Our Curriculum Intent
For many children, Oxhill Nursery is the first experience of school education. With this in mind, our overarching intent is to foster a love of learning through investigating the awe and wonder of our world. We aim to offer opportunities for them to explore a wide range of interesting and exciting experiences that ignite curiosity and begin a lifelong love of learning.
Our curriculum coverage is based on the children’s interests making each year bespoke and unique to the children attending our Nursery. By following the children’s interests we find children are more engaged and inspired, allowing us to meet children’s learning needs and enabling all children to achieve their full potential. At this age, children need a great deal of adult time and attention and our experienced staff give sensitive, appropriate and well timed support.
We offer a play based curriculum as it is through play children make sense of their world and engage in deep level learning. Young children have an enormous capacity for intellectual development, they learn by exploring and investigating, watching and listening, talking and discussing, creating and communicating. It is key for children to ‘have a go’, to be able to learn from their mistakes and try again. Our Nursery School lays firm foundations for future learning and provides a rich variety of learning situations to enable the all-round development of each child. We are flexible and adapt our interactions for individual children’s maturities.
Implementation
Each year we deliver some predicted interests and projects around the seasons or time of year; for instance, autumn, mini beasts and growing. We include religious festivals and cultural celebrations such as Chinese New Year and Holi as well as some British traditions like pancake flipping on Shrove Tuesday and celebrating remembrance day, Hallowe’en or Guy Fawkes night (see our curriculum overview). We also follow children’s interests, some interests may lead the children’s learning for a longer period of time, whereas others lose momentum and may not last as long. Though what we teach may change each year depending on the children’s interests, the way we deliver the curriculum is consistent. The areas of effective learning are embedded into everything we do and staff are skilled in teaching and modelling these characteristics to the children.
Impact
Intended Outcomes for Children.
Our continuous use of assessment ensures that teaching matches the ability of the children and offers real challenge. Children are assessed on entry and records of progress are regularly updated through observation or planned assessment activities. They are also used to group children, according to ability for certain activities and to identify any very able children or children with S.E.N. Information is used regularly to track the children’s progress and evaluate next steps for individual and groups of children. We share children’s learning experiences with families on Class Dojo.
Assessment
Your child’s learning journey at Oxhill Nursery School
What do we want for our children?
We aim for Oxhill Nursery to be a place of possibilities where children are nurtured, and their individual interests and talents are valued and developed.
As a result, we hope that children’s well-being will be high. They will have a strong belief in themselves and their abilities. They will know that they are loved, strong, capable, and unique. They will develop resilience and perseverance to keep trying when faced with challenges.
We want children to have the confidence to try new things, take risks, and be physically active. They will be able to communicate their ideas, beliefs, and feelings in a variety of ways—whether through dance, building, drawing, singing, or other forms of expression. Through stories, rhymes, and poems, children will have experienced and remembered a rich and varied vocabulary.
Children will develop the social skills to make friends and show kindness to others. They will understand how to care for themselves, their friends, their school, and the environment.
They will gain knowledge of important mathematical and scientific concepts, alongside a respectful understanding of the world around them and beyond. They will have a strong desire to learn and be well-prepared for their next stage in education.
Our Tracking and Assessment System
At Oxhill Nursery, we use a comprehensive tracking system that records each child’s progress in line with our bespoke progressive curriculum. This system allows us to monitor development closely, ensuring that every child’s learning journey is personalised and responsive to their needs. By linking assessment directly to our curriculum, we can identify strengths, support areas for growth, and celebrate achievements effectively. This approach ensures that children receive the right support at the right time, helping them to thrive and reach their full potential.