At Fullers Hall Nursery we provide a curriculum for the foundation stage of education. This curriculum is set out in a document, published by the Department for Education and Skills, called "Early years Foundation Stage". We follow this guidance.

The guidance divides children's learning and development into six areas:

• Personal, social and emotional development
• Communication, language and literacy development
• Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
• Knowledge and understanding of the world
• Physical development
• Creative development

For each area, the guidance sets out Early Learning Goals. These goals state what it is expected of the child. Children should know and be able to achieve these goals by the end of their reception year of education.

For each Early Learning Goal, the guidance sets out stepping stones, which describe the stages through which children are likely to pass as they move to achievement of the goals. At Fullers Hall we use the stepping stones that lead to the Early Learning Goals to help us to trace each child progress and to enable us o provide the right activities to help all of the children to achieve and progress.

At Fullers Hall Nursery we believe children must be provided with experiences and support which will help them to develop a positive sense of themselves and of others; respect for others; social skills; and a positive disposition to learn.

This area of children's development covers:

• Having a positive approach to learning and finding out about the world around them;
• Having confidence in themselves and their ability to do things, and valuing their own achievements;
• Being able to get on, work and make friendships with other people, both children and adults;
• Becoming aware of - and being able to keep to - the rules which we all need to help us to look after ourselves, other people and our environment;
• Being able to dress and undress themselves, and look after their personal hygiene needs; and
• Being able to expect to have their ways of doing things respected and to respect other people's ways of doing things.

At Fullers Hall Nursery we believe children's learning and competence in communication, speaking and listening; being read to must be supported and extended. Children must be provided with opportunity and encouragement to use their skills in a range of situations and for a range of purposes, and be supported in developing the confidence and disposition to do so.

This area of children's development covers:

• Being able to use conversation with one other person, in small groups and in large groups to talk with and listen to others;
• Adding to their vocabulary by learning the meaning of . and being able to use . new words;
• Being able to use words to describe their experiences;
• Getting to know the sounds and letters that make up the words we use;
• Listening to - and talking about - stories;
• Knowing how to handle books and that they can be a source of stories and information;
• Knowing the purposes for which we use writing; and making their own attempts at writing.

At Fullers Hall Nursery we believe children must be supported in developing their understanding of Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy in a broad range of contexts in which they can explore, enjoy, learn, practise and talk about their developing understanding. We will provide opportunities to practise and extend their skills in these areas and to gain confidence and competence in their use.

This area of children's development covers:

• Building up ideas about how many, how much, how far and how big;
• Building up ideas about patterns, the shape of objects and parts of objects, and the amount of space taken up by objects;
• Starting to understand that numbers help us to answer questions about how many, how much, and how big;
• Building up ideas about how to use counting to find out how many; and
• Being introduced to finding the result of adding more or taking away from the amount we already have.

At Fullers Hall Nursery we believe children must be supported in developing the knowledge, skills and understanding that will help them to make sense of the world, their learning will be supported through offering opportunities for them to use a range of tools safely; encounter creatures, people, plants and objects in their natural environments and in real-life situations; undertake practical .experiments., and work with a range of materials.

This area of children's development covers:

• Finding out about the natural world and how it works;
• Finding out about the made world and how it works;
• Learning how to choose . and use . the right tool for a task;
• Learning about computers, how to use them and what they can help us to do;
• Starting to put together ideas about past and present and the links between them;
• Beginning to learn about their locality and its special features; and learning about their own and other cultures.

At Fullers Hall Nursery we believe physical development of young children should be encouraged through opportunities for them to be active and interactive and to improve their skills of coordination, control, manipulation and movement. Children will be supported in using all of their senses to learn about the world around them and to make connections between new information and what they already know. Children we be supported in developing an understanding of the importance of physical activity and making healthy choices in relation to food.

This area of children's development covers:

• Gaining control over the large movements that they can make with their arms, legs and bodies, so that they can run, jump, hop, skip, roll, climb, balance and lift;
• Gaining control over the small movements they can make with their arms, wrist and hands, so that they can pick up and use objects, tools and materials.
• Learning about the importance of - and how to look after - their bodies.
• Learning about the benefits of being healthy and active.
• Develop healthy habits when they first learn about food and activity.

At Fullers Hall Nursery we believe children's creativity should be extended by the support their curiosity, exploration and play. We will provided them with opportunities to explore and share their thoughts, ideas and feelings, for example, through a variety of art, music, movement, dance, imaginative and role-play activities, mathematics, and design and technology.

This area of children's development covers:

• Using paint, materials, music, dance, words, stories and role-play to express their ideas and feelings.
• Children responses to what they see, hear and experience through their senses are individual and the way they represent heir experiences is unique and valuable.
• We will include resources from a variety of cultures to stimulate new ideas and different ways of thinking.
• Ensure children feel secure enough to "have a go", learn new things and be adventurous.

Play helps young children to learn and develop through doing and talking, which research has shown to be the means by which young children think, at Fullers Hall we use the stepping stones leading to the Early Learning Goals to plan and provide a range of play activates which help children to make progress in each of the areas of learning and development. In some of theses activities children decide how they will use the activity and, in others, an adult takes the lead in helping the children to take part in the activity. In all activities information from the stepping stones and the Early Learning Goals has been used to decide what equipment to provide and how to provide it.