A secure and nurturing start

Starting Nursery is an important milestone. For many two-year-olds, it may be their first regular experience away from their family.

Our first priority is to help children feel safe, secure and understood. Warm relationships, familiar routines and responsive care create the conditions children need to explore and learn.

At this stage, our curriculum places particular emphasis upon the three prime areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage:

• Communication and Language

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development

• Physical Development

These provide the foundations upon which all later learning is built.

What our two-year-olds learn

Children are supported to:

• build secure relationships with familiar adults

• separate from their parent or carer with increasing confidence

• express their needs, feelings, choices and interests

• listen and respond to familiar words and instructions

• develop their vocabulary through conversation, stories, songs and rhymes

• play alongside and begin to interact with other children

• explore resources safely and with curiosity

• develop balance, coordination and physical confidence

• use their hands and fingers with increasing control

• participate in familiar routines

• develop independence in eating, drinking, dressing and personal care

• begin to recognise and manage different feelings

Children learn through sensory experiences, movement, songs, rhymes, stories, practical exploration and purposeful play.

Adults observe and listen carefully. They respond to what children say, do and communicate, introducing new language and helping children take their next steps.

Responsive care and learning

Care and education are closely connected for two-year-olds.

Everyday moments such as eating, changing, washing hands, putting on a coat or preparing to go outdoors are valuable opportunities for developing language, relationships and independence.

We work in partnership with families to understand each child’s:

• routines and preferences

• communication

• interests

• medical or dietary needs

• allergies

• personal-care needs

• sensory needs

• comfort and regulation strategies

• previous experiences of childcare

Where children require nappies, wipes, barrier cream, particular drinks or other personal items, families will be given individual guidance about what should be provided.

Children do not need to be toilet trained before joining Waterloo Nursery. We work sensitively with families and support children’s personal care and growing independence in a way that respects their dignity and developmental stage.

Growing in confidence and independence

As children progress through Nursery, we build upon their earliest knowledge and experiences.

Children continue to learn through purposeful play and continuous provision, alongside increasingly focused adult-led teaching. They develop richer language, stronger relationships, greater independence and an increasing understanding of reading, writing, mathematics and the wider world.

Our aim is not simply to prepare children for Reception. We want children to enjoy and succeed within Nursery while building the knowledge, confidence and learning behaviours that will support them throughout school.

What our three- and four-year-olds learn

Children are supported to:

• listen to others and contribute to conversations

• communicate their ideas, experiences and feelings

• understand and use increasingly ambitious vocabulary

• develop friendships and play cooperatively

• follow familiar routines and expectations

• make choices and manage aspects of their own personal care

• enjoy and discuss stories, poems, songs and rhymes

• hear and explore sounds in preparation for reading

• make marks and communicate meaning through drawing and writing

• develop an understanding of number, pattern, shape and measure

• investigate materials and the natural world

• ask questions and explain what they notice

• create through art, music, movement, construction and imaginative play

• concentrate, persevere and begin to solve problems independently

How children learn in Nursery

Young children learn best when purposeful play is combined with knowledgeable adult interaction and carefully planned teaching.

Our approach brings together:

• warm and responsive relationships

• explicit adult-led teaching

• small-group learning

• stories, songs and rhymes

• sustained conversations

• practical and first-hand experiences

• purposeful continuous provision

• indoor and outdoor learning

• opportunities to practise and revisit important knowledge

• sensitive support and appropriate challenge

Our adults know when to join children’s play, when to model a skill, when to introduce new vocabulary and when to give children time to explore an idea independently.

Children are encouraged to:

• play and explore

• become actively involved in their learning

• concentrate and keep trying

• develop their own ideas

• make connections

• think about different ways of doing things

Learning is carefully planned and sequenced. It is not left to chance.

The United Curriculum provides our wider curriculum spine across our two-year-old provision, three- and four-year-old Nursery and Reception.

It supports clear progression through all seven areas of learning:

Prime areas

• Communication and Language

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development

• Physical Development

Specific areas

• Literacy

• Mathematics

• Understanding the World

• Expressive Arts and Design

The curriculum identifies the important knowledge, vocabulary and experiences children should encounter at each stage. Staff adapt teaching and provision carefully to meet children’s needs while maintaining ambition for every child.

Children’s interests are valued and used to deepen engagement, but our curriculum is not determined only by what children already know or choose. We introduce children to new stories, language, ideas, people, places and experiences so that their knowledge of the world grows.

Communication and language

Communication and language are at the heart of Nursery.

Our adults model language, listen carefully and extend what children say. They comment on children’s play, introduce precise vocabulary and create frequent opportunities for purposeful conversation.

