Pre-school to a nursery school

[HomeintheSun]

We were living in South Wales up until December and my son is 4.2 years old and was going to a Pre-school every morning for 2.5 hours we have now moved to Lincolnshire and he goes to a nursery on an funded placement (early years educations place) (9.30 - 12.30) things are so different, at the pre-school they would make things to bring home and every other week they would cook, he was learning things and they actively encouraged the children to write, count and every wednesday they would do PE, he even learnt to count to 5 in welsh. With the new place it's more like a play group, the class he's in has children from the age of 2.5 up until 5 years old.
I don't know if he's getting anything out of being there, I know he doesn't like it there as much as he liked the pre-school because he asked to go back to the pre-school the other morning. Should I ask them to encourage him to learn while he's there or just leave it as he starts (big) school in September?

All English settings for the Early Years should be following the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and the children will be doing lots of learning, through their play. This continues into reception so the first year of school is broadly similar.

If ages are mixed, there are often some small group times when children are with their own age group for a short while.

There should be free flow from inside to outside and some outdoor time each session so no real nee for a formal PE session as such.

As far as writing goes, it is encouraged but not 'taught' as such - there are lots of ways to mark make and help with writing such as using a finger in sand, a stick in the dirt, chalks outside. This means that things don't always come home but not that learning isn't taking place. There should be a record, usually using photos and observations, to show you what he's up to during the day and you can ask to see this at any time.

The EYFS website is here.

HTH

What clayhead said. Play, planned for well, should stimulate his learning in these areas, I am surprised that he 'did' so much in his previous preschool as I understand the Welsh Foundation Stage to be even more all encompassing than the EYFS (with it's own focus on the importance of play). We usually offer a craft activity, sometimes cooking etc, but numeracy (PSRN. problem solving reasoning and Numeracy), is done through a variety of means... so we might do counting but it is about getting the basics of mathematical reasoning rather than simply learning by rote (having said that we did teach them 1-10 in spanish once... lol). This week we have focused on comparing number with quantity (in lots of different ways. Today was farm animals...)

Ask to see your child's progress diary/folder etc, that should evidence what he has learnt.

Also, the chances are they are still building up an idea of what he can do in order to stretch him and help him progress in his learning. It's really important that you share what he can already do, and your concerns that he isn't being stretched in this, with them.