NURSERY
at The Winterton Federation
We want children to feel cared for, develop a love of learning and to strive to be the best that they can be.
Welcome to our Nursery curriculum page. We believe that children have a right to expect a curriculum which is fun, motivating, interesting and most importantly purposeful.
We think the Winterton Federation brings something special to every child that walks through our doors – we offer an exciting curriculum experience to all our children. Our school ethos is built on our core values: FRIENDSHIP, JOY, PERSEVERANCE, RESPECT and enables children to achieve extraordinary things.
On this page, you will find further information about our Nursery curriculum, useful videos, links and resources for starting Foundation Stage with insights into the activities and learning environments within the year group.
At The Winterton Federation, we believe that the Early Years of a child’s life are the most important as a foundation for a child to grow and develop into a healthy, happy, confident and independent person.
The following statement taken from the Early Years Statutory Framework summarises the importance of the Early Years and why we strive for excellence in our early years setting.
‘Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and age five have a major impact on their future life chances. A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right. Good parenting and high quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.’
The nursery staff consists of
• Mrs Susan Waters (Nursery Early Years Lead Teacher)
• Miss Susan Lambert (Nursery Nurse)
• Miss Holly Harris (Teaching Assistant)
The Nursery Day
- 8.40am – Doors Open (Soft start)
- 8.50am – Doors Close
- 8.50am – Register and choosing lunch
- 9.00am – Choosing Time
- 9.50am – Snack time
- 10.00am – Choosing Time – Indoor/outdoor provision
- 11.45am – Lunch Break
- 1.00pm – Register
- 1.05pm— Afternoon Session Starts
- Choosing time – Indoor/outdoor provision
- 3.00pm – Quality story
- 3.20pm – Home time
Lunchtime Supervision
If your child is staying at school for two 3-hour sessions, (i.e. a full day) your child will be able to stay over lunch free of charge. Children may choose to have a school dinner or packed lunch; school dinners are paid for via the parent pay app.
Session Times
All children attending the nursery are entitled to 15 hours free provision each week.
We will, wherever possible, try to accommodate parent’s preferences, however the nursery can be oversubscribed, and individual preferences may not always be possible.
The Government are offering an additional 15 hours of free childcare for working parents from September 2017. The additional 15 hours of free childcare is available for families where both parents are working (or the sole parent is working in a lone-parent family), and each parent works the equivalent of 16 hours a week at the national minimum or living wage and earns less than £100,000 a year.
The nursery has 48 part-time places (24 full-time places). If you think you are eligible for the 30-hour funding, please check on the gov.uk website
Our core Christian values of ‘Friendship, Joy, Perseverance and Respect’ also underpin everything we do. We encourage all children to show kindness and consideration to others, to be able to share, negotiate and work well as part of a team. We support pupils to develop a ‘can-do’ attitude, to believe in themselves and to not give up when facing challenges. Developing these skills by the end of Reception ensures that our pupils are prepared for KS1 and beyond, in order to achieve and exceed in life.
Our curriculum is based on topics which have a focus on ‘Understanding the World’ and we use stories and non-fiction books to support our teaching. There is a clear progression of knowledge and skills from Nursery through to Reception.
We ensure that flexibility is built into our curriculum so that children’s own learning journeys can be supported and their individual talents, interests and needs are always nurtured.
We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework. This guidance helps us to plan play opportunities and first-hand experiences through which your child will learn, focussing on their interests. We also understand that your child learns from you at home and we will look forward to sharing and extending your child’s education in partnership with you. The Foundation Stage Curriculum covers seven areas of learning which are:
- Personal, social and emotional development
- Communication and language
- Physical development
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding of the world
- Expressive arts and design
The EYFS statutory Framework
- sets the standards that all early year’s providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well
- ensures children are kept healthy and safe
- ensures that children have the knowledge and skills they need to start school
The three characteristics of effective learning describe the behaviours children use in order to learn:
- Playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things, and build the resilience to ‘have a go’
- Active learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achieving
- Creating and thinking critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things
The three prime areas are particularly important for building a foundation for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, forming relationships, and thriving, underpinning the specific areas of learning.
The Prime Areas
- Communication and Language
- Personal, social and Emotional Development
- Physical Development
There are four specific areas through which the prime areas are strengthened and applied.
The Specific Areas
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the world
- Expressive arts and design
Link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework–2
Phonics is taught in Reception and Key Stage One through the Read Write Inc programme which is a systematic synthetic phonics programme and a highly effective approach used for the teaching of early reading and writing.
Our Nursery phonics teaching consists of developing children’s listening and attention skills and their phonological awareness. This is taught through daily phase 1 activities, incorporating the aspects of: environmental sounds, instrumental sounds, body percussion, voice sounds, rhyme and alliteration. Children listen to and join in with songs and rhymes, sound games and syllable clapping activities. This early stage of phonics supports children to develop the listening and attention skills and sound awareness, ready to begin the Read Write Inc programme. In the summer term prior to beginning the Reception year, our Nursery children play ‘Fred games’ from RWI which develops oral blending skills in preparation for learning the letter sounds.
Implementation
Our timetable is carefully planned to ensure that we maintain a careful balance between adult-led and child-initiated learning for all children. During child-initiated time, the adults take on various roles to support, extend and challenge the children in their learning. Some adults will teach specific skills within the areas of provision, planned based on the interests or needs of the children. Other adults work alongside children in their play, whilst sensitively questioning, modelling, developing children’s language and social skills and promoting independent thinking. We ensure that children develop positive characteristics of effective learning by encouraging children to persevere, be resilient, test their ideas and solve problems.
Our Outcomes
At The Winterton Federation, we have high expectations of all children regardless of their backgrounds, experience or learning needs. We ensure that all pupils make good progress across all areas of learning and ongoing assessments identify pupils who may need more support to achieve this. Our curriculum and provision takes into account children’s interests and differing learning needs. Adult interaction and support is also differentiated according to pupils’ developmental stages. We support and empower children to believe in themselves and strive to be the best they can be.
‘Pupils and staff flourish in this caring school community. The vision that everyone here will grow and learn is truly lived out in all the school does.’ – OFSTED 2025
Another beautiful sunny day exploring all of our new equipment in the Early Years #play #reception ... See MoreSee Less
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We are all set up for another exciting day of play and learning in Early Years . What a gorgeous Spring day to be outside#reception ... See MoreSee Less
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This is the route we will be taking for our Easter Bonnet Parade on Wednesday 25th March.
While we kindly ask that parents do not walk with the children during the parade, we would love for you to come along and support them by standing on the opposite sides of the roads and waving as they pass!
The Junior School children will set off at 10:15am and walk towards the Infant School, where everyone will then meet and continue the parade together.
Nursery children will set off at the same time as the Infant School. They will walk to the corner of West Street and then return back to school. ... See MoreSee Less
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