Curriculum

The Purpose of the Curriculum for Excellence is to enable each child to become a successful learner, a confident individual, a responsible citizen and an effective contributor.

Learning experiences cover each of the curricular areas: Health and Wellbeing, Literacy, Numeracy, Expressive arts, Social Studies, Religious and Moral Education, Science and Technology.

Carefully planned learning experiences provide challenge and enjoyment, breadth, progression, depth, personalisation and choice with the child at the centre of learning.

Learning Through Play

Learning through play forms the basis of the pre-school education we provide. It incorporates many familiar play activities such as role-play, crafts, sand and water play, construction, music and movement, set in the context of the Scottish Government’s Curriculum for Excellence.

Each child is recognised as an individual and our experienced staff seek to help each child grow and develop to their full potential.

The nursery staff assess and update the children’s progress continually through play and fun activities. This is summarised in the child’s own Personal Learning Plan (PLP) folder. The folders are kept in Nursery in your child’s named drawer. Please feel free to look through them with your child at any time.

The children’s activities and learning, such as projects and artwork, are on display in the Nursery throughout the year. The theme for the week (Weekly Plan) and Topic/Curriculum for Excellence (Block Plan) can be viewed in the Nursery.

Our staff will be glad to talk to you about what your child is learning at the Nursery.

Loose Part Play

In June 2017 we created an outdoor space connected to the playroom. The children have access to this area every day through the morning. It is an exciting addition that will extend the children’s learning and play experience.

In line with Early Years Scotland we have adopted the Loose Part Play for the area.

Loose part play is the use of materials that have no specific set of directions which can be used alone or combined with other materials. They can be natural or synthetic, for example, stones, sand, fabric, twigs, wood, crates, buckets, logs, shells, rope.

There are many reasons why play spaces should include a multitude of loose parts, including:

Loose parts can be used any way children choose
Loose parts can be adapted and manipulated in many ways
Loose parts encourage creativity and imagination
Loose parts develop more skill and competence than most modern plastic toys
Loose parts can be used in many different ways
Loose parts can be used in combination with other materials to support imagination
Loose parts encourage open ended learning
Children choose loose parts over fancy toys

We have observed some wonderful imaginative play……

Captain Hook and Tinkerbell, with the help of 5 crew, created a ship, complete with a ‘walk the plank’ and crocodile, and little boats – this included planks, crates, blankets, cardboard and sticks!

A train took 6 children to Africa and then back for snack! – this included crates, wooden steering wheel and planks.

A conker run – this included pipes, conkers, sticks.

Can we get from one side of the outdoor area to the door without touching the grass!? A challenge indeed – this included crates, cardboard, blanket, planks….everything!

Health and Well-Being

The Nursery takes a holistic view of health and are committed to improving the health and wellbeing of all children, parent/carers and staff.

We do this by involving the children in exploring food, physical activity, planning for choice and change in conjunction with our Eco initiative. The children are encouraged to be as independent as possible with activities such as, hand washing, cleaning teeth (Childsmile programme) and self help skills such as putting on our coat all of which help to build confidence.

We place high importance on a child’s wellbeing by talking in small key groups about our feelings, friendships and topics, such as transitions in our lives – a new sibling and getting ready for school.

The Nursery introduced the Healthy Early Years initiative in 2012 and are delighted to have received Stage 1 and Stage 2 accreditation.

Eco Schools

In September 2013 Bruntsfield Community nursery was awarded its first prestigious GREEN FLAG from Eco Schools Scotland.

The Eco Schools Programme is focused around key environmental topics covering Energy, Biodiversity, Water, Healthy Living, Litter, Nursery Grounds, Transport, Recycling and sustaining our world.

BCN has developed and adopted environmentally friendly routines throughout the nursery and endeavours to educate and encourage children to understand not just ‘what’ they should be doing but ‘why’.

The Nursery children learn where energy comes from, which equipment uses it and why we need to remember to turn lights and computers off when they are not needed. The children also learn to turn taps off to save water, recycle materials, eat a healthy diet, drink lots of water and exercise regularly.

Everyone in the nursery is encouraged to follow the eco-code, engage in a healthy lifestyle and work towards looking after our planet earth.
For more information go to the Eco Schools Website