Unlocking Potential with EYFS at Ark Montessori Nursery

At Ark Montessori Nursery in Croydon, we believe in providing a strong foundation for every child's future. Our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum is designed to nurture curious minds and foster holistic development, ensuring your child thrives in a supportive and engaging environment. Discover how we bring the EYFS framework to life.

Our EYFS Framework: Areas of Learning

The EYFS curriculum sets the standards for learning, development, and care for children from birth to five. It comprises seven interconnected areas, all equally important, that shape our educational approach. Here’s a look at how we engage children in these vital aspects:

Communication and Language

Children will develop skills to listen attentively, understand spoken language, and express themselves confidently. Through everyday conversations, stories, songs, and play, they learn new vocabulary, follow directions, ask questions, and share ideas. These early communication skills lay the foundation for learning across all areas of the curriculum at Ark Montessori Nursery.

Physical Development

This area supports children to grow in strength, coordination, and confidence in using their bodies. They learn through movement, outdoor play, and handling tools and resources safely. Physical development helps children with self-care (like dressing and eating), gross motor skills (running, jumping), and fine motor skills (using pencils or scissors), preparing them for school and everyday life.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Children are encouraged to build strong relationships, understand and manage their feelings, and develop independence and resilience. They learn to play cooperatively, share, take turns, and follow routines. This area supports emotional wellbeing and self-confidence, helping them feel secure and capable as they explore the world around them at Ark Montessori Nursery.

Our unique approach to EYFS

At Ark Montessori Nursery, we go beyond the standard EYFS curriculum by offering distinctive elements that enrich your child's learning journey. We teach Arabic as a modern foreign language, introducing children to new cultures and linguistic skills from an early age. Additionally, we place a strong emphasis on oracy, building confidence in spoken language and effective communication, preparing them for future success.

Literacy and Mathematics

In literacy, children begin to enjoy and understand books, stories, and rhymes. They develop early reading skills through listening to texts and recognising sounds and letters. As they progress, children start to make marks and write for meaning, laying the groundwork for reading and writing with confidence and enthusiasm. For mathematics, children explore number, shape, space, and measure through hands-on play and real-life activities. They learn to count, recognise patterns, compare size and quantity, and solve simple problems. This playful approach builds confidence with mathematical thinking and supports everyday skills like comparing amounts and recognising shapes.

Understanding the World & Expressive Arts

This area helps children make sense of the world around them — people, places, technology, and nature. They explore differences and similarities, ask questions, investigate, and learn about past and present events. These experiences build curiosity, respect for others, and a sense of belonging in their community and environment. In Expressive Arts and Design, children are encouraged to be creative and imaginative through music, art, dance, role-play, and making with materials. They explore colour, texture, sound, and movement, experimenting with their ideas and expressing themselves in unique ways. This area supports confidence, inventiveness, and enjoyment of the arts.

Addressing parental concerns: tailored learning for every child

It’s natural to wonder, "What if my child can't grasp the concepts, or falls behind?" At Ark Montessori Nursery, we are a small, nurturing setting, which allows us to truly understand and cater to the individual needs of each child. Our EYFS curriculum is not one-size-fits-all; it's meticulously tailored to suit every child, whether they need extra support to overcome a challenge or advanced work to further their development. We work closely with families to ensure every child feels supported, confident, and excited about their learning journey, no matter their pace.