Early years (0-5years)
The Early Years scheme is open from 7.45 am until 6.30 pm Monday to Friday (except Bank Holidays) 52 weeks of the year. The main aims of the Early Years scheme are to provide a safe, stimulating and happy environment for children in our care, to help children develop confidence in their abilities, extend their skills and to promote self esteem, to foster and encourage the development of social, physical, intellectual, emotional and language skills in each child as an individual, establish strong links with parents to ensure a mutual understanding of the child’s needs. Ensure that the transition to school is a welcoming and enhancing experience by providing a platform for future learning and giving parents confidence of their child’s welfare.Early Years comprises of three main play rooms, a covered play area, gardens and circulation area providing full day care for 50 children. Our Early Years children can also use various playrooms, term time only, within our Out of School scheme. They have access to our Soft Play room and Sensory Room with our pre-schoolers having access to the Craft room, Adventure Playground and ICT suite. In addition to our full day-care, we also run a pre-school room providing care for 16, 3-5year olds, 3 hours per day, term time only.
Our baby room 3mths-2yrs
It is our belief that a baby will change more during their first two years than at any other time. Our babies are given the opportunity to develop physically, socially and emotionally, and during this time they will learn about the world around them mainly through their senses.
Our baby room is divided into two sections; an area for our less mobile/crawlers and an area for our walkers and is kept as homely as possible.
Toddler room 2-3yrs
Our toddlers participate in more free play activities which encourage confidence and interaction with peers. They will experience huge intellectual, social, and emotional changes that will help them to explore their new world and make sense of it. During this stage, our toddlers will be able to follow two or three phrase commands, sort objects by shape and colour, imitate the actions of adults and peers, and express a wide range of emotions.
This is usually the time when we will work to develop understanding about what is right and wrong through clear boundaries.
Pre-school room 3-5yrs
At this stage the environment supports children’s independent thinking and learning across the curriculum as independence skills are encouraged throughout the day. Our children are encouraged to develop independence, recognising their own needs. Activities provided build on children’s current stage of learning and include ICT skills.
A Typical Day At Nursery
7.45am - Breakfast followed by curriculum based play.Early children (excluding our baby room children) attend our Early Years Breakfast Club in the Sunshine room until 8.30am. After this time the children return to their designated rooms and play freely with the toys/activities provided. A member of staff sets up the garden area with planned activities.
9.30am - Morning snack
Play continues. Water is available for the children independently or with some adult help.
10.00am - Curriculum based play, small group time, outside play
The staff sit with the children in designated areas and interact at appropriate