Our Head Start program includes seven areas of learning and development covering: Communications & Language; Physical Development; Personal Social And Emotional Development; Literacy; Mathematics; Understanding of the World; and Expressive Arts And Design.

This involves giving children opportunities to speak and listen in a range of situations and to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves.

Listening and Attention

• Children listen attentively in a range of situations.
• They listen to stories, accurately anticipating key events and respond to what they hear with relevant comments, questions, or actions.
• They give their attention to what others say and respond appropriately, while engaged in another activity.

Understanding

• Children follow instructions involving several ideas or actions.
• They answer ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions about their experiences and in response to stories or events.

Speaking

• Children express themselves effectively, showing awareness of listeners’ needs.
• They use past, present, and future forms accurately when talking about events that have happened or are to happen in the future.
• They develop their own narratives and explanations by connecting ideas or events.

This involves providing opportunities for children to be active and interactive, and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food.

Moving and Handling

• Children show good control and co-ordination in large and small movements.
• They move confidently in a range of ways, safely negotiating space.
• They handle equipment and tools effectively, including pencils for writing.

Health and Self-Care

• Children know the importance for good health of physical exercise and a healthy diet and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe.
• They manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs successfully, including dressing and going to the toilet independently.

This involves helping children to:

• develop a positive sense of themselves and others.
• form positive relationships and develop respect for others.
• develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings.
• understand appropriate behaviour in groups.
• have confidence in their own abilities. 

Self-Confidence and Self-Awareness

• Children are confident about trying new activities and say why they like some activities more than others.
• They are confident speaking in a familiar group, will talk about their ideas, and will choose the resources they need for their chosen activities.
• They say when they do or do not need help.

Managing Feelings and Behaviour

• Children talk about how they and others show feelings, talk about their own and others’ behaviour and its consequences, and know that some behaviour is unacceptable.
• They work as part of a group or class and understand and follow the rules.
• They adjust their behaviour to different situations and take changes of routine in their stride.

Making Relationships

• Children play co-operatively, taking turns with others.
• They take account of one another’s ideas about how to organise their activity.
• They show sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings, and form positive relationships with adults and other children.

This involves encouraging children to read and write, both through listening to others reading, and being encouraged to begin to read and write themselves. Children must be given access to a wide range of reading materials such as books, poems, and other written materials to ignite their interest.

Reading

• Children read and understand simple sentences.
• They use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately.
• They also read some common irregular words.
• They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read.

Writing

• Children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds.
• They also write some irregular common words.
• They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others. Some words are spelt correctly, and others are phonetically plausible.

This involves providing children with opportunities to:

• practice and improve their skills in counting numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems.
• describe shapes, spaces, and measures.
   

Numbers

• Children count reliably with numbers from 1 to 20, place them in order and say which Using quantities and objects, they add and subtract 2 single-digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer.
• They solve problems, including doubling, halving, and sharing.

Shape, Space and Measures

• Children use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time, and money to compare quantities and objects and to solve problems.
• They recognise, create, and describe patterns.
• They explore characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.

This involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology, and the environment.

People and Communities

• Children talk about past and present events in their own lives and in the lives of family members.
• They know that other children do not always enjoy the same things and are sensitive to this.
• They know about similarities and differences between themselves and others, and among families, communities, and traditions.

The World

• Children know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things.
• They talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another.
• They make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur and talk about changes.

Technology

• Children recognise that a range of technology is used in places such as homes and schools.

They select and use technology for purposes

This involves supporting children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. It involves providing children with opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas, and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, and design and technology.

Exploring and Using Media and Materials

• Children sing songs, make music and dance, and experiment with ways of changing them.
• They safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools, and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.

Being Imaginative

• Children use what they have learnt about media and materials in original ways, thinking about uses and purposes.
• They represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through design and technology, art, music, dance, role-play, and stories