Curriculum

Babies, Toddlers and Children come to The Broomhill Nursery to have fun. They learn in a safe, stimulating environment through play.

The needs of each individual are assessed and recorded. Through play, developmental progress is observed, recorded, monitored and evaluated. Careful planning by qualified and experienced staff members ensures that activities within our Nursery are tailored according to the individual child’s developmental needs.

Activities in The Broomhill Nursery are categorised in accordance with the 5 areas of the Early Years Curriculum adopted by schools throughout Scotland and regulated by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education.

The 5 categories are:

• Communication and language development
• Physical development
• Expressive and aesthetic development
• Emotional, personal and social development
• Knowledge and understanding of the world

Communication and Language

Aim
To develop, extend and enrich the skills of communication which each child has, in order to enable the child to function effectively as a member of society. Communication and Language permeate all areas of the nursery. The Nursery as a whole is organised in order to promote and enhance development in communication and language, and to promote positive images and role models for the children. Learning will be achieved via a mixture of adult directed and structured free play activities, delivered through cross-curricular activities and topic based themes.

Objectives
• To provide a stimulating environment in which communication and language skills can be nurtured and developed. To provide visual, auditory and tactile experiences which will provide stimuli for all children.
• To provide opportunities for the children to use, explore and develop skills in verbal communication.
• Listening: To provide the children with opportunities to develop skills in listening in order to be able to process information, interact with others and begin to share in others’ feeling and thoughts.
• To foster an enjoyment of books.
• Writing: To provide opportunity for children to explore and develop skills in using writing as a means of communication.

Physical Development

Aim
To engender enthusiasm, enjoyment and confidence in developing and using physical skills of
co-ordination, control, manipulation and movement.

Objectives
• To provide a balanced programme of activities to support the physical development and well being of the children.
• To provide sufficient space (indoors and outdoors), time and resources to allow effective physical development.
• To provide time, opportunity and support for children with motor impairment or physical disabilities to develop their physical skills. This may involve working with team members of other professions, such as Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists.

Expressive and Aesthetic Development

Aim
To enable each child to express their ideas and feelings and to promote the development of imagination.

Objectives
• To provide a stimulating environment where we value originality, creativity and expression.
• To provide a wide range of activities that each child can respond to by using their senses, developing ideas and expressing those ideas in a variety of ways.

Emotional, Personal and Social Development

Aim
To promote and develop self-esteem, confidence and a sense of security alongside interest, understanding and value for the child’s own experiences and those of other people.

Objective
• To provide children with opportunities to observe, interact and learn about each other’s lives through a balanced programme of events.

Knowledge and Understanding of the World

Aim
To enable each child to make sense of the world.

Objectives
• To provide the children with first hand experiences that encourage observation, exploration, prediction, problem solving, critical thinking, decision making and discussion.
• To provide a range of indoor and outdoor activities that stimulates each child's curiosity and interest.
• To provide opportunities for each child to become aware of the similarities and differences between themselves and other people, and to understand that all people deserve to be treated with respect.
• To provide support in helping each child communicate and record their observations and predictions orally and in other ways, for example by drawing or making models.