Intent

Our intent is that all children feel happy and develop a love of learning through play at Whitecross.

Our ethos is to enable all children to flourish from their individual starting points. We embrace what each child brings to our setting and work with their families to support their children to become independent learners.

Children develop and learn through positive relationships, play, communication.  They build on their experiences with others and development of strong characteristics of effective learning.

Implementation

Children build positive relationships with others through play and quality interactions with adults.  All adults are ambitious for all children to achieve; they value children’s choices and decisions, get to know their individual learning styles and recognise that they develop in their own ways.

 “Children learn and develop well in enabling environments with teaching and support from adults, who respond to their individual interests and needs and help them to build their learning over time” (Statutory Framework for the EYFS March 2021)

Our engaging environment at Whitecross enables children to follow their interests and fascinations by exploring and developing their learning. They are given wide-ranging experiences that allow them to build on their knowledge both indoors and outside.  We learn through well-balanced curriculum of adult led and child initiated learning.  

Children find out for themselves by playing and exploring, actively learning and having a go at activities and thinking critically. The opportunities they have to revisit their learning supports children to practise and consolidate their understanding and transfer experiences and skills into their long-term memory.

There are many opportunities for learning in our enabling environment and through the positive relationships children develop with everyone on their learning journey and who they meet throughout their day.  They are challenged and encouraged to take risks in their play.  They are taught a wide repertoire of rhymes and songs and their love of reading is extended through the sharing of interesting and inspirational texts.

Impact

Children are assessed by the whole staff team so that activities can be planned in response to their developing needs. They become highly motivated learners who are able to persevere even when faced with challenges. They demonstrate concentration, imagination and deep level learning with their learning.

During their time at Whitecross children develop self awareness and learn self-regulation skills to support their mental health and wellbeing. They leave as happy, independent individuals who are confident in their abilities and ready to embrace new learning throughout their live.

Here is the link to 'Development Matters 2021' for parental information.