Curriculum and Care

Our staff will help your child to enjoy learning by:

• including your child in everyday tasks and making them fun!
• making opportunities for choices, taking responsibility, making decisions and solving problems.
• providing a safe and stimulating environment in which your child feels happy and secure. 
• showing we are interested in your child's learning. We will ask questions, listen and give lots of praise when it is appropriate.
• using new and familiar words to extend and enrich your child's vocabulary, knowledge, awareness of sounds and language development.
• showing your child how to play, share, take turns, make friends and develop positive relationships. 
• providing stimulating and exciting opportunities to engage your child's interest and imagination both indoors and out.
• encouraging your child to reach their full potential. 

Learning through play

Play is a fundamental part of childhood. Our role at KingsWellies is to enable and facilitate play. Play is an essential part of a happy, healthy childhood. At KingsWellies, the principles of play will underpin and support all of our policies and programmes for our children. KingsWellies children will be able to experience high quality, stimulating play experiences as part of their daily lives. 

Pre-Birth to Three: Posititive Outcomes for Scotland's Children and Families

KingsWellies will follow the national guidance set out in Pre-Birth to Three: Positive Outcomes for Scotland's Children and Families, whilst working with our youngest children. This national guidance sets the context for high quality care and education. It also lays a sound foundation for children's learning and development and will ensure a smooth and coherent transition for all children as they begin to engage with Curriculum for Excellence 3-18.:

Wellies staff will have a vital and rewarding role in promoting and understanding these four key principles. At Wellies Nurseries, each of our younger children will have a Key Person who will offer security, reassurance and continuity and who will be responsible for feeding, changing and comforting your child. 

Curriculum for Excellence 3-18

Whilst at a Wellies Nursery, your child will learn through Curriculum for Excellence which is the curriculum used throughout Scotland. The Early Level provides a framework for children's learning in the pre-school years and in Primary 1. Curriculum for Excellence places a strong emphasis on health and wellbeing, literacy and numeracy. It highlights that it is the responsibility of all staff working with children to promote these areas of learning.

Health and Wellbeing

Health and Wellbeing is about learning how to lead healthy and active lives, whilst becoming confident, happy and forming friendships and relationships with others that are based on respect. It is also about managing feelings and having the skills to meet challenges, make good choices and manage change.

Literacy

Literacy is an essential part of our everyday lives. It helps us to understand and interpret our world through what we hear, see, say, write and read. Early literacy skills start with babies discovering that they can communicate their needs through their first sounds, facial expressions and body language. Literacy is also about using and making use of technology.

Numeracy

Numeracy is about counting and numbers as well as understanding measurement, money, weight, an awareness of time and how to handle information. It is important from simple tasks like pairing your socks, to paying for your shopping.

At Wellies Nurseries, we will recognise the importance of health and wellbeing, literacy and numeracy as key to building our curriculum.

The eight curricular areas that we will develop through Curriculum for Excellence at Early Level are:

• Health and Wellbeing
• Languages and Literacy
• Numeracy and Mathematics
• Expressive Arts
• Religious and Moral Education
• Sciences
• Social Studies
• Technologies

Outdoor Learning

At Wellies Nurseries, the children will be encouraged to get moving indoors and outdoors in all weathers. Learning to enjoy the outdoors in our Scottish climate and managing risks and challenges in our unique natural outdoor learning environments, will help the  Wellies children to grow and develop into healthy and confident adults. A huge range of activities, resources and games will be provided in our large outdoor play environments.We will also make maximum use of the extensive community facilities around our nursery sites.

Realising the Ambition : Being ME (Scottish Government 2020)

Wellies Nurseries will also use the National Practice Guidance on Early Learning and Childcare : Realising the Ambition (2020) as our core guidance to guide and support us in providing a seamless journey from birth to starting school. 

Our guarantee to you

At Wellies Nurseries, you can be confident that:

• staff are flexible and responsive to your child's personal, emotional, educational and physical needs. 
• we will provide your child with a range of rich and varied learning opportunities which will help them to develop into successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. 
• your child will experience and choose from a wide range of high quality programmes and activities that are planned, designed, evaluated and implemented by staff , taking account of national and local guidelines. 
• we will promote ambition and high expectations for every child within our care.