The new Bright Beginnings curriculum is now being rolled out across England

Nursery and back-up care provider Bright Horizons has designed an innovative new Early Years curriculum which will be in all its nursery settings in England by September following a successful pilot programme. The pioneering curriculum, Bright Beginnings, focuses on children’s emotional wellbeing as the key to learning.

The curriculum is designed to acknowledge the individual voice and needs of each child to promote confidence, wellbeing and a genuine love for learning. It features “loose parts”, encouraging children to play freely with everyday items, whilst being supervised at all times, to enable them to develop creativity, solve problems and make connections in their learning.

Children are also provided with opportunities to engage in sensory experiences through art by using big paint brushes, paint rollers and floor brooms or mops on a large canvas. This type of activity is essential to develop the muscles in a child’s shoulders, elbows, wrists and hands, in preparation for writing.

Based on extensive pedagogical theory and research, it focuses on the significance of the adult role as educators. The new curriculum acknowledges the development of concepts such as critical thinking and problem solving, in addition to developing skills such as mindfulness and caring for self and others.

Loma Ansah, deputy nursery manager at the Bright Horizons Highgate Day Nursery and Preschool in London which participated in the pilot, said: “Bright Beginnings has been an amazing change for our nursery. Focusing on the children’s interests has always been at the heart of everything we do and the new curriculum has taken that on to new levels, having an impressive impact on the way the children learn. They are more engaged as they lead their own learning, which makes it easy for the staff to support them because the children are so happy.”

Conor Bathgate, field manager at Bright Horizons, added: “Bright Beginnings has created a strong foundation to support our practitioners’ knowledge and understanding of how children learn. It has supported my team to flourish, providing them with a robust understanding of a child-centred approach. I particularly admire the focus on holistic wellbeing and emotional health and how this has been interwoven into the framework.”

Caroline Wright, director of Early Childhood for Bright Horizons, said: “We’re committed to leading in the childcare sector and believe that every child deserves the best start in life. As teachers and educators, we must be highly skilled and knowledgeable, critically effective and current in our thinking. Our approach encourages our practitioners to see things from a child’s perspective, so that they can adapt activities to make them exciting for every child. Feedback during the pilot programme was very encouraging from parents, children and our nursery practitioners and I’m grateful to all the nurseries who enthusiastically participated. We’re looking forward to Bright Beginnings being introduced across all our settings in England.”

The Bright Beginnings curriculum comprises five areas of learning which focus on:

1. Feelings and friendships
2. Sharing thoughts and ideas
3. Technical and life skills
4. Thinking creatively
5. Exploring and learning about my world

These skills and competencies help prepare children to become confident, secure, and proficient individuals, prepared for the next stage in their learning, whether they are moving rooms within the nursery, or making the big transition to primary school.

Practitioners are trained thoroughly to use the new curriculum in advance of rollout at their particular setting, with the training delivered by Bright Horizons’ Early Childhood team. Training includes an introductory face-to-face session with a member of the team and the Nursery Manager or Deputy Nursery Manager. This is followed by a longer session designed to set out the curriculum in more depth, illustrating how it aligns with the EYFS statutory framework and what it looks like in practice in nursery settings.

The new curriculum is aligned to the EYFS prime and specific areas of learning and development, as well as adhering to all statutory ‘Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements’.

Bright Horizons has similar plans for a Birth to Three curriculum for Scotland, which complements the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence for children from 3 years old.