The intent of our curriculum is that it will secure our vision that at Nyewood Church of England Infant School our children become happy, confident and independent learners enabling them to take an active role in God’s world.

Through our curriculum, we offer each child a range of exciting and meaningful learning experiences to develop individual skills and talents; encouraging each child to see themselves as a lifelong learner. Learning through play is a key, underpinning principle of our school. It is the most memorable way to learn, both as children and adults. Play allows us to experiment with new language, investigate our environment, organise our learning, practise newly acquired skills and concepts as well as experiencing both success and failure. Children need to be given the time and space to explore, create, experience, discuss and express their ideas in many ways, encouraging self-confidence, which, in turn, leads to independence.

Most of the children’s learning is centred on their interests or a topic/theme, as this approach gives more meaning to their learning and all the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and National Curriculum. Across the school, staff plan together to offer a range of exciting learning experiences which allow children to acquire, apply and develop new skills and concepts. These values underpin our teaching and learning.

At Nyewood we are very lucky to have some fantastic curriculum enrichment opportunities on our doorstep. We ensure we utilise these through our personalised curriculum and focus on things that are important to us as a school. We have developed our school grounds to provide an intellectually stimulating and aesthetically pleasing environment with interesting areas for the children to explore, providing tactile and visual stimuli for all areas of the curriculum. In particular, we are proud of our ‘Woodland Area’ that we have developed over the last few years. Children have the opportunity to visit this area as much as possible to enhance their learning. In addition, children also have a set ‘Woodland session’ on a rotation basis on a Monday afternoon. This is led by our experienced outdoor learning staff who provide a high-quality learning experience for all.

We also use different local areas to extend our learning and experiences. We have a church within walking distance meaning we can extend upon our RE curriculum even further. We visit for a number of reasons during the year, from celebrating Christmas and Easter, to sketching the features of a church. We are also privileged to have the beach locally and we try to use this for different aspects of our learning. Our local area also consists of an allotment, shops including a post office, fire station, parks and much more. We encourage visits around our local area to help children have a first-hand experience and deeper understanding of the features of the locality.

We have strong links with Nyewood CE Junior School, meaning transition from Year 2 to Year 3 happens smoothly and happily through well-structured activities and opportunities to visit before the end of term. Our strong links also allow us to plan and deliver a curriculum that is progressive across both schools.

At Nyewood we believe in providing children with a wide range of inspiring, stimulating learning experiences which make their time here as memorable as possible.

If you have any questions or queries about the curriculum or would like to find out more, please do not hesitate to talk to your child’s class teacher, or email into the school office to arrange an appointment.