Children regularly experience:

• high-quality stories and picture books

• traditional tales

• nursery rhymes

• songs and action rhymes

• poems

• non-fiction texts

• role play

• small-group conversations

• opportunities to retell and recreate familiar stories

Important vocabulary is taught deliberately and revisited in different contexts.

We recognise that children communicate in different ways. Visual prompts, objects, signs, gestures or other communication approaches may be used where these help children understand and express themselves.

Every child deserves to have a voice.

Early reading and writing

A love of reading begins in Nursery.

Children learn how to handle and enjoy books, listen to stories and talk about characters, events and ideas. Familiar texts are revisited so that children can join in, retell parts of stories and use newly learned vocabulary.

Read Write Inc. begins in Nursery in a developmentally appropriate way. Children develop the listening and language skills needed for later phonics teaching through:

• songs and rhymes

• listening games

• sound discrimination

• alliteration

• oral blending

• stories and conversation

• age-appropriate introduction to letter sounds

Writing begins with communication. Children draw, make marks and begin to give meaning to the marks they make.

The Nursery environment provides purposeful opportunities to write, including making lists, drawing maps, recording ideas, creating signs and using writing within imaginative play.

Adults also help children develop the physical foundations needed for writing through movement, dough, threading, construction, painting and the careful use of tools.

Early mathematics

Mathematics is woven through Nursery life.

Children encounter number, pattern, shape, space and measure through play, routines, stories, songs and adult-led teaching.

They learn through practical experiences such as:

• counting children and objects

• sharing and grouping

• comparing amounts

• noticing patterns

• building and arranging

• filling and emptying

• comparing size, weight and capacity

• exploring shape and position

• talking about time and daily routines

• solving simple practical problems

Adults model accurate mathematical vocabulary and encourage children to explain what they notice.

Children are given time to explore ideas practically, repeat experiences and develop a secure understanding before moving on.

Purposeful continuous provision

Our Nursery environment is carefully organised so that children can revisit taught knowledge, practise skills, make choices and develop independence.

Children have access to areas supporting:

• stories and reading

• imaginative and role play

• construction

• small-world play

• mathematics

• mark-making and early writing

• creative work

• sensory exploration

• investigation

• fine-motor development

• physical development

• understanding the natural world

Resources are selected deliberately and changed or enhanced in response to the curriculum and children’s learning.

Adults observe, interact and teach within the provision. They help children connect new learning with what they already know.

Our Nursery has been newly refurbished to provide a calm, welcoming and high-quality learning environment.

Resources are accessible and presented clearly so that children can make choices and take increasing responsibility for their learning. Areas are carefully defined, helping children understand routines and become deeply involved in their play.

The environment supports children’s communication, relationships, independence, creativity and early knowledge across the curriculum.

Outdoor learning

Our outstanding outdoor environment is an extension of the Nursery classroom.

Children have opportunities to:

• run, climb, balance and develop coordination

• use wheeled equipment

• build and create on a larger scale

• explore sand, water and natural materials

• observe plants, animals, weather and seasonal change

• investigate how things move and change

• solve practical problems

• cooperate with other children

• take carefully managed risks

• develop confidence and resilience

Adults introduce language, model skills and help children observe, question and investigate.

Outdoor learning supports every area of the Early Years curriculum.

Each child is supported by a key person within the Nursery team.

The key person helps the child develop secure relationships, settle into Nursery and feel known and understood. They build a close working relationship with the child’s family and help ensure that care, learning and communication are responsive to the child’s needs.

Although the key person has particular responsibility for knowing the child well, all members of the Nursery team contribute to children’s care, learning and development.

Families will be told who their child’s key person is when their child starts Nursery.

Every child responds differently to starting Nursery.

Before a child begins, our transition arrangements may include:

• a meeting with parents or carers

• information from the child’s family

• communication with a previous setting

• a home or setting visit where appropriate

• opportunities to visit Nursery

• an individual or phased settling arrangement

Transition plans reflect each child’s age, experience and needs. We work with families to help children feel safe and develop confidence, while ensuring that settling arrangements do not unnecessarily restrict access to funded hours.

Families are encouraged to share information about anything that may affect their child’s wellbeing or learning.

Every child belongs at Waterloo.

Our commitment to inclusion begins within our two-year-old provision. Staff identify children’s needs early and adapt teaching, communication, routines and the environment so that children can participate successfully.

Support may include:

• visual routines and prompts

• alternative communication approaches

• sensory or regulation support

• additional adult modelling

• learning broken into smaller steps

• repetition and overlearning

• targeted individual or small-group teaching

• adapted resources or equipment

• support with personal care

• advice from Waterloo’s Inclusion Team or external professionals

Families are involved in planning and reviewing additional support.

We remain ambitious for every child. Adaptation means providing the right route into learning—not reducing the richness of children’s experiences.