of the world in which they live. The play activities are designed to help children to make progress in each of the areas of learning and development, and we have a balance between child led and adult guided activities. We know that children learn best through exploration, experimentation, and discovery, building on their experiences. Our Barn approach draws on a wide range of evidence bases and approaches, including Montessori, Reggio and Forest School, and we are always looking for inspiration and new ideas as we think about different ways to make the curriculum interesting and engaging for all the children.

A PARENTS' GUIDE TO THE EYFS

EYFS Progress Check

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) requires that parents and carers are supplied with a short written summary of their child's development in the three prime learning and development areas of the EYFS, when the child is aged 24-36 months:

Personal, Social and Emotional Development;
Communication and Language
Physical Development,

For the majority of children who join The Barn, the EYFS progress check takes place after the health visitor check on children’s physical developmental milestones as part of the Healthy Child Programme. The aims of the EYFS progress check are to:

review your child’s progress, identify his strengths and determine if he needs extra support in any areas;
make sure that you understand your child’s development and that we know about his interests and needs so we can support him;
help you to support your child’s development at home;
agree how we can work together to support your child’s development, including how we will work with other education and health professionals, if necessary.
At The Barn, we also use the progress check as a record of your child’s developmental age/stage on entry and during their first weeks at nursery school.

The progress check is informed by the records in your child’s health book; your knowledge of your child; your thoughts and our early observations. At The Barn, the progress checks are begun during weeks 4-6 of the Little Explorers sessions. We then observe and learn more about your child during the first half term, once he/she has settled into the Explorers. Your child’s key person will be responsible for completing the progress check with you, and a time will be scheduled for you to sit down together for a conversation. You will be provided with a written summary, which should be secured in your child’s health book for reference by other professionals. We will keep a second copy in your child’s Learning Journey file. If there are any significant concerns, or if your child has a disability or identified Special Educational Needs, we will discuss and develop a targeted plan. The plan will identify any strategies, activities and actions that we will put in place support your child.

The EYFS Progress Check undertaken by The Barn Nursery School can be shared with the Health Visiting Service; other settings, where your child attends more than one currently or in the future; and Hampshire County Council’s Children’s Services, where appropriate.

The information recorded for the Early Years Foundation Stage Progress Check will be stored securely and confidentially. Under GDPR, any confidential information regarding your child will not be passed onto organisations outside of those mentioned above without your prior consent. Issues of a child protection nature are excepted, and case information will be shared with the appropriate agencies.

The Key Person and Your Child

Each child at The Barn has a ‘key person’ – a named member of staff with whom the child and the parents have regular contact.

The key person works with you and your child to give them the reassurance to help them feel secure and cared for and to make sure that the particular needs of your child are being met appropriately and to give them the reassurance to help them feel secure and cared for.

The key person will also maintain your child's Learning Journey file, which records your child's progress, together with notes and photographs from their time at The Barn. Each term a Progress Summary is shared with parents.

Children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

All children develop and make progress at different rates and at some time during their time at nursery school, many young children will need some extra support so that they can move forward in a particular area, such as separating from their parents; sharing; turn-taking; toileting; eating; play skills and tantrums. This is to be expected and we are well practised in supporting the children and working closely with their parents to provide consistency and ensure that every child can thrive in our setting.

Our teachers also have considerable experience and knowledge of working with children who have special needs that require regular support, targeted planning and specialist input. The list is wide-ranging and include:

Medical needs
Physical needs
Behaviour management
Speech and language delays and disorders
English as an Additional Language
Learning and developmental delays

Click below to go to the Hampshire Services for Young Children website for more information about our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities local offer.

SEND LOCAL OFFER

Makaton - signing for all

Being able to communicate is one of the most important skills we need in life. For a young child at nursery school, that means:

Playing and exploring
Asking for help
Problem solving
Making friends and having fun

Makaton is a sign and symbol language designed to support spoken language. Makaton uses speech with signs (gestures) and symbols (pictures) to help people communicate, building on early communication skills such as pointing and gesture that we all use as part of our daily lives.

Makaton enables all children, including those with communication difficulties, children who find it difficult to listen and English as an additional language, to express themselves more easily. Having an effective form of communication which children can access from their earliest years can help avoid the frustration of not being able to communicate and build up a child's confidence and self-esteem. Makaton also gives us something useful to do with our hands!

At The Barn, we use Makaton to support all children to develop communication, attention and listening skills. We add a visual cue or gesture, we slow our speech down and use simpler language. We also use facial expression, eye contact and body language to give as much information as possible.

Makaton is used routinely throughout the day - when we wash our hands, eat our snack/lunch, at review time, tidy up time, story time and getting ready to go home. We also use Makaton to share our feelings and to communicate our needs and wants.

Mark-making and emergent writing

Young children develop their gross motor skills by learning to hold, grip, pull and push through play.

At The Barn, we help children to develop imaginatively, creatively and physically through varied and fun mark making activities such as play dough, sand, paint and water.

Children use triangular pens, round crayons, charcoal, chalks, oil pastels, wax pens and assorted brushes, both fat and thin. Available tools and accessories include scissors, glue sticks, hole punches, sellotape dispensers, papers, paper clips, split pins, string, ribbons, notepads, labels, stickers, envelopes and magazines and well as sticks, straws and play dough cutters. The list goes on and on!

Children practice directional push and pull and experience the resistance of drawing on lining paper during Write Dance and painting the outside wall with rollers and water or mopping the playground with soapy water. Through their play, the children are developing their large muscle control and fine motor movements.

The Explorers children bring home their markings at the end of the day and these are put out with their work. Our Discoverers children put their own work in their special 'pockets' which they then collect and take home at the end of the day.

Do praise and encourage your child's efforts. Scribbles and marks are the first steps to learning to write. Dots, lines and curves are all examples of the strokes and shapes needed to form letters, numbers and symbols.

And when your child is ready to begin writing his or her name, look together at the booklet in the book bag to see how to form the letter correctly. You will also find your child's finger name card which can be used to trace over with the finger or to write over with a felt pen which can be wiped and done again.

Promoting positive behaviour

At The Barn, we believe that children flourish best when they have clear, consistent boundaries and know how what is acceptable behaviour. They should be free to play and learn without fear of being hurt or unfairly restricted by anyone else.

We aim to provide an environment where children can learn how to behave and socialise with others: how to make friends, be kind and share. Children who learn to regulate their own behaviour from a young age have an important life skill that will help prepare them for life in the wider world.

All children are familiar with our Barn mantra, and you might well hear these words at home!

Kind hands,

Kind words,

All friends.

Whilst at The Barn, children will have moments when they demonstrate and see or experience 'unwanted' behaviours, and this is normal. What is important is how the behaviour is managed by the teachers, how we help the children to manage their feelings and how adults model and support children in considering the feelings of others.

Our Promoting Positive Behaviour Policy sets out graduated responses that our staff follow. If you would like to have a copy of the policy, please contact the office.