Porters Grange Primary School & Nursery, Lancaster Gardens,
Southend on Sea, Essex, SS1 2NS
01702 468047
Part of the Portico Academy Trust.
opening doors, unlocking potential
EARLY YEARS
At Porters Grange we believe in playing together, learning together and growing together. The children are at the forefront of our teaching. Our curriculum is rich in language and experiences, imaginative in style and fun in the delivery! We promote personal and social development through encouraging children to cooperate and collaborate and to express themselves in an environment which is safe and secure using adults as exemplary role models. We promote and encourage the children to be leaders of their own learning and teach the skills to channel their learning through play in a purposeful way. This, in turn, will set them up for the social skills needed to progress on to their next stage of learning.
Through our curriculum we aim to:
- Form positive relationships with pupils, parents and carers
- Nurture our learners through an environment which is happy, safe and secure
- Teach the skills so children control their own learning and take risks in their experiences
- Develop our pupils' confidence to become independent learners
- Encourage critical and creative thinking
- Scaffold learning to promote the highest levels of involvement
- Celebrate with our children in their achievements and show we are proud of them
- Develop a 'have a go' attitude so they do not give up at the first hurdle
Our curriculum provides rich, meaningful learning moments and emphasises learning through play and exploration. Play is recognised in supporting high levels of well-being. Staff, who are skilled in teaching through play, have great impact on children's progress. They recognise moments where they can scaffold and develop learning which we call 'Planning in the Moment'. This approach capitalises on natural curiosity and enables the children to discover awe and wonder in the world. It encourages active participation in learning, critical thinking and an approach to problem solving in a logical way. It enables greater motivation and self-drive in the approach to learning. Learning opportunities take place indoors and outdoors and consolidate learning in different environments on a daily basis which we call 'free flow'. During this time, the role of the adult is to skilfully develop the children's thinking and encourage collaboration and working together. Adults also plan specific class and group activities suiting the children's needs to teach phonics and mathematics.
All seven areas of learning are taught through play throughout each day of the year:
Communication and Language
Physical Development
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding of the World
Expressive Arts and Design
Phonics is taught daily, using a system called Letters and Sounds. Children are taught in classes initally and later grouped dependent on learning experiences and achievements.
Our high quality, secure, enabling environment promotes all areas of learning. Children can access all seven areas of learning continuously to make their own links in learning. The adult enhances the provision in the environment to suit the needs of pupils in order to reignite the spark of learning.
Porters Grange celebrates the wide diversity of our pupils and their backgrounds. We promote British Values by weaving aspects through every day school life; by teaching our pupils to listen to each other and wait before speaking, how to be helpful, kind and polite, knowing the difference between right and wrong and learning about various celebrations in their cultures.