Children’s interests lead learning activities
Information about the school
Cogan Nursery School is in Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan. At the time of the inspection there were 50 children on roll aged three to four years. Children attend part-time in either the morning or the afternoon.
At the time of writing, 16% of children have been identified as having special educational needs, and around 38% of children come from an ethnic minority background or have English as an additional language.
Context and background to the effective or innovative practice
The foundation phase curriculum has been fully implemented at Cogan Nursery School. Staff are constantly reviewing their practices to ensure that they provide the best possible learning activities for all learners. The activities are primarily developed as a result of the children’s interests. Through providing these opportunities, as well as some discrete teaching, staff enable learners to develop a comprehensive range of skills and knowledge as they play.
Most children join the nursery with literacy, numeracy, and personal and social skills below those expected for their age. Many children begin school with speech and language activities or English as an additional language. Despite this, many children make good progress in the development of their skills during their time at nursery and many children make very good progress.
All staff devise, plan and evaluate activities together. Discussions involve consideration of children’s current interests. Staff’s understanding of effective foundation phase provision and child development enables them to support the children to lead their own learning when accessing the activities.
Description of nature of strategy or activity
Staff have carried out research and training to further develop their understanding about how to optimise children’s learning. Observations of children’s level of involvement reinforced that children were more involved with activities that had been developed following consideration of their interests.
It was decided to devise and plan activities in continuous and enhanced provision that build on children’s interests. New activities are modelled by practitioners through the use of a range and different styles of questions. Children are freely able to explore all activities – inside and outside. Through observations, practitioners note how the children use the activities and how they are enhanced – either by the children or adults. Activities are updated or changed on a weekly basis. Recordable buttons or cards with open ended questions are used near the activities as prompts and to support the learners to develop skills in all areas of learning.
Practitioners support children to explore the different activities and track their skill development in areas of the foundation phase curriculum as well as the foundation phase profile. Timers are used to support the learners to manage the time they spend at an activity. This is particularly effective when a new activity is introduced, or if an activity is particularly popular.
What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?
This practice has had a significant impact on the provision at our nursery. There is careful consideration to children’s interests and to their stage of development, when devising, planning and evaluating activities.
All staff know each child really well. They are constantly reviewing the activities and there is a lot of professional discussion about each child’s development.
After only a short time at nursery, nearly all children take on new learning opportunities confidently. Most sustain concentration and persevere at activities. They work independently, accessing appropriate tools and resources as they need them. Nearly all are willing to take risks, particularly in the outdoor area, and are developing resilience well. Most work well collaboratively, in pairs and small groups, supporting each other to resolve conflicts.
At the end of their time at nursery, most children make good progress and many children make very good progress in the development of their knowledge and skills.
How have you shared your good practice?
The nursery has welcomed staff from many schools within their consortium to share their practice in empowering children to lead their own learning.
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