Foundation

Ethos

At Damers we understand that a child’s first year in school is one of the most important as it lays the foundations for a lifelong love of learning and a positive attitude towards education. At Damers we endeavour to ensure that we provide this for every child through nurture, exciting learning opportunities and the development of a growth mindset. We aim to do this through a rich curriculum and purposeful play, both of which are fundamental to early learning.

Not only do we provide exciting educational learning opportunities through our curriculum, we also recognise that children’s emotional wellbeing and social development is of the utmost importance.

Through our high quality early years provision we promote and teach the following skills and values:

  • Positive play
  • Friendships
  • Sharing
  • Kindness
  • Bravery
  • Respect for others and our environment
  • Resilience when faced with challenges and mistakes
  • A ‘Can do’ attitude

Curriculum

The curriculum we follow is the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) for children aged 0-5. Your child will already have been following this so we build on the good work started by pre-schools and nurseries to enable each child to reach their full potential.

The EYFS is divided into the following areas of learning and their associated Early Learning Goals:

Characteristics of Effective Learning:

Playing and 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 and thinking critically – thinking

  • Having their own ideas
  • Making links
  • Choosing ways to do things

Prime Areas:

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

  • Making relationships
  • Self-confidence and self-awareness
  • Managing feelings and behaviour

Physical Development

  • Moving and handling
  • Health and self-care

Communication and Language

  • Listening and attention
  • Understanding
  • Speaking

Specific Areas:

Literacy

Reading

Writing

Mathematics

  • Numbers
  • Shape, space and measure

Understanding of the world

  • People and communities
  • The world
  • Technology

Expressive Arts and Design

  • Exploring and using media and materials
  • Being imaginative

A child’s journey at Damers is unique and one we are proud to take alongside them. Together we learn and grow, we make mistakes and celebrate them when we do.  Most of all, we always try our best!