Welcome to Early Years

Nursery & Reception

Al-Aqsa school provides our young children with an educational programme which is structured around the New Early Years Curriculum with an Islamic input. This involves activities and experiences for children as follows:

• Three prime areas:
• Communication and Language - development involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment; to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves; and to speak and listen in a range of situations.
• Physical Development - involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive; and to develop their coordination, control, and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food.
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development - involves helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others; to form positive relationships and develop respect for others; to develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behaviour in groups; and to have confidence in their own abilities.
• Four specific areas:
• Literacy - development involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Children must be given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems, and other written materials) to ignite their interest.
• Mathematics - involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shapes, spaces, and measures.
• Understanding the World - involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment. Through such topics, children have the opportunity to experiment and explore as well as develop their understanding of the world which Allah SWT has created around us, masha’Allah.
• Expressive Arts and Design - involves enabling children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, and design and technology.

As adults we aim to display good adab (behaviour) and akhlaaq (manners) and impart knowledge to the children to develop their overall Islamic character, insha’Allah. We also have a large role play area in which children can develop their imaginative play and have the opportunity to explore different environments linked to our topic.

Curriculum Maps

Click the links below to access the long term plans for Nursery & Reception