At Dean Field Playgroup we are always looking for exciting events to involve our children and their families in. One of our highlights is enjoying an annual trip out to Ponderosa Zoo! They travel on our school minibuses to get there and they enjoy looking at all of the different animals. Miss Rhodes is always very excited as they all spot reindeer there too! Thank you to all of our parents and children who join us, it is always nice to see some new faces too! We look forward to planning our next trip.
Our Dean Field Playgroup is every Monday 1:00 – 3:00pm and it is led by our lovely Nursery Nurse Miss Rhodes.
Our playgroup is open to all families with children aged 0-5 years within the Ovenden community. If your child is due to start at Dean Field Nursery or at Dean Field Primary School in the future then we strongly advise and welcome you to pop along and join in the fun! It is a free service to everyone, however, we do ask for a £1.50 donation to help fund snacks for the children and tea and coffee for the families.
Every week is themed and the themes are dependent on the children and parent’s interests (Miss Rhodes is always open to suggestions!). They are also linked to any events ongoing in the community and can often coincide with events happening at Innovations – our neighbour Sure Start Children’s Centre – too. Miss Rhodes always ensures the activities provided have a purpose to your child’s development and therefore follows the planning guidance from the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework.
The EYFS Framework
The EYFS Framework explains how and what your child will be learning to support their healthy development from birth to 5 years. The full document can be found at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/988004/Development_Matters.pdf
Your child will be learning skills, acquiring new knowledge and demonstrating their understanding through 17 areas of learning and developing which come under the 7 different educational programmes as listed below:
- Communication and Language:
- Listening, Attention and Understanding
- Speaking
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development:
- Self-Regulation
- Managing Self
- Building Relationships
- Physical Development:
- Gross Motor Skills
- Fine Motor Skills
- Literacy:
- Comprehension
- Word Reading
- Writing
- Mathematics:
- Number
- Numerical Patterns
- Understanding the World:
- Past and Present
- People, Culture and Communities
- The Natural World
- Expressive Arts and Design:
- Creating with Materials
- Being Imaginative and Expressive
These 17 areas are used to plan your child’s learning and activities, which are suited to your child’s unique needs.
Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both inside and outside. These are known as the 3 characteristics of effective learning. When planning and setting up the learning environment these are taken into account to ensure they are embedded for children to develop.
As a school, we contribute to the thematic approach to learning using a whole-school topic overview by selecting topics for each half-term for Nursery and Reception that we feel would encourage and excite children, these are reviewed but also not set in stone – meaning if children’s interests defer then we support this and change plans in order to maximize the most learning potential.
Parent Information on the EYFS Framework:
There is a great guide, called the ‘What to expect, when’, this is aimed at parents in helping you gain an insight into children’s development and what they are working towards by the end of Reception, ready for starting Year 1. Children all develop at different rates and we value and support every individual child’s progress. The guide can be found below and includes the ongoing updates of the new EYFS framework 2021 here: https://www.addisonprimary.org/parents-guide-to-the-early-years-foundation-stage-/ alternatively, if you ask a member of the EYFS team they’ll be happy to print it out for you or send you a copy via email or Seesaw.
How to Join
We regularly advertise Dean Field’s Playgroup on social media and display posters around the Ovenden community, so keep your eyes peeled for the next flyer!
To join, just pop along to a session with your child please contact the main school office on 01422 258258 or email [email protected]. Once you have attended we can add you to our free communication app Seesaw where you can view and contribute to the Playgroup photos and keep up-to-date with weekly sessions and announcements.
