Our 2-3 year olds attend the Little Acorns room, where we have a deep focus on the prime areas of learning, which are:
Communication and Language Development
Language development is central to all areas of a child’s growth. Early conversations help children enhance both their language and cognitive skills. The more children engage in conversations with adults and peers in a language-rich environment, the more they will learn.
At our nursery, language is at the core of everything we do.
When children feel respected and heard, they are more confident in trying to speak, retell stories, engage in pretend play, and use a broader range of words. Our staff support this process by guiding children’s language development during play and adult-led small group activities, asking simple questions, and encouraging children to express their ideas as their language skills grow.
Our team is also skilled in understanding non-verbal communication, which is often the first way children express themselves when they join us. Staff use visual cues and body language effectively, and work closely with parents to understand the words children use in their home language, ensuring we can support their communication in a way that feels familiar to them.
Personal, Social & Emotional Development
Children’s personal, social, and emotional development (PSED) is essential for their well-being and cognitive growth. At the heart of their development are the key attachments that shape their social interactions. Strong, nurturing relationships with adults help children understand their own emotions and those of others.
Staff are skilled in supporting children to recognise and begin to be able to manage their emotions. They use positive behaviour management and praise to help children to develop a positive self-image and build their confidence. A key skill at this age is beginning to learn patience and focus.
Staff model how to form friendships, cooperate, and resolve conflicts peacefully. These skills provide a strong foundation for success both in school and later in life.
Physical Development
Physical activity is essential for children’s overall development, supporting their physical, social, and emotional well-being. Gross and fine motor skills develop progressively, beginning with sensory exploration and activities that build strength, coordination, and positional awareness.
At Chatham we foster these skills by creating games and offering indoor and outdoor play opportunities that enhance core strength, balance, spatial awareness, and agility. We help children to develop their fine motor skills, including hand-eye coordination, which are crucial for early literacy development by providing varied activities like puzzles, arts and crafts, play dough and small-world play.
Equally we also support children with their self help skills and independence, for example in hand washing, taking off their coats and feeding themselves. We are also happy to support parents in helping toilet train their children.
We teach these skills through experiences based on the specific areas of learning which are:
Literacy
At Chatham Nursery, we deliver our literacy curriculum through a variety of carefully planned activities. We have dedicated mark-making areas and provide opportunities for reading and writing throughout the classroom. Small group intensive interaction sessions are embedded into the daily routine. Labels on toy storage support independent selection and tidying, while stories, rhymes, and songs are integrated into the curriculum. Our Family Book Club encourages parents to read with their children, further enhancing their literacy development. All activities are sequenced to ensure progression in children’s literacy skills.
Mathematics
Chatham have a sequenced mathematics curriculum which is based on the White Rose Maths Mastery Framework. This is a framework of learning that is broken down into steps across the year that develop the understanding of number, shape, measure and spacial thinking. This is sequenced and revisited across the year so that children build up a depth of knowledge. Maths is taught through hands on, practical fun and playful activities and enhancements to our provision. Having a strong foundation in maths will enable the children to be confident and competent mathematicians for the rest of their school career.
Understanding the world
At Chatham our outdoor environment is valued at equally as our indoor environment, offering the children to have new and unique experiences throughout the seasons. We have trips several times a year that bring children out of school and into nature or other places that they might not have been before. This is so that we can build up a breadth of knowledge and language that will enable them throughout their school careers.
We listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world.
Expressive arts & design
The children have lots of opportunities to paint, draw, chalk, glue, build and design while at nursery. We believe that this is important because the development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness nurtures their imagination and creativity. Regular opportunities to engage with the arts, to explore and experiment with a variety of media and materials, not only supports their creative growth but also helps them build confidence, resilience and supports their emotional wellbeing.