Things to think about before and during planning

Here you will find guidance that relates to the whole planning process, including the role of parents and carers in your planning.

Before you start to plan, you should be familiar with:

• the learning statements in the Cambridge Early Years Curriculum
• the recommended teaching and learning approaches for the programme. 

During all stages of the planning process, you should think about the following questions:  How will we provide engaging opportunities that also fully address all of the curriculum learning statements? How will we provide meaningful contexts for learning which build on children’s own interests? How will we provide a variety of learning opportunities that include child-initiated play, guided play and playful adult-led activities? How will we ensure enough time and support to enable every child to progress with secure understanding? How do our decisions for one stage of our planning affect the other stages?

Involving parents and carers in planning

A child’s learning and development are shaped by their home experiences as well as their experiences in your setting. So, it is beneficial to involve parents and carers in the planning process. For example: 

• Finding out about each child’s experiences and interests at home will help you to build on their prior understanding, and provide meaningful and motivating contexts for learning.
• Sharing parts of your planning with parents and carers will enable them to support their child to make connections between learning in your setting and home experiences.
• Understanding any concerns a parent or carer has about how their child’s learning and development is progressing will help to inform your next steps for that child.  
• Sharing next steps for learning will enable parents and carers to provide opportunities at home that support their child’s learning and development.

You will need to decide which parts of your planning to share with parents and carers. This might include:

• the themes for the year
• key ideas and activities to be developed in each whole or half term/semester.

You will also need to decide how to share your planning. You might share it through your digital platform, newsletters, face-to-face discussion and/or display boards that parents and carers see each day. Parents and carers will often find visual summaries of your planning easier to understand than detailed planning grids.