Little Potters Ethos
Play-Based Approach To Learning
We recognise the importance of play in early childhood development. Our Home from Home Learning Environment approach provides ample opportunities for children to explore, create, and learn through play. Key features include open-ended materials, imaginative play areas, and a focus on social and emotional development. We have designed a learning environment that encourages free play, exploration, and creativity, providing open-ended materials to spark the imagination and actively engaging in play with children to support their learning. The approach is child-led, fosters creativity, and promotes the development of social skills. This pedagogy of play-based learning includes developing reading, writing and numeracy skills. Our job is to become play partners, discovering what children already know and how we can extend this. Children coming to our nursery can investigate roles such as photographers, police officers, gardeners, cooks, shopkeepers, news readers, cleaners, vets, and bankers.
Role-play environments allow children to engage in the experiences fully. There is no correct or wrong way to play; the only limitation is their imagination. They create a language-rich environment where children can interact with each other, and adults can chat comfortably and play with the children. Adults can introduce new language and engage in two-way conversations as children create play scenarios, interact and share ideas. To progress through life, children need to be able to communicate and hold conversations. They also need knowledge of the world in which they live. Children can make sense of the world around them by exploring and investigating current, relevant, and exciting things.
We use three simple concepts:
• Chat: encourage talking but, crucially, reciprocal communication.
• Play: language thrives when children interact and explore playfully and creatively.
• Read: sharing books, adults and children talking together.
Our Ambitions
Our children will leave us with the essential life skills they need for their next adventure, be this school or life in general. They will respect and care for each other and their environment, be able to make friends, resolve conflict, solve problems, follow rules, and manage their behaviour by understanding their emotions. As they enter school, they will still have their individual little characters, confidence to ask questions, readiness to learn, and therefore thrive.
