Where every child begins to SHINE

The Early Years are where children’s journey at Waterloo begins.

From our provision for two-year-olds, through our three- and four-year-old Nursery and into Reception, we provide a carefully planned journey which helps every child feel safe, develop confidence and build the strong foundations needed for future learning.

Our newly refurbished Nursery and Reception environments provide calm, inviting and purposeful spaces in which young children can explore, communicate, create and learn. These are complemented by our outstanding outdoor learning areas, where children can move, investigate, collaborate and experience the natural world.

At every stage, children are known as individuals, nurtured carefully and encouraged to live our SHINE values:

• Strive

• Honesty

• Inclusion

• Nurture

• Excellence

Our Early Years vision

We want every child to experience a happy, ambitious and inclusive beginning to their education.

Our Early Years provide a language-rich environment in which strong relationships, purposeful play, rich experiences and high-quality teaching work together. Children learn to communicate, form relationships, become independent, manage their feelings and approach new learning with curiosity and confidence.

We recognise that every child arrives with different experiences, strengths and starting points. Our skilled adults get to know each child, remove barriers to participation and adapt teaching and provision so that every child belongs and is supported to succeed.

By the end of Reception, we want children to be confident communicators, enthusiastic readers, emerging writers, capable mathematicians and curious learners who are ready for the next stage of their Waterloo journey.

Our approach

Strong foundations for future learning

Communication and language, early reading, writing and mathematics are central to our curriculum.

Children develop these foundations progressively from the age of two. Important knowledge, vocabulary and skills are taught carefully, revisited frequently and practised in different contexts.

Alongside these foundations, children encounter stories, music, art, nature, people, communities and the wider world. This ensures that children’s learning is broad, rich and full of possibility.

Purposeful play and expert teaching

Young children need time to explore, imagine, practise and make choices. They also benefit from knowledgeable adults who teach, model, explain and introduce new ideas.

Our provision combines:

• warm and responsive interaction

• explicit adult-led teaching

• guided learning

• purposeful play

• carefully planned continuous provision

• practical and first-hand experiences

• repetition and opportunities to apply learning independently

Our adults know when to join children’s play, when to introduce new language or knowledge and when to step back so that children can think and act for themselves.

Every interaction matters

Communication and language run through everything we do.

Adults model language, extend children’s ideas and create frequent opportunities for conversation. Stories, songs, rhymes and carefully chosen vocabulary help children develop their understanding and express themselves with increasing confidence.

We recognise and support different ways of communicating so that every child has a voice.

Every child belongs

Inclusion begins on a child’s first day at Waterloo.

We understand that children develop at different rates and may communicate, interact, regulate or learn in different ways. Our environments, routines and teaching are adapted so that all children can participate and experience success.

Where children need additional support, we work closely with families, Waterloo’s Inclusion Team and other professionals. Learning may be broken into smaller steps and supported through visual prompts, sensory or regulation strategies, repetition, overlearning and carefully targeted teaching.

Our expectations remain ambitious for every child.

Our Early Years journey

Two-Year-Old Nursery

Our two-year-old provision offers a warm, nurturing and responsive introduction to education and childcare.

The emphasis is placed upon secure relationships, communication, physical development, emotional wellbeing, confidence and growing independence. Children learn through familiar routines, songs, stories, sensory experiences, adult interaction and purposeful play.

Three- and Four-Year-Old Nursery

As children progress through Nursery, they develop increasingly rich language, greater independence and a growing understanding of reading, writing, mathematics and the world around them.

Children continue to learn through carefully planned play and continuous provision, alongside increasingly focused adult-led teaching.

Reception

Reception completes the Early Years Foundation Stage and prepares children for a successful transition into Year 1.

Children continue to benefit from purposeful play and practical exploration alongside more systematic teaching in phonics, reading, writing and mathematics.

Across Early Years, the United Curriculum provides our wider curriculum spine. Read Write Inc. supports children’s early language, phonics, reading and writing development, while Ark Maths Mastery provides carefully sequenced mathematics teaching in Reception.

Newly refurbished learning environments

Both our Nursery and Reception environments have been newly refurbished to provide high-quality spaces designed specifically for young children.

Our indoor environments are calm, organised and inviting. Resources are accessible so that children can make choices, follow their interests and develop independence. Clearly defined areas support communication, reading, writing, mathematics, imaginative play, creativity, construction and investigation.

The environment is not simply where learning happens—it is an important part of how we teach.

Outstanding outdoor learning

Our outstanding outdoor areas are central to our Early Years provision.

Outdoor learning gives children opportunities to develop strength, balance, coordination and confidence. It allows them to build and create on a larger scale, investigate natural materials, observe seasonal change, solve practical problems and learn how to manage appropriate risks.

Children can revisit classroom learning outdoors while discovering new ways to communicate, cooperate, explore and think.