CURRICULUM
For our 0-3 year olds we follow the Pre-Birth to Three document. This national guidance is for all those involved in caring for babies and very young children. This includes early years’ workers, social care and health practitioners. Pre-Birth to Three is based on the concept that care and learning are inseparable
More information on the pre-birth to three document and guidelines can be found Here
Rights of the Child
Relationships
Responsive Care
Respect
Curriculum for Excellence
We follow the Curriculum for Excellence for our 3-5-year-old children. The purpose of this curriculum is to support children to reach their full potential – to enable each child or young person to be –
a successful learner
a confident individual
a responsible citizen
an effective contributor
The Curriculum for Excellence has eight curricular areas –
Expressive arts
Health and wellbeing
Languages
Mathematics
Religious and moral education
Sciences
Social studies
Technologies
If you would like to know more about Pre-Birth to Three or Curriculum for Excellence, then check out the Education Scotland website Here
Getting it Right for Every Child
Getting it right for every child (known as GIRFEC) is the national approach intended to make sure that all the people who support your child work together seamlessly to give you and your child the right help at the right time.
Whenever your child needs help or support, GIRFEC aims to make sure that both you and your child:
- feel confident about the help being given
- understand what is happening and why
- are listened to carefully, with your wishes heard and understood
- are appropriately involved in discussions and decisions that affect you
- can rely on appropriate help being available as soon as possible
- experience a fair and co-ordinated response from staff.
GIRFEC focuses on eight areas of wellbeing that are important for your child to grow and develop to reach their full potential. These are:
- Safe
- Healthy
- Achieving
- Nurtured
- Active
- Respected
- Responsible
- Included
We promote these wellbeing indicators through our daily practice at Railway Cottage Nursery, as well as use them support each individual child and help to plan for their future.
Outdoor Learning
At Railway Cottage Nursery we encourage outdoor learning all year through, the outdoors provides an environment which is stimulating and rich in learning experiences, offering a wide range of benefits which include:
Outdoor learning supports the development of healthy and active lifestyles by offering children opportunities for physical activity, freedom and movement, and promoting a sense of well-being.
Outdoor learning also supports children’s problem-solving skills and nurtures their creativity, as well as providing rich opportunities for their developing imagination, inventiveness and resourcefulness
Outdoor learning also gives children contact with the natural world and offers them experiences that are unique to outdoors, such as direct contact with the weather and the seasons
Children need an outdoor environment that can provide them with space, both upwards and outwards, and places to explore, experiment, discover, be active and healthy, and to develop their physical capabilities
Playing and learning outside also helps children to understand and respect nature, the environment, animals, plants, and lifecycles.
For many children, playing outdoors at their early years setting may be the only opportunity they have to play safely and freely while they learn to assess risk and develop the skills to manage new situations.
We have a large all weather garden which children have access to on a daily basis. The children in the 2-5 room enjoy woodland walks where they can build dens, climb trees, and enjoy the wonders of nature.
Learning Journals
We use the online learning journals system instead of children’s profiles in paper format.
This means that you are able to access your child’s profile anytime and anywhere you want, as long as you have an internet connection. Parents are welcome to use the nursery computer or tablets to view their child’s profile if they do not have internet access at home.
You are also able to contribute to your child’s profile as well, such as a photograph or comment, helping to strengthen the parent and keyworker relationship.
The system is very secure. For the techy types among you the connection is made using a secure server holding a SSL certificate. (Meaning the address starts with https and carries the padlock symbol.) You will be the only one outside of the nursery that can view your child’s profile and you will access it with a unique username as well as a password and PIN that you create.