Curriculum
A Blended Approach
At Bo-Peep Brook Green we work hard to create a natural blend of the Montessori Approach and the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum (EYFS) or National Curriculum.
The activities on our child-sized shelves are traditional Montessori materials, designed to cultivate practical life skills, sensorial, literacy, mathematics and creative thinking.
These enhance and prepare your child for the future. For instance, developing skills such as enabling the link from hearing letter or number sounds to recognising its corresponding symbol, learning about the world, refinement of physical movement and co-ordination, pencil grip, order, classification of numbers and to relate mass, shape, size, dimensions and colour.
Other conventional materials, toys, games and books are also included in the environment to enable diversity and variety and to meet the individual needs of all children.
To read more about the Montessori Approach please click here
Communication, Language and Literacy
In both small and large groups, children are encouraged to extend their vocabulary and fluency by talking and listening and by hearing and responding to stories, songs and rhymes. Children are helped to understand that written symbols carry a meaning. A well stocked book corner gives every child the opportunity and encouragement to become familiar with books and know how to handle them. Early introduction to books will keep the children in good stead for the rest of their lives and futher more there have been many recent studies on the profound effect stories and 'book talk' can have on future writing skills. Therefore this is something we value tremendously at Bo-Peep.
Personal and Social Development
Within a nurturing environment, children are individually supported in developing confidence, autonomy and self respect. They are encouraged to work and concentrate independently and to take part in the life of the group, sharing and co-operating with the other children and adults. Through activities, and conversation they learn acceptable ways to express their own feelings and have respect for the feelings of others.
Physical Development
A range of equipment and opportunities, both indoors and outdoors, allows children to develop confidence and enjoyment. A very high level of supervision enables children to create and meet physical challenges, developing increasing skills in control in moving, climbing and balancing. At the same time, children are supported in the development of their fine motor skills required to use tools, including pens, pencils and scissors and to handle small objects with increasing control and precision.
Numeracy
Through practical experience, children become familiar with sorting, matching, ordering, sequencing and counting activities that form the basis of early numeracy. They learn to identify objects by shape, colour size and number. Songs, games and books help children become aware of number sequences and when they show readiness, we use simple mathematical operations such as adding and taking away.
Understanding of the World
A safe and stimulating environment allows the children to explore and experiment with a wide range of natural and manufactured materials. This enables them to extend their technological understanding, using simple tools and techniques to achieve their intentions and solve problems.
Creative Development
Children are encouraged to use a wide range of resources in order to express their own ideas and feelings. Art equipment, including paint, glue, crayons and pencils as well as natural discarded resources, provides for open- ended exploration of colour, shape and texture and the development of skills in painting, drawing and collage. There are many opportunities for imaginative role- play, both individually and as part of the group.
Literacy
We teach a love for books and story telling. We dive deep into stories and explore all avenues. Success in later literacy relies on a positive connection with books. We read stories, retell them, create our own and act them out. Following children's interest we use the Jolly Phonics approach to learning to read. The children are introduced to a song and an action for each sound and progress to putting the sounds together.
