Our Vision

“Start children off on the way they should go, 

and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”

Proverbs 22:6

Along with clear directions, God has given everyone freedom to choose their own path in life.  By raising children in a Godly manner, we instill in them love, respect, kindness, resilience and peace so that they may choose the right path for themselves.

We passionately believe that young children learn best through play and exploration and we strive to provide practical first hand learning experiences through an exciting and engaging curriculum, centered around the children’s interests.

The curriculum we deliver offers a balance of child-initiated and adult-led learning. The areas within our indoor and outdoor classrooms allow the children to make choices and initiate play, offering opportunities to explore, consolidate and build upon their prior learning throughout the day.

Each day our children get the opportunity to become an artist, writer, mathematician, scientist and storyteller, amongst many other things. It is our firm belief that it is these play-based learning experiences that enable our children here at Hertford Vale to become independent and resilient learners.

Every child is recognised as a unique individual and we are thrilled to celebrate their successes and value their achievements with them. We provide differentiated challenges within the provision to engage learning and believe that the children’s first experiences of school should be happy and positive, enabling them to develop a lifelong love of learning.

Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage - click here

Setting the standards for learning, development and care for children from birth to five.

Development Matters Non-Statutory Curriculum Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage is a free document available to download from Early Education. It supports the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework.

First published in 2012, the document was reviewed in 2020 and a new, updated version was published on 3 September 2020.

We use this document to help us plan lessons, activities and provisions, as well as guidance on making summative assessments of each child.

Click here to view the document.

The Seven Areas of Learning in EYFS - click here for more information

Your child will mostly be taught through games and play.

The areas of learning are:

• communication and language
• physical development
• personal, social and emotional development
• literacy
• mathematics
• understanding the world
• expressive arts and design