Strong Close Nursery School Curriculum

The school’s curriculum is underpinned by a detailed understanding of child development and enriched by a wide range of research. This strong foundation ensures that learning is purposeful and responsive to children’s needs. The curriculums in all areas of learning are coherently sequenced. This means that children build knowledge progressively over time.

Ofsted Outstanding in all areas June 2025

We plan our curriculum and pedagogy around the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework  Early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), the non-statutory 'Development Matters'  Development Matters - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)  and the Developmental Journal materials, to provide high quality, inclusive, broad and balanced learning experiences across the seven areas of learning and development. At Strong Close Nursery School, we offer and maintain a purposeful, challenging, sensory and enabling environment, indoors and outdoors with a range of opportunities that support children’s deeper learning and development over time. Our staff have worked together to outline our practice through the following play-based curriculum policies and we also meet together every week to plan flexible activities linked to children's interests, schemas and needs in order to extend their learning. 
The implementation of our curriculum is based on a clear pedagogy which recognises the Characteristics of Effective Learning. In planning and guiding what children learn, our practitioners reflect on the different rates at which children are developing and adjust their practice appropriately. Three characteristics of effective teaching and learning are:

• Playing and Exploring – children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’

• Active Learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements

• Creating and Thinking Critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things

Please see below for links to our progression document outlining our curriculum and our policy for each area with details of our pedagogy

Strong Close-Curriculum-Progressive-Skills-and-Outcomes

Communication-and-Language-Policy

Personal-Social-and-Emotional-Development-Policy

Physical-Development-Policy

Literacy-Policy

Mathematics-Policy

Understanding-the-World-Policy

Expressive-Arts-and-Design-Policy

Learning-and-Teaching-Policy