Our Curriculum

Wembury Pre-school is a rural peaceful oasis, quiet and calm safely tucked away
from main roads, we are surrounded by fields and nature and fully embrace outdoor
learning.

Our staff work to ensure that your child feels safe, valued and cared for. We respect
that every child is unique and adapt our learning to suit that child’s individuality.

“Our children’s motto is “Have fun, be kind, play together””

We plan our curriculum around the yearly seasons, our environment, our world, our beach and all living things. We follow the children’s interests and building on their knowledge. We have set planned activities however we are spontaneous and like to learn outside. We use our rural setting to its best advantage, we have a story tree in the orchard where we also have our “digging patch”, we visit the allotments and talk to the gardeners about what they are growing, we walk Lilly the dog and get very muddy. We like to be out and about in the community, there is a small wooded area in the school grounds where we can climb and construct dens. It is important that our children are healthy and happy.

Our staff pride themselves on excellent communication skills which build the children’s language effectively. We frequently engage the children in fiction and nonfiction books, books are available daily for the children to engage in as well as adult led reading, we rhyme and sing every day, the children enjoy it when we make up a story that wraps around a song or rhyme, Humpty Dumpty on top of the highest wall in Wembury is a firm favourite. Role playing a popular book engages the children to use a wide range of noises and vocabulary. Our staff use a range of core words, extension words and then technical words and promote excellent listening when they are teaching/modelling play.

Our children are supported to manage their emotions and develop a positive sense of self. However, generally our children are confident and able to engage in relationships with adults to speak about their emotions freely, we still talk to the children about their friendships and how to solve conflicts and self-regulate emotions, this is achieved by talking to the individual child when needed. During registration the staff discuss our values and rules with the children, how to respect each other and be a kind friend. The pre-school are very strict on good manners and positive behaviour. We aspire for our children to be well balanced, healthy and self-assured to enable to achieve at school and in later live.

Physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development. Our children are surrounded by a physical environment, they all have gardens in which to play and spend weekends on the beach. Part of the pre-schools timetable is our daily run around the field, three laps equals 1⁄2 a mile which our children achieve. Our outdoor area has a climbing frame as well as resources for large construction to build obstacle courses. We also have a Sports Coach every Thursday. Our children enjoy to dance, use the parachute and play a variety of games such as “What’s the time Mr Wolf” they have good core strength. We have plenty of resources to promote fine motors skills, every day provision lends to pens, scissors, puzzles, small world play and tools.

We teach our children to be independent in their self care and support them in learning their own care needs, such as putting on their coats or using cutlery, making healthy choices and good hygiene.

Our aim if for children to develop a lifelong love of reading and love of books, we use both fiction and nonfiction books with our children but also made up stories using props, this can be adult or child led. Our staff regularly “story scribe” with their key children in the children’s WoW books with some amusing results! We have a book with no pictures that is full of amazing made up words and a book with no words which the children can make up a story to match the pictures. We practice Read, Write Inc. – Set 1 in line with the primary school and enjoy playing “Silly Soup” and other rhyming/phonic games. Our children mark make in a variety of ways from chalks to finger marks in the mud, they are always encouraged to make meanings to their marks.

It is important that children develop a positive interest and confidence in mathematics and are willing to “have a go”. At Wembury we use maths in the environment, we count and order stones/pebbles, we spot shapes and numbers in the environment, we look at quantities and measure with sand/mud/water, we sing number songs including the number line rhyme that the primary school use. The staff often use science experiments to make comparisons with objects size, weight, length. We make up and describe patterns and use the natural patterns around us when we go on our nature walks to compare differences.

Understanding the world involves guiding the children to make sense of their physical world and community. We encourage our children to talk about what they see expanding and introducing new vocabulary. We plant things and watch them grow and eat them, we care for our tortoises. We encourage the children to bring in their pets or an object that interests them to share with the other children. We go out and about in the school and our village interacting with the community, we embrace British values and respect each other’s lifestyles. We celebrate and value our friendship’s, family life and different religious and community events.

Wembury Pre-School offers plenty of opportunities to enhance your children’s imagination and creativity, we love messy play and the children enjoy the mud kitchen, making potions, painting, cooking. We explore musical instruments, dancing and yoga. We offer high quality activities that help your child learn whilst having fun. We help your children learn about their emotions and develop empathy for others. We create an environment rich in resources that allow your our children to return to and build on their previous learning, sharing ideas and building their abilities.

But most importantly,
The staff and I love to laugh with your children and we love a cuddle.