So, what does "child centred" actually mean?

Yes our early years setting is child-centred, but what does that actually mean?

Well, for the children at Horsley Preschool this Autumn, one of our focuses started with a windfall of apples brought in by a member of staff for the interest table. The children enjoyed counting and sorting them by size, by weight and by colour, placing them in rows in ‘order’. Some children wanted to draw them, so we provided paper and various media to choose from – felt tips, wax crayons, paints and pastels. Others wished to cut out apples and so we made templates and supported them to cut around the outlines.

The children discussed who liked to eat apples and so we provided knives and boards on which to peel and chop some. We cooked them and ate them for our snack. Afterwards, we discussed this process and made up a song about it, combining it with actions and lyrics suggested by the children.

A child shared that he liked a particular type of apple, and we all talked about where we buy our apples. This led to the creation of a Playgroup Greengrocers, where some children role-played shopkeepers with tills and scales while others used bags and real money to buy various real fruit and vegetables.

Our final session culminated with using the vegetables to make soup to share for our final lunchtime together before the half term holiday.

Child-centred, for us at Horsley, then, means working in a responsive way with the interests shown by the children in our care, to enable them to become confident, caring, and curious young people.

Our Outstanding playgroup (Ofsted April and November 2015) is open Monday to Wednesday each week and there are still places available for September 2017 (also some limited availability for this year).

Please contact Mags at horsleyplaygroup@gmail.com or simply call in at Horsley Village Hall.