PSED | ABC123

Personal, Social & Emotional Development

Communication, Language, and Literacy

Communication, language, and literacy permeate all areas of the nursery. The nursery as a whole is organised in order to promote and enhance development in communication, language, and literacy, and to promote positive images and role models for the children.

Learning will be achieved via a mixture of adult directed and structured free play activities, delivered through cross-curricular activities and topic based themes.

Aim
To promote and develop self-esteem and self-responsibility alongside interest, understanding and value for the child’s own experiences and those of other people.

Objectives
To provide the children with opportunities to observe, interact and learn about each other’s lives through a balanced programme of activities.

Operating Policy
When the child starts nursery, staff will work in partnership with parents in order to find out about the child’s experiences, culture and home background. A profile of each child will be built up, using information supplied by parents as the starting point.

The child will be supported in developing self-esteem, through shared experiences and by being given opportunities to learn about the lives of others around them.

There will be opportunities to participate in local and wider community visits, thus developing individual and communal responsibility.

Awareness of the national and global environment will be developed through the use of visitors to the nursery (parents, grandparents, workers, etc), artefacts, books, photographs and information technology.

The children will be provided with experiences which:

promote the development of independence, confidence and self-respect;
promote the development of responsibility for their own learning;
enable them to concentrate and persevere in their learning and seek help when necessary;
support them in making decisions;
enable them to resolve conflict through negotiation;
help them to form effective social relationships with other children and adults;
help them to take turns and share;
help them express their feelings;
provide opportunities to express their opinions, and to consider and respect those of others;
help them develop an understanding of right and wrong;
promote the development of equal opportunities and respect for people of other cultures and beliefs;
enable them to succeed.

In providing such experiences with the adults in the nursery will:

be aware of the role models which they themselves provide for the children;
value the home lifestyle, culture and circumstances pertaining to the individual child
share an agreed view about the nursery ethos;
encourage parents and other community members to share in the life of the nursery.

Programme of Work

A programme of experiences based upon a mixture of general and topic based activities will be implemented.

The programme will provide the children with the opportunity to work as an individual and as part of small and large groups.

It will be based upon structured play and will provide an opportunity for both free-play and adult-led experience.

The programme will include some or all of the following types of activity:-

Roleplay and dressing up
One-to-one discussions
Group discussions
Storytelling
Puppets
Games that involve – taking turns equal turns for all children and the following of rules
Visits to local cultural and religious centres.

Talking:

One-to-one discussions.
Group discussions.
Role play.
Reciting poems as a group.
Singing nursery rhymes as a group.
Encouraging children to make up and tell stories based on pictures.
Storytelling followed by a discussion about the story.

Listening:

Storytelling to individuals.
Storytelling to groups.
Sound lotto games.
‘Sound Walks’ focusing on what can be heard on a street or in a park.
Giving the children simple instructions to follow.
Asking the children to listen for a particular character or event in a story.

Reading:

Sorting and matching toys and games.
Sequencing activities.
Labelling of coat hooks and other personal items with the child’s name.
Storytelling to individuals, following the story through the pages of a book – pointing to the words as they are read if appropriate.
Storytelling to groups, following the story through the pages of a large book – pointing to the words as they are read if appropriate.
Labelling displays and other items in the nursery.
Games matching sounds to letter symbols.
Reading corner for free play with books.
Displays of items starting with a particular letter.

Writing:

Sorting and matching toys and games.
Sequencing activities.
Free play with paper and writing equipment.
Modelling with play-doh and clay.
Colouring.
Tracing over lines, shapes and letters.
Copying lines, shapes and letters.
Dot-to-dot drawings.
Pathway drawing activities.

Planning, recording and assessment
Topic planning takes place on a monthly or half-termly basis. Activity planning occurs on a weekly or daily basis. The topic planning and activity planning sheets used by the nursery are laid out to identify each of the areas of learning in the ‘Early Learning Goals’ document. This ensures that Personal, Social and Emotional Development is considered whenever a topic or activity is planned.

Staff are able to observe the children informally and records of such observations can be made on the children’s personal profile sheets or on activity record sheets.

Samples of the children’s work which relate to Personal, Social and Emotional Development are kept in the child’s individual folder as appropriate.

Assessment is carried out through a mixture of informal observation, interaction with the child, the use of the information on record sheets and discussion during regular staff meetings. The information gathered during the assessment process is then used for future planning of activities for each child.

Information gained through recording and assessment will be shared with parents, other school staff and outside agencies as appropriate.