Curriculum for Excellence Policy
“Curriculum for Excellence” ” aims to achieve a transformation in education in Scotland by
providing a coherent, more flexible and enriched curriculum for 3 to 18.year olds
The curriculum includes the totality of experiences which are planned for children and
young people through their education, wherever they are being educated.”
(Learning & Teaching Scotland)
The aims of Curriculum for Excellence are that every child and young person should
know they are valued and will be supported to becomea successful learner, an
effective contributor, a confident individual and a responsible citizen.
The Curriculum for Excellence Policy-:
Tom Thumb Nursery recognises the importance of providing quality preschool care and education for young people. Tom Thumb is committed to providing a stimulating and challenging environment which will help to develop and broaden children’s learning experiences, therefore enabling them to be confident individuals, effective contributors, successful learners and responsible citizens.
All children at Tom Thumb will be provided with a curriculum that includes a range
of features at the differing stages of development..
In summary, our children and will be experiencing
• a coherent curriculum
• a broad, general education, including experiences and outcomes which are well
planned across all the curriculum areas, beginning from early years.
• opportunities for developing skills for learning and skills for life with a continuous
focus on literacy and numeracy and health and well-being.
• personal support to enable all children to gain as much as possible from the
opportunities which Curriculum for Excellence can provide
• support in making successful transitions within nursery moving onto primary
Tom Thumb believes in developing an appropriate curriculum, which takes into account the importance of the whole child and looks at the stages of development that he or she has reached. We recognise that different children learn in a variety of different ways and that for very young children the following opportunities make powerful contributions to a child’s learning, the opportunity to learn firsthand a different range of activities and situations and be given the opportunity of play, talk, interact and socialise with other people.
Tom Thumb will use the entitlements, in conjunction with the experiences and
outcomes, to plan curriculum programmes covering the curriculum areas.
The Curriculum areas are:
• Expressive arts
• Health and wellbeing
• Religious and moral education
• Social studies
The importance of the Child
Tom Thumb Nursery aims to provide a curriculum which looks at the best interest of the child, we do this by:
- Identifying and assessing all children that attend the nursery and look at their individual needs.
- Building on the children’s previous experiences from home or other settings.
- Keeping “All about Me” books on all children so that the children’s key worker is able to monitor the children’s progress and provide next steps for each child.
- Looking at each child’s welfare, safety and well being.
- Having a flexible attitude to the children’s interest, to be able to plan to incorporate the children ideas, interest from home or information from parents or carers.
- Encouraging all children to fully participate in the full range of activities that Tom Thumb is able to offer.
- Working fully with parents and carers in the best interest of the children.
All members of staff strive to create the above described environment and contribute
• Open, positive, supportive relationships in which children will feel that they are
• promoting a climate in which children and young people feel safe and secure
• modeling behavior which promotes effective learning and wellbeing within the
• being sensitive and responsive to each child’s wellbeing.
Tom Thumb Nursery offers an environment where all the children can feel safe and secure and all the chance to be able to explore new ideas, interact with other children in the nursery and in the local area, be able to have the confidence to participate in new ventures. Tom Thumb Nursery uses two curriculum when planning – The Birth to Three Guidelines – supporting our youngest children and the Curriculum for Excellence 3 to 18.
Tom Thumb Nursery ensures that the children’s activities are well planned and always will support their children’s learning. We achieve this by planning, observation, record keeping and assessment of individual children. By doing this we are able to ensure that all the children’s needs are being met and that all the activities and experiences that we offer are relevant to the children’s learning.
“Personal Learning Plans” are kept by children’s key workers on each child and we encourage children to contribute to these along with staff and parents/carers. The Personal Learning Folders will be given home on a regular basis and are able to be given to parents on request and be given out at parent’s nights. Information from home sheets are given out on a regular basis and parents are encouraged to add information from home. The Personal Learning Plans will leave nursery with the children when they leave Tom Thumb and these will be passed on to the child’s local primary school.
Evaluating the curriculum
Tom Thumb primary aim is to offer high quality childcare and education and it recongises the importance of reviewing and evaluating its practice against this aim.
Through regular staff meetings and in service days the staff can monitor and evaluate their process using tool kits such as Child at the Centre 2, Guidelines towards Good Practice and SPPA’s quality accreditation scheme.
Staff will attend CPD training to keep up to date with any developments.
Date Adopted May 2010
Review Date: May 2011
Authorised person to change policy: Debbie Urquhart – Nursery Manager
Board of Directors.
Evaluating the curriculum
Tom thumb's primary aim is to offer high quality childcare and education and it recognises the importance of reviewing and evaluating its practices against this aim. Staff meetings are used to monitor and assess the relevance of the curriculum. Staff will attend training in curriculum development, in order to keep abreast of developments.