Our Ambitious Curriculum
Our curriculum has been carefully planned to enable us to fully meet the needs of the children in our community, many of whom have English as an additional language and have never experienced childcare away from the family home before visiting us. Many of our children classify as disadvantaged, and although we track these groups and individuals carefully, we ensure that all children and families receive the support that they need. We place a huge emphasis on the prime areas of learning in the first term of nursery, and work tirelessly to ensure that parents feel valued and play an active role in the education of their child.
We know the huge importance of attendance, and track this weekly for all children, speaking to parents regularly to understand reasons why children are unable to come to school. We work tirelessly to break down barriers to attendance and support families where we can.
We have chosen a bank of core stories and rhymes with the aim that all of our children will be able to recognise them and most children will be able to recall specific vocabulary related to them. In addition to this we use regular assessment information to inform the teaching of specific vocabulary as we understand that it directly impacts reading comprehension, academic success, and overall communication skills.
Our staff team take pride in our continuous provision which is well thought out and resources are chosen to meet the specific needs of the cohort of children. Enhancements are used to spark and sustain interest based on core stories, children’s interests or important events or themes. Children also access a family group each day where planned learning sessions give the children a vast range of learning opportunities including development of gross and fine motor skills, story time, supervised teeth brushing and strategies to support their mental health and wellbeing. In addition to this, small group Time Together learning opportunities allow practitioners to work on specific areas of interest and need, ensuring that all children have the opportunity to thrive.
Children with SEND receive targeted support within the continuous provision from all adults and additional daily intervention from either the SENCo or SEN practitioner. This intervention is linked to their MEP targets which may include advice from other professionals such as SALT or an Educational Psychologist.
Please click here to see our curriculum overview, showing the intended learning for each half term.
We want all of the children at Harrington Nursery School to 'SPARKLE' and we offer opportunities for them to show us how they have been able to show these special values each day. The children learn our school song, and through Time Together and Family Group learning they develop their understanding of how these values help them to be the best that they can be.
Our School Song
Sparkle sparkle every day
Sparkle sparkle learn and play
Caring, sharing as happy as can be
Together one big family
Sparkle sparkle learn and play
Sparkle sparkle the Harrington way