Curriculum & Pedagogy
How we think about learning, at every stage.
The earliest years shape who a child becomes. Our curriculum exists to protect and nurture children’s natural drive to explore — through play, relationships and the repeated experience of being noticed, comforted and encouraged to try again.
Our approach
A safe harbour to grow in.
We think our name says something true about what we do. A dock is where a vessel is prepared, provisioned and made steady before it sets out to sea. That is how we see the years a child spends with us: not a place to hurry children out of, but a safe harbour to grow in, so that when they set off for school and beyond, they leave curious, capable and sure of themselves.
Practice is rooted in the Early Years Foundation Stage, but a framework on its own does not make a curriculum. What matters is how warmly and consistently it is delivered by practitioners who know each child well.
Play-based. Child-led. Observed carefully.
The activity is chosen because of the child, not because it is next on a schedule.
Water play, a story, a walk in the garden or setting the table can all become meaningful curriculum when practitioners understand what an individual child is exploring, practising and ready to do next.
Our pedagogy
The DOCKS Approach.
Five commitments, spelled from our own name, sit behind what we plan for children.
Discover
First-hand, open-ended exploration: sensory play, construction, mud, water, early science and maths. Curiosity drives learning.
Oracy
Conversation, story, song and rhyme. Practitioners follow children’s lead and extend vocabulary through genuine back-and-forth exchange.
Connection
A close key-person relationship, partnership with parents and a nursery community that welcomes each family’s culture, language and traditions.
Kindness
Sharing, waiting, naming feelings, resilience, independence and a settled sense of self-worth are treated as essential learning.
Steady Steps
School readiness builds gradually: self-care, early literacy and number, listening in a group, friendships and confidence with routine.
EYFS
The framework underneath the practice.
Dickory Docks’ curriculum is rooted in the EYFS and its seven areas of learning, while the DOCKS Approach describes how those areas are brought to life through relationships, play and thoughtful adult practice.
Prime areas
Foundations for everything else.
These areas are especially central in the earliest stages and continue to support learning throughout nursery.
Specific areas
Knowledge and expression grow through experience.
Specific learning is woven into play, conversation, stories, investigation, creativity and everyday routines.
Observation & the key person
Know the child well enough to know what should come next.
Every child has a key person: one practitioner who knows their interests, stage of development and family and uses that knowledge to shape what is offered next.
The intention is not to push every child toward the same activity or outcome. Practitioners watch what a child is trying to understand, join them sensitively and extend the experience when it is useful.
- Observe interests, communication and development
- Use family knowledge to understand the child in context
- Plan from what children are actually doing and trying to master
- Share observations and milestones with parents
- Adjust challenge as confidence and understanding grow
Our aim isn’t just to prepare children for school. It’s to send them off knowing they are capable, curious, and loved.The Dickory Docks curriculum philosophy
From Nursery to School
Preparing for the next step without rushing the one they are in.
In the run-up to school transition, the curriculum approach is to share a clear picture of progress with parents, agree where extra focus could help and make school feel more familiar.
Where possible, the nursery liaises with local schools. Settling-in activities, visits, stories about starting school and practice with school routines help the change feel familiar rather than daunting.
Curriculum FAQs
What parents often want to know.
The most important distinction is between the statutory framework and the nursery’s pedagogy: EYFS describes the required learning framework; DOCKS describes the commitments that shape how Dickory Docks delivers it.
Is the curriculum based on the EYFS?
Yes. Dickory Docks practice is rooted in the Early Years Foundation Stage and its seven areas of learning.
What is the DOCKS Approach?
It is Dickory Docks’ five-part pedagogy: Discover, Oracy, Connection, Kindness and Steady Steps.
Does every child have a key person?
Yes. The curriculum states that every child has a key person who knows their interests, development and family and uses that knowledge to shape what is offered next.
Is learning child-led?
The curriculum favours a play-based, child-led approach. Practitioners follow children’s interests and lines of enquiry, then extend them rather than steering every activity toward one fixed outcome.
How does school readiness fit in?
School readiness is the “Steady Steps” part of the DOCKS Approach: a gradual build toward independence, early literacy and number, group listening, friendship skills and confidence with new routines.
See it for yourself
The best way to understand the DOCKS Approach is to visit.
Meet the team and spend time in the rooms your child would join.