1. Allens Croft Childrens Centre
Teaching and Learning Policy
We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (updated EYFS 2014), the statutory framework that sets
the standards for Learning, Development and Care for children from birth up to 5.
Four guiding principles shape our practice:
Unique Child
Positive Relationships
Enabling Environments
Children develop & learn in different ways
& at different rates The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
sets the standards that all early years’ providers
must meet to ensure that children learn and
develop well and are kept healthy and safe.
It promotes teaching and learning to ensure
children’s ‘school readiness’ and gives children
the broad range of knowledge and skills that
provide the right foundation for good future
progress through school and life.
Allens Croft Childrens Centre
Head teacher: Laura Brodie

2. capable, strong, rich in potential,
Mission Statement
Our aim is to deliver high quality services that work in partnership with the children, young people and families in an integrated and inclusive way, with Health, Education, Social Care and the Voluntary Sector.
We aim to create an ethos and environment that fosters resilience and independence,
helping families to make positive choices about themselves and their lives and support their specific needs in a holistic and collaborative way.
Curriculum and Prospectus Statement
At Allens Croft Nursery School and Childrens Centre we value all of our children and families. We celebrate our rich cultural and religious diversity and promote mutual respect. We are an inclusive setting and our ethos and curriculum enables children to be independent learners, making choices and building strong relationships particularly with their peers. We encourage this by structuring the environment and timetable to enable individual, paired, small group activity. We have certain rules that children and adults must follow. Thus enabling a safe learning environment. All of these form our framework for promoting British values- democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faith and beliefs.
Our emerging image of the child as a
capable, strong, rich in potential,
confident, creative, active citizen
of today
The learning environment at Allens Croft Children’s Centre is made up of the indoor, outdoor and emotional environment. As children, parents, practitioners or visitors, we all create the emotional climate through our relationships.
Our provision is centered on the children & families and they are at the heart of what we do.
Our vision is to build on child and family-centered practices to create a relationship-centered learning community.

3. Promoting British Values at Allens Croft Children’s Centre
Democracy - Sharing ideas and experiences - Children have active roles in decision-making and planning of activities - Children and families become part of the Allens Croft community
Tolerance of those of different Faith and Beliefs - Using Positive images reflecting the cultural diversity of Great Britain - Using resources reflecting multi- cultural/multi-faith Britain - Celebrating our similarities and differences - Celebrating special days and festivals
Individual Liberty - Children have the choice to choose any activities or resources in the indoor and outdoor environments - Open-ended resources mean that children can shape their development through their own interests - We celebrate the uniqueness of all children at Allens Croft.
Mutual Respect - Listening to each other’s ideas and experiences - Learning to take turns - Learning to share and play co-operatively - Using “Kind Hands” and “Kind Words” - Understanding that all children have individual needs
Promoting British Values at Allens Croft Children’s Centre
The Rule of Law - To learn routines at nursery - To gain an understanding & adhere to expectations and boundaries

4. We have high quality Enabling Environments for Early Learning & Care
Baby Nursery 7mths - 1.5yrs
Tiny Nursery 1.5yrs - 2.5yrs
Little Nursery 2.5yrs - 3.5yrs
Big Nursery 3.5yrs - 4.5yrs
The Nursery
The Nursery consists of a central hall which acts as a meeting place, and 5 indoor learning spaces that surround it. There is an outside learning space with a rich variety of landscapes.

5. “Allens Croft Childrens Centre is exceptional”
The Curriculum
The curriculum is everything the children do, see, hear, and feel, planned and unplanned, both indoors and outdoors. This includes the dispositions and attitudes within our learning community.
Seven areas of learning & development
Communication and Language
Physical Development
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding the World
Expressive Arts and Design
Foci on Relationships
Child - child
Child - practitioner
Child – materials/resources
We believe the environment acts as the third teacher
“Allens Croft Childrens Centre is exceptional”
“The staff share a passion for giving children
the best start in life”
OFSTED
We know Physical Development & Cognitive Development are linked. Brain connections are built from birth onwards, from all of our ‘doing’ experiences; the more ‘doing’ experiences, the more connections.

6. Central to positive relationships is the key person
Transitions
Settling new children. Each child and family is unique. We offer home visits. We work together to support the settling process. When parents feel comfortable in the setting it helps their children to settle.
Internal transitions This is a planned process and we focus on continuity in key relationships.
Key person system
Each child & family has a named key practitioner. This offers the opportunity for a special
relationship to develop. The key practitioner builds a close relationship by acting as a companion
for the child & being mindful to the needs of the child during each day. Sharing information and
creating opportunities to talk during the day builds trust & partnership. The key practitioner acts as a
champion for child & parent.
Central to positive relationships is the key person

7. We live spirituality at Allens Croft
Making connections
We focus on children developing a sense of self, a sense of family (at home & as part of a key group), and a sense of community (citizens of the nursery, our neighborhood, our global world) family friends community the natural world.
We live spirituality at Allens Croft
1 Through listening to our children as fully as possible. When children can freely share their deepest feelings and still feel accepted, self esteem and connection grow. When we feel important, we matter.
2 Through creating a sense of purpose – being an active citizen, preparing and sharing food through cooking, caring for oneself, each other, living creatures, the garden and the
learning spaces.
3 By creating cozy, quiet spaces to be and work alone or with others.
4 By planning special experiences - e.g. Trip to theatre, fun days, health caravan, visits into the community, artists and visitors to nursery.
5 Through sharing stories, objects and events of personal significance with children.
6 Through sharing festivals and celebrations
7 Through poetry, music, sharing stories, by ordinary conversation and even just slowing the pace of things and letting children look out of the window
8 Through using ICT (computers and interactive whiteboards) to support children’s learning. Use of the internet to find out about other peoples, places and worlds.
9 Through valuing creativity.
10 Through outdoor learning which promotes activity, health & well being.
11 Through creating rhythm

8. We create Rhythm in the Nursery through Daily routine
• Meeting & greeting by key person
• Group time on entry to meet & plan learning
• Child initiated play indoors & outdoors
• Group time at end of session
Rhythm through extended day – Togetherness through eating together at breakfast, lunch & tea,
followed by child initiated play
Rhythm through personal care routines – Learning and development time for key person and child during nappy changing, changing clothes, washing, eating, quiet/resting/sleeping times.
Experiencing the seasons – connecting to nature & its life cycle. Planned yearly timetable for
looking after the garden and visits to parks. Unplanned spontaneous experiences connected
to weather

9. Contexts for learning & development
We believe that children learn by exploring, investigating, discovering, creating, practicing, rehearsing, repeating, revising & consolidating their developing knowledge, skills, understanding & attitudes through playful learning. Children develop confidence, a sense of agency & a ‘can do’ attitude from having time & freedom to choose who to be with, where to go & what to do.
Relationships. Mindfulness. Wonder
Learning together through
Companionship
Apprenticeship
Citizenship
Tuning in to the rhythm of the seasons + nature
Creating a sense of purpose
Caring for each other, for living creatures & plants & for the learning spaces
Contextualized real experiences like shopping, gardening & cooking

10. We also provide planned opportunities for
group learning in daily group time…
Learning together through
Companionship
Apprenticeship
Citizenship
Caring for each other
Stories
Sense of belonging to a group
Talking
Caring for living creatures and plants
Setting the scene
Planning
Sharing news
Thinking
Reflection
Caring for the learning spaces
Having a voice
Listening
Problem solving
Building relationships
Characteristics of effective learning
Playing & exploring – engagement
(Finding out and exploring. Playing with what they know. Being willing
to ‘have a go’).
Active learning – motivation
(Being involved and concentrating. Keeping trying. Enjoying achieving
what they set out to do).
Creating & thinking critically – thinking
(Having their own ideas. Making links. Choosing ways to do things).
Activities for the specific areas of the EYFS ARE OFTEN INTRODUCED AT GROUP TIME - NUMBER SHAPE SPACE MEASURE, READING AND WRITING
Children are encouraged to use skills and knowledge throughout this play

11. We create the social & emotional environment that supports communication through our relationships.
EYFS
Communication and Language
Physical Development
Personal Social and Emotional Development
The social baby
We know that babies are born communicators. Every baby is a unique individual from the moment
of birth, with their own likes & dislikes. Only by being finely tuned to a baby’s unique communication
can an adult fully understand the baby & its needs.
Pedagogy of listening
Relationships with the social & physical environment
Sharing ideas
Search for meaning & understanding
Observing
Sensitivity
Thinking
Questions
Sustained conversation
“ There are many ways to listen, The most difficult way
is the one that leaves space to the other, to his or her
strategies And points of view. There is no true listening,
or respect, if we are not convinced that the other
person is capable of telling us things that can enrich us.”
Vea Vecchi-Reggio Emilia

12. The Hundred Languages of Childhood
The child is made of one hundred. The child has A hundred languages A hundred hands A hundred thoughts A hundred ways of thinking Of playing, of speaking. A hundred always a hundred Ways of listening of marveling of loving A hundred joys For singing and understanding A hundred worlds. To discover A hundred worlds To invent A hundred worlds To dream The child has A hundred languages (and a hundred hundred hundred more) But they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture Separate the head from the body. They tell the child; To think without hands To do without head To listen and not to speak To understand without joy To love and to marvel Only at Easter and Christmas They tell the child: To discover the world already there And of the hundred They steal ninety-nine. They tell the child: That work and play Reality and fantasy Science and imagination Sky and earth Reason and dream Are things That do not belong together And thus they tell the child That the hundred is not there The child says: NO WAY the hundred is there.
Loris Malaguzzi
Creativity & Critical thinking
We know that when children have opportunities to play with ideas in different situations & a variety of resources, they discover connections & come to new & better understandings & ways of doing things.
What are the hundred languages of Children?
Symbolic languages, including drawing, sculpting, dramatic play, writing, painting are used to represent children’s thinking processes and theories. As children work through problems and ideas they are encouraged to depict their understanding using many different representations. As their thinking evolves they are encouraged to revisit their representation to determine if they are representative of their intent or if they require modification. Teachers and children work togethertowards an expressed intent.
Literacy within the home Children from all cultural & linguistic backgrounds beginning nursery bring a rich oral tradition, sometimes in one or more languages, developed through the experiences of using oral language within the social & cultural contexts in which they live & operate. We need to make links between home & nursery literacy practices to develop a more culturally inclusive curriculum.
Loris Malaguzzi Founder of the Reggio Approach
Questions
Thinking
Sustained conversations

13. The importance of home languages
Many of our children start nursery speaking languages other than English and are at an early stage
of acquiring English.
We know that bilingualism is an asset, and the first language has a continuing and significant role in identity, learning and the acquisition of additional languages. Supporting continued development of first language and promoting the use of first language for learning enables children to access learning opportunities within the EYFS and beyond through their full language repertoire.
The skills, knowledge and understanding of children learning English as an additional language (EAL) are often underestimated. Cognitive challenge can and should be kept appropriately high through the provision of linguistic and contextual support. Language acquisition goes hand in hand with cognitive and academic development, with an inclusive curriculum as the context.
Personality plays a great part in language development. Some children go through an extended period of silence when entering an unfamiliar language environment; others may continue to speak the language they know best, regardless of who can understand them. Each child must be carefully observed so that, when their situation begins to change, parents and practitioners can support their next steps.
Like all children, those learning EAL thrive and learn best where practice is excellent; key factors include the inclusive attitude and ethos set by leaders and managers and required of all practitioners in the setting, an understanding that bilingualism is an asset, genuinely reflective practice and an adherence to the belief that every child matters.
Adapted from Supporting children learning English as an additional language
National Strategy 2007.

14. Support for English as an Additional Language Learners should be specified.

15. A growing body of evidence shows that early learning experiences are linked with later school achievement, emotional and social
well-being, fewer grade retentions, and reduced incidences of juvenile delinquency and that these outcomes are all factors associated
with later adult productivity. Other research has identified key predictors for reading and school success.
Key predictive skills and abilities include:
Oral language listening comprehension, oral language vocabulary
Alphabetic Code alphabet knowledge, phonological/ phonemic awareness (the ability to discriminate sounds in words), invented spelling
Print Knowledge/Concepts environmental print, concepts about print
Other less significant indicators include: Rapid Automatic Naming (RAN); visual memory; and visual perceptual abilities.
The context of phonics is taught from these precepts:
Words are made up from small units of sound called phonemes. Phonics teaches children to be able to listen carefully and
identify the phonemes that make up each word. This helps children to learn to read words and to spell words
In phonics lessons children are taught three main things:
GPCs
They are taught GPCs. This stands for grapheme phoneme correspondences. This simply means that they are taught all the
phonemes in the English language and ways of writing them down. These sounds are taught in a particular order.
The first sounds to be taught are:
Set 1: s, a , t , p
We aim to get to set 3 by the end of the Summer term.
Set 2: I, n, m, d
Set 3: g, o, c, k
What makes phonics tricky?

16. In some languages learning phonics is easy because each phoneme has just one grapheme to represent it. The English
language is a bit more complicated than this. This is largely because England has been invaded so many times throughout
its history. Each set of invaders brought new words and new sounds with them. As a result, English only has around 44
phonemes but there are around 120 graphemes or ways of writing down those 44 phonemes. Obviously we only have
26 letters in the alphabet so some graphemes are made up from more than one letter.
ch th oo ay (these are all digraphs - graphemes with two letters)
There are other graphemes that are trigraphs (made up of 3 letters) and even a few made from 4 letters.
Another slightly sticky problem is that some graphemes can represent more than one phoneme. For example ch makes
very different sounds in these three words: chip, school, chef.
So why bother learning phonics?
In the past people argued that because the English language is so tricky, there was no point teaching children phonics.
Now, most people agree that these tricky bits mean that it is even more important that we teach phonics and children
learn it clearly and systematically. A written language is basically a kind of a code. Teaching phonics is just teaching
children to crack that code. Children learn the simple bits first and then easily progress to get the hang of the trickier bits.

17. A guide to Letters and Sounds Terminology
Before we give a brief outline of the different Letters and Sounds Phases we thought we’d put together a few definitions that you may find useful if you’re unfamiliar with the Letters and Sounds programme or the practise of teaching phonics.
Term
Definition
Phonics
Refers to a practice of teaching children how to read and write by focusing on the relationship between sounds and the letters (or groups of letters) that they are represented by in the English language.
Phonemes
Phonemes are the smallest unit of sound in a language. They are not segments of words like syllables but rather they are ‘speech sounds’ that can be combined to form words.
There are 26 letters in the English language but there are 44 phonemes.
Graphemes
A grapheme is a letter or a group of letters that spell a sound in a word. In other words a grapheme is a way of writing a phoneme
GPC
GPC stands for Grapheme Phoneme Correspondence and it refers to the ability to match a grapheme to its corresponding phoneme and a phoneme to its corresponding grapheme.
Digraph
A digraph is a grapheme containing 2 letters that makes a single sound
Trigraph
A trigraph is a grapheme containing 3 letters that makes a single sound
Blending
Blending refers to the technique of assembling the individual sounds that comprise a particular word.
Segmenting
Segmenting refers to the ability to divide a word in to its various sounds. In particular this involves breaking a word down into the phonemes that make it, deciding which graphemes represent those phonemes and then writing them down in the correct order.
Decode
Decoding involves reading a word by saying and then blending its individual sounds.
Syllables
Syllables are the beats in a particular word when it is spoken. The words syllable consists of three syllables: syl-la-ble
Synthetic Phonics
Synthetic phonics refers to a particular method of teaching phonics where pupils are first taught the letter sounds in isolation before moving on to blending these sounds together to form full words.
CVC
CVC words are words that begin and end with a consonant phoneme and have vowel phoneme in-between.

18. Capturing thinking, learning & development
Observation – Planning – Assessment cycle
At Allens Croft we capture children’s learning through annotated photographs, written descriptions & extended narratives. Each child has a learning profile. This is a working document that contains the learning documented over a year. The profile is shared with parents each term & at the end of nursery goes home. Staff reflection meetings enable us to share & interpret our observations and create a picture of children’s competencies. By sharing observations of children’s interests we plan a number of ways to respond to the children.
Actions may include
Setting up a provocation
Further observation
Discussion with children
Verbalising possible questions
Planning further activity
Exploring the same point using many different media
Researching particular areas of interest
Testing out our hypothesis by offering activities based on the interest
We assess children ‘in the moment’ to support their learning on a day-to-day basis and review their profiles in relation to the EYFS developmental bands each term to track their achievement & progress.