Activities
The Nursery provides a wide range of activities to meet the children’s emotional, physical and intellectual needs. Interaction between staff and individual children will be sensitive to their backgrounds and abilities. Children are encouraged to try new activities in a safe and supportive environment.
A draft programme for each month is organised. This is reviewed and refined for each week to reflect the age range, needs and abilities of registered children.
Our staff team includes workers experienced in providing care for children with special needs; our activities and programmes are inclusive and we are proactive in our approach to integration.
Babies 6 Months - 2 years
Leaving your child in the care of others is always hard and we know that parting from your baby is particularly difficult. We want this transition from your home to the Nursery to be as smooth as possible and for this reason we are happy for you to contact us as often as necessary to check on your child. All Baby Room staff have been specially trained in the care of under 2’s, including Paediatric First Aid. Every day your child’s Key Worker will write up observations about your child: how long s/he has slept, food intake, playing time, new words/sounds, inter-action with other children. This information will be kept in your child’s Observation Book and you are welcome to look at this whenever you like or speak directly to your child’s carer for an update. Staff follow the Early Years’ Foundation Stage curriculum to ensure your child has a stimulating environment with enjoyable and interesting activities.
The Baby Room has been specially designed for children under two and caters for up to 12 babies. Large windows give plenty of natural light and an artist has decorated the room with lovely murals. There is plenty of space for crawling and taking those first wobbly steps. The room includes a kitchenette for safely storing and heating up milk and food and there is also a nappy changing area and a child’s toilet.
Toddlers 2 - 3 years
We begin gradually introducing toddlers from the baby room into the large playroom from the age of 18 months. By this age many of our toddlers are curious and excited about moving into a new space. The large playroom is divided into learning areas based on the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum and your child’s Key Worker will have planned a programme of activities to stimulate your child’s imagination and curiosity. The programme is built around a different theme every month to help them learn about the world around them.
This is an exciting period in a child’s life when their language is beginning to develop and they begin to have a sense of self and a desire to be more independent. Every child has a Learning Journal and your child’s Key Worker will keep a record of the progress your child makes – you can look at this at the end of every day if you wish, and it will be given to you at the end of the year for you to keep.
Preschool 3 - 5 years
We want the transition from Nursery to school to be as smooth as possible so Pre-Schoolers have more structured time with their Key Workers. The mornings and afternoons begin with Free Play, giving children the time to explore and play in the different learning areas on their own and develop friendships with other children; these areas include dressing up/role play, messy and malleable play, small world area, reading and numbers area, home corner, physical play (parachute, bikes, scooters, slide) and an ICT area with a computer and interactive programmes. Group Activities are organised by your child’s Key Worker around the theme for that month (see our noticeboard for information about these). Small groups of up to 8 children will be involved in activities that extend their development and knowledge of the world around them, our aim will be to improve their social skills, their language and literacy, their ability to problem solve and reason, as well as their physical and creative development.
Every day children come together for Story Time – we want to encourage children to love and appreciate books, to use their imaginations and ask questions. Your child’s Key Worker will use this time to explore new ideas, they will have fun pretending to be characters from the book and discover the magic of entering a world completely different from their own.