Nursery aims and goals

I don’t have any aims and goals for my daughter at nursery. She goes purely because I have to work. I guess at a push I would say that having a well rounded day in terms of outdoor, creativity time etc but I’ve no emphasis on “learning”. As long as she is having a lovely time and is happy I’m ok with anything else. That said, my daughter’s nursery is lovely and her development is good and I’m happy with it so I have no concerns with the setting. She has a mixture of activities throughout the day and she learns from that and she loves it there. I guess I might feel differently if that wasn’t the case. I don’t know. At 2 years old, I have no expectation on my daughter to learn and am happy with her learning at her own pace and just having fun as she’s learning through play

Similar to Mel, my only goal is for her to have fun and get to do a variety of activities while building up her confidence and social skills. I have no expectation for learning at this age. If she was behind on some milestones I’d have a chat with staff about some focus around that, otherwise I’m happy for her to just do what makes her happy while she’s there. They will have years in the school system to focus on learning, I don’t see the rush to start that

@Mel couldn't agree more! And with @Hannah. My only expectation is for her to have fun and get outside in the fresh air!

I'm the same as above - my daughter goes to (a lovely) nursery for two days a week because I work. I love that she gets to interact with other children and adults and make wee friends, and I think it's been great for her speech and her fine motor skills through play and art, etc. Her nursery have also been amazing at supporting her with her gross motor skills as she was a very late walker (hyper mobile) so that's been great. I don't have any desire for them to focus on any kind of formal learning goals for her. I want to know she's happy and cared for and spending lots of time outdoors and being creative and playing and learning to share and having fun. Xxx

Our main thing is socialising with other children. Our daughter is currently an only child, and being at nursery has helped her empathy and understanding of others and sharing. All super useful for us for when baby 2 arrives. Our nursery is really helpful with preparing her for becoming a big sister. Being a teacher, I do a lot of the numbers and letters with her already.. it helps she's also a quick learner and already speaking full sentences.

Research shows that children develop best through free play, I'm the same as above though and just want to know he's having fun, doing some creative activities to stimulate his mind and expose him to new things, and spending enough time outdoors x

Same as all the other have said. I want her to play, be creative, run wild and enjoy playing with other children as she can't do that at home. Children are in school/education for soooo long, let them be playful and have fun while they can!

Nursery at this age isn’t necessarily about ‘teaching’ them. Especially not numbers and letters. Please look at the development matters EYFS document. There are prime and specific areas. For this age it’s more about their physical development, social and emotional. Not maths and literacy based. This is a time for them to learn by playing. I teach my little boy numbers and extra bits at home but purely because he’s shown such a big interest in it