LEARNING IN THE PRE-SCHOOL YEAR

A parent's guide

IN 1997, the Scottish Office published A Curriculum Framework for Children in their Pre-school Year.
This is a national guideline on what children should learn in the year before they start primary school*. From the winter of 1998-99, all children in Scotland are being offered a place for education in the year before they start school.

The guideline will be useful whether children are in a nursery or in another kind of pre-school centre, and even where parents want to give them pre-school education at home.

The guideline takes account of what children will already have learned by the time they reach their pre-school year. It also points out that parents have a key part to play: learning does not happen only in nurseries and other centres.

* A Gaelic version is also available.

Centres using the guideline aim

• to encourage children to learn as they play
• to value every child's needs and abilities
• to help staff arrange and plan children's learning
• to lay the foundations through play for children's literacy and numeracy.

Play is important!

Parents visiting a pre-school centre sometimes say 'The children just seem to be playing!' Young children learn very naturally through play. In their play, for example, they may find out about materials, use and develop language, act out situations, ask questions, look for information in books, make friends, see how their actions affect other people, try out ideas, learn rules or read stories.

Young children learn through play and enjoy learning, and this prepares them well for school.

Staff help children to learn by observing them at play and deciding when to leave them alone and when to join in. They can stretch children in their play by offering ideas, materials or vocabulary, by asking questions, by setting challenges, and by helping, explaining, or showing how things can be done.

Staff can also make time to work with small groups of children on special aspects of learning, for example, to develop interest in books, to play games using shapes or to encourage children to use musical instruments.

Five main areas of learning

EMOTIONAL, PERSONAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

• confidence and sense of worth
• making friends and getting on with
  other children
• learning to look after yourself, making choices (for example between different kinds of play) or knowing who to ask for help
• caring for other people and for your surroundings.

COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE

• improving listening and talking
• learning to enjoy stories and rhymes and use information books
• listening and recognising sounds and words
• experimenting with writing.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

• looking at and noticing things, and using
  the five senses to find things out
• people and places in the local area
• designing and making things
  (for example, using construction toys)
• finding out about materials by playing
  with them
• finding out about animals and plants
• finding out about number, measurement
  and shape.

EXPRESSIVE AND AESTHETIC DEVELOPMENT

learning to express ideas and feelings through:

• painting, drawing and modelling
• acting out situations, for example, in the
  house corner
• singing and making music
• movement and dance.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
AND MOVEMENT

• enjoying active play and becoming confident in movement
• energetic activity indoors and outdoors
• developing skills like running, climbing, throwing and catching
• learning to make delicate movements with fingers and hands, for example, by doing jigsaws, fastening zips or using
  small tools.

How you can find out about your child's progress

Usually, pre-school staff will assess your child's learning every day: they need to watch your child at play, listen to them and talk to them, so as to be able to plan to develop your child's learning.

They will build up a record of your child's progress which could include:

• examples of your child's work
• photographs
• comments on your child's strengths and interests, and what they need to learn next.

This record will be a basis for regular discussion with you, alongside more informal day to day contact.

Moving to primary school

The curriculum in primary schools will build on what your child has learned before starting school. Play will still be important in Primary 1, but some approaches to learning will gradually change - for example, your child will begin to read and write more independently. Following discussion with you, the pre-school centre will wish to pass on your child's record so that the teacher in Primary 1 can plan the next stages in your child's learning.

Quality in pre-school education

All pre-school centres are encouraged to arrange regular staff training and to keep under review how they do their work. They have a range of ways of getting help to support the quality of the work they are doing.

When Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools inspect your child's centre, you will be given a copy of their report.

How you can help your child

You can help your child to learn by playing together at home and:

• encouraging them to be independent, for example, in getting dressed and washing their hands before meals, and to share and join in with other children; encouraging them to develop healthy habits in diet, exercise and hygiene
• reading to them every day, talking about books with them and reading familiar words to them, for example, the labels on their favourite foods
• talking with them and answering questions and playing remembering games and guessing games like 'I Spy...'
• helping them to match and sort things, for example, putting together forks and knives or cups and saucers, pairing up socks, sorting out big tins and little tins, putting packets in order of size
• encouraging them to count and use numbers in everyday situations and in nursery rhymes
• encouraging them to listen to music, songs, stories and rhymes
• encouraging them to express their ideas and feelings, for example, using crayons, pens, pencils, paint, music and play
• giving them the chance to use their fingers and hands, for example, building with bricks, cutting out with scissors, helping with baking and fastening zips and buttons.

More information

If you want more information, or have any questions about what you have read in this leaflet, you should talk to the staff at your child's pre-school centre.

This leaflet is also available in Gaelic, in Chinese, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu, in Braille and on cassette. It is printed on environmentally-friendly paper. Further copies are available at many libraries and
pre-school centres, and from:

Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum

Gardyne Road
Broughty Ferry
Dundee DD5 1NY

Tel: 01382 455053

Fax: 01382 455046