English National Curriculum Overview

Our programme is based on the Early Learning Goals. They outline the key areas of development for young learners.

What are the Early Learning Goals?

At Nessie, children work toward early learning goals throughout the three years of the Foundation Stage, but children do not need to start in Pinkies in order to successfully achieve these goals. Our trained teachers and assistants work with our students to help them learn to the best of their abilities. We also offer learning support for students who may need a little extra help along the way. The majority of pupils will achieve these goals by the end of the Nessie Foundation Stage. Some children will make further progress and some pupils may still need to work towards some of the goals at the end of Reception.

The early learning goals are divided into six key areas:

Personal, social and emotional development
This area of learning is about helping students develop emotional well-being, knowing who they are and where they fit in and feeling good about themselves. It is also about developing respect for others, social competence and a positive disposition to learn.

Communication, language and literacy
This area of learning includes communication, speaking and listening in different situations and for different purposes, being read a wide range of books and reading simple texts and writing for a variety of purposes.

Mathematical Development
This area of learning includes counting, sorting, matching, seeking patterns, making connections, recognising relationships and working with numbers, shapes, space and measures. Mathematical understanding should be developed through stories, songs, games and imaginative play, so that children enjoy using and experimenting with numbers, including numbers larger than 10.

Knowledge and Understanding of the World
In this area of learning, children develop the crucial knowledge, skills and understanding that help them to make sense of the world. This forms the foundation for later work in Science, Design and Technology, History, Geography, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Physical Development
Physical Development in the foundation stage is about improving skills of coordination, control, manipulation and movement. Physical Development has two other very important aspects: it helps children gain confidence in what they can do and enables them to feel the positive benefits of being healthy and active. Effective Physical Development helps children develop a positive sense of well-being.

Creative Development
Being creative enables children to make connections between one area of learning and another and so extend their understanding. This area of learning includes art, music, dance, role-play and imaginative play.

The above information was taken from the document 'Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage'.