Early Years at Hill Mead

During the Early Years at Hill Mead, we provide our youngest children with a language-rich environment ripe with opportunities to practise and develop the speaking and listening skills that they will need to become successful learners throughout their lives.

We create imaginatively themed role play areas and high-quality resources that children can access independently in open-ended play.

We nurture the social and emotional development of our young ones, helping them to learn self-regulation, independence and confidence, that is so vital to success in education and in life.

Our children have access to the outdoors for a large part of each day and the principles of ‘Natural Thinkers'  are woven through our culture and evident in our curriculum.

https://naturalthinkers.co.uk/

All of our staff have been trained to use strategies that accelerate our children’s development of speech and language and are able to spot and address speech, language and communication needs.

We are proud of the relationships that we build in Early Years with our parents and families. We always work in partnership with families to give children the most positive start possible to their Hill Mead journey and to support them to be ready socially, emotionally, physically and academically for a strong start at school.

Early Maths

Starting from very first principles in nursery, children learn early maths skills through daily maths lessons from the very start and have ample opportunity to practise and explore their understanding within our immersive environments. Physical resources and manipulatives are key to grasping early principles including counting with 1:1 correspondence, the composition of numbers, cardinality and simple addition, subtraction and problem solving so these play a key role in each lesson. Children who need extra support and practise to embed ideas, are given additional teaching time outside of maths lessons.

Children learn to use strategies and resources in Early Years that help them to build confidence and that can continue to support their learning as they progress through school. Maths talk is also a key part of our learning in Early Years where children are taught key vocabulary each term to help them describe and articulate their knowledge.

In Reception children progress to learning through the Maths Mastery scheme which helps to ensure that every child in the class leaves Reception with a really thorough grounding in number within 20.

Speech and Language and Wellcomm

Our Early Years staff are trained in the use of the Wellcomm Assessment tool  to identify any speech and language needs as early as possible. This not only allows us to make rapid referrals when needed but also enables us to identify those that need the most support through speech and  language interventions and effective practice within our language-rich environment. Hill Mead has achieved an Enhanced Award from Evelina London for its excellent Early Years Speech and Language provision and outcomes. 

Welcomm Assessment Tool link

Evelina London Link

Early Reading and Phonics 

In Early Years, we place a strong emphasis on developing a love of storytelling as a key part of children’s language development. Through our “Talk Through Stories” approach, children explore and sequence stories, bringing them to life through discussion, role play, and creative activities that run through the whole provision. This supports their understanding of narrative and helps them build confidence in speaking. Children are also introduced to new vocabulary each week to enrich their language and communication skills.

In phonics, we follow the Read Write Inc. (https://www.ruthmiskin.com/ ) programme to provide children with a strong foundation in early reading. This approach supports children in learning to decode words and develop blending skills, enabling them to read with increasing fluency. Regular half-term assessments are used to monitor progress and ensure that each child is supported effectively in their reading journey.

Children become effective readers by reading at home as well as school. We celebrate and encourage our reading families by inviting parents in every term to join us at reading cafes where we offer tips and hints to make reading fun at home.

Special days
Celebration and community is a thread that runs through life in Early Years. We welcome our families into school to enjoy festivals, feast days, concerts, our Christmas Nativity and also to join us on our trips and visits to parks, museums, markets, theatres and libraries. 

Inclusion 

Hill Mead is an inclusive school, we provide inclusive teaching, to enable each child to make the best progress from the very beginning of their school journey.

We aim to create a stimulating and supportive environment where children learn through play, build strong foundations for the future and develop socially, emotionally and academically at their own pace.

Links to: Early Years curriculum maps:

Nursery Curriculum Map Reception Curriculum Map