Children are enabled to take risks, learning in safe, secure and supportive environments where they are expected to make decisions and where their contributions are valued.

Through exploratory play, all children have the opportunity to develop and apply investigative, problem-solving and thinking skills.

There is an emphasis on talk and shared thinking. Practitioners support the development of children’s thinking skills though scaffolding, modelling, questioning and making their own thinking explicit.

Approaches to learning and teaching enable children to immerse themselves in activities that interest them and to play for extended periods. Practitioners should take care not to rush children.

Practitioners are highly skilled in posing questions which encourage enquiry and curiosity.

Children are developing a positive attitude to learning though an active learning approach, using real-life and imaginary situations.

The learning environment, including the provision of open-ended and natural resources and the adaptability of space, encourages creativity. The structure and flexibility of the day also nurture creativity.

Children’s experiences provide opportunities to play and learn together, share ideas, reconcile differences and develop a sense of fairness.

Children can select and use appropriate technology to learn or solve problems across a range of contexts, with increasing confidence.