3 – 5 years

Our Pre-School Room

We follow the Curriculum for Excellence outcomes, which allow each child to learn through responsive play.

Our Pre School Staff Team promote independence, self-awareness and stimulate the children’s desire to learn. Staff in the preschool room follow the national guidelines set out by the Scottish Education Department – Curriculum for Excellence. Inline with the Curriculum For Excellence, staff have a responsibility to provide opportunities for early development in Literacy, Numeracy and HWB. Staff attend regular training to ensure there knowledge is current, and also complete audits monthly to ensure that they are maintaining high standards at all times for literacy, numeracy and HWB. All areas within the playroom provide experiences for these three areas. For example children are encouraged to read books, not only in the story corner, but in the house corner through cookbooks, recipes and in the science area through science books. Etc.The committed staff within our Pre-school room helps to encourage and support you and your child in order to prepare them for a smooth transition to Primary School.

ICT

Children are surrounded by technology in their immediate environments and, as ICT impacts on so many aspects of our daily lives, it is essential for our children to learn about technology and its role in the world. Many children are provided with experience of computers at home and staff are encouraged by the children’s knowledge and levels of motivation and enthusiasm in their use.

By using technology that reflects the children’s real world, it can allow them to share, problem solve and talk about daily events. ICT is not however limited to computers, it can include a broad spectrum of equipment which includes cameras, camcorders etc to support creative development. Eg. Camcorders can record all kinds of imaginative play, such as puppetry and role play. During the playback of recordings children can self reflect and create an audience and appreciation for their creativity.

The use of programmable toys encourages children to think about space and use language of direction. It can involve children in purposeful, problem solving skills, counting, spatial relations and planning. To complement our ICT interests, we have various resources to build on children’s development and learning, such as, ipads, CD/music players and Bee Bot Robots.

NUMERACY

We promote numeracy where children can explore different resources such as calculators, rulers, measuring tapes, weights, coins, clocks, numbers, tally marks, counters, scales, colours, maps, etc. Numeracy is encouraged within the role-play area by having one section as business for example hairdressers, fruit shop, travel agents etc. This area will enable development in numeracy through coin recognition and counting skills.

 LITERACY 

Within the storytelling area, children have the opportunity to explore all types of books and print. The materials provided would include fiction, non-fiction books, newspapers, magazines, leaflets, books in various languages and books without text.

Children will;

Develop listening and language skills

Stimulate an interest in books

Develop children’s recognition of feelings and experiences

Encourages children to recall and retell stories from memories

Prompts children to ask questions and solve problems

Helps to develop social skills

Assists in extending child’s concentration

What you could do at home

Try to read to your child on a daily basis or look at the pictures and create stories from them

When your out and about point out items of interest to your child and talk about them ie “look at that big dog, his ears are all floppy.”

As you read to your child follow the text with your finger

Encourage your child to join in nursery rhymes and finish the line as you start….

Visit your local library

In writing and mark-making children are provided with opportunities to develop writing skills, these include pens, pencils, crayons, markers and an abundance of paper materials of different sorts. Children also use playdoh and cutters, chalk and boards, magnetic letters and alphabet cards and games.

In Writing children will;

Develop writing skills

Make patterns or marks to portray writing

Learn the direction in which words are written

Understand that drawing and writing are not the same

What you could do at home

Praise your child’s attempts at ‘writing’

Point our familiar words to your child eg ‘Asda or McDonalds’

Help your child to recognise their name by displaying it when possible

Play alphabet snap finding two letters the same

Point out letters in their name that appears in other text or print.

STORY/MUSIC

The children have a wide selection of books- fiction, non-fiction, recipes, maps, atlas’s, poems etc. Resources are very open for children to choose.

HEALTH AND WELLBEING

HWB is encouraged through our pre school room where they have access to different types of gym equipment, and participate in activities such as dancing and sticky kids. Children are encouraged to be as independent as possible including personal hygiene. Throughout Snack times and mealtimes children are encouraged to remember to wash their hands. We have an open snack time where children have a snack bar. Children also enhance their independence by choosing their own snack or lunch, placing it onto their plate and pouring their own milk/water.