We offer a broad and balanced curriculum at Rebecca Cheetham Nursery. Our aim is to give children exposure to a range of different learning opportunities and experiences using the story book as the base. We spend two weeks with a particular book so children grow to know the book intimately and help them develop a love of books and reading.

We generally stick with a theme over a half term period so we can explore ideas in a meaningful way and give children a chance to consolidate their learning through child initiated play.

We have identified eight Learning Aspirations that we think are important areas for children to make progress and develop skills in whilst they are with us at Rebecca Cheetham Nursery. At the heart of these Learning Aspirations is Communication and Language. We did not separate communication and language as an aspiration because building language, listening and responding skills is thread through all the aspirations we have for our children. This document can be found in the attachments below, entitled Learning Aspirations. We utilise Development Matters to help us keep a check on all other areas of learning and the different things that children need to learn developmentally. This is alongside a wealth of other tools and guidance such as Birth to 5 Matters and communication and language tools for children needing support with their language development.

Our early years curriculum should not be prescriptive or pre-determined; rather it should move with the children and be meaningful to their interests as starting points. Whilst we utilise the children's interests it is important to note that this is not what drives our curriculum. Development Matters helps inform us of what children need to know to move through the curriculum; the means to build knowledge.

We will work with parents throughout the year to guide them into how they can help support their child's development and learning at home to further build children's knowledge and skills in a fun and holistic way.

The attachment entitled "Our Curriculum" that follows helps to explain how we devise our curriculum; starting with the child, identifying ways that adults can facilitate and how we can give children further opportunities in the provision.

The attachment entitled "Characteristics of Effective Learning Animals and Descriptions" gives an idea of how we explore the Characteristics with children so they can identify the way they learn independently.