Entering the pre-school years brings many questions for both parents and children. For our children their minds open up to the idea of going to school and turning 5 and tying their shoelaces all by themselves! For the parents its learning how to best prepare your child for school and fully understanding how and what your child is going to be learning in their pre-school days. Many of us will look back to our own experience of pre-school and this will naturally impact our vision for our own child’s experience. However, as we would expect educational practice has come a long way since then and the Curriculum is the key resource which forms the Early Years Framework provided by the Scottish Gorvernment. Learning begins at birth and continues throughout our lives. Scottish Government education strategy, and the curriculum frameworks that deliver it, recognise that learning is lifelong, and are designed to help learners develop the skills they need for learning, life and work.
What are the purposes of education in Scotland?
The hope for all children and every young person is that they should become:
- confident individuals
- successful learners
- responsible citizens
- effective contributors to society and at work.
What do we mean by ‘Curriculum’?
The curriculum is all that is planned for children and young people throughout their education, including during their time at Pine Trees. Children start learning before birth and have already learned an immense amount before they attend nursery. The curriculum provides the support, structure and direction for children’s learning and can be applied to all aspects of their lives whether at home or at nursery school. The 8 curriculum areas are:
- Literacy/English
- Numeracy/Mathematics
- Health and Wellbeing
- Sciences
- Technologies
- Social Studies
- Religious and Moral Education
- Expressive Arts
How will your child progress?
The experiences and outcomes of Curriculum for Excellence are written at 5 levels, the path children at Pine Trees are expected to follow is:
- early level – in the pre-school years and P1
How dow we know your child is doing well? Each child progresses at their own individual pace and have their own learning styles. We work closely with the children and build a personal profile for each child to capture their learning and development whilst at Pine Trees. The children’s learning profiles are a continuous learning tool and a collaborative piece to work between children,parents and key workers. We use the profiles to track the children’s progress and discuss learning and development with parents so as to identify the child’s next steps. Parent are communicated with well in terms of their child’s progress and are issued with a summative report at the end of term to formally track their progress. We fully encourage parents to become involved in nursery life and get involved in your child’s learning journey. There are many home link projects to help parents further develop the learning in the home and your involvement is much appreciated!