Dragonflies Room

In the Dragonflies room we carefully consider how we run our day. We pay a lot of attention to encouraging children to develop their personal and social skills; we want them to be kind, considerate and confident individuals. We encourage them to be aware of themselves and their feelings, encouraging positive mental health. We do this through regular opportunities to practise yoga and mindfulness.

Early Years Foundation Stage

When planning, we take into account the EYFS curriculum guidance. We encourage the children to be involved in the planning process and ask them to think of new topics they would like to learn about. We promote their language and communication skills through a range of activities, ‘show and tell’, circle time and stories.

In preparation for ‘big school’ we encourage the children to develop their listening skills and to enjoy rhythm, music, stories and role play. We draw their attention to the sounds around us and to the words we use in conversation. We use ‘Letters and Sounds’ phase one to introduce simple sounds to the children. We provide many opportunities for mark-making and emergent writing, both inside and outside. Praise is given for all the different skills the children learn and for all the different challenges they try each day.

The curriculum we provide has a good mixture of adult led activities and child led, free choice activities. This encourages then to be independent and engage more in activities. We believe that children learn best when they are happy, interested in and fully engaged in activities.

There are plenty of opportunities for fun and discovery, for exploring and letting off steam, for quiet play and stories, for craft and messy play and making friendships with staff and their peers. We encourage creative, loose parts play, where the children make amazing inventions with resources such as pipes, guttering and wooden ramps.

Most of all we provide lots of opportunities for meaningful learning whilst having fun in a safe, secure and friendly environment.