At Nexus, learning in our Nursery and Reception classes is a thorough mix of teacher-directed and child-initiated play activities. By cultivating an environment where children can actively participate in and explore more, we are also fostering a sense of discovery and essential foundation skills through play-based learning.
Nexus Early Years harvesting at Nexus homegrown edible garden
The IEYC framework comes in the form of learning strands. Each strand details what children will experience and learn about, through contextualised ‘Explore and Express’ activities. All of the learning that takes place through the strands is connected via an IEYC unit of learning or ‘theme’. All themes or topics are relevant to our international community.
Entry Point
The entry point is an activity that begins each unit of work. It gets the learners excited about what they will learn in each new unit. An entry point is usually a fun, engaging start to the theme. It acts as a point of reference for children to look back to throughout the unit. Although, there are no specific learning outcomes for this part of the learning process, often children learn through this experience. Some entry points that will be carried out this year in Early Years are.
Capturing Curiosity
Capturing curiosity allows the children to reveal what they already know about the topic, and what they want to know about the theme they are learning. During this part of the process, the children will reveal their interests and this will be used to plan for future learning.
The Big Picture
The Big Picture provides children and families with some context to an IEYC unit of learning so that connections between previous and new learning can be made.
Explore & Express
The Explore and Express parts of the process when the children engage in lots of opportunities and experiences where children play and learn together.
- Explore: This is the process when teacher-scaffolded IEYC learning activities and child- initiated exploration are developed through individual and collaborative experiences.
- Express: These are the creative opportunities provided to help children demonstrate, share and consider what they have engaged in and learned about.
- Each IEYC unit of learning has distinct ‘Phase Level’ activities through which children can Explore and Express their learning.
Exit Point
The Exit point is where children share, reflect on and celebrate their learning.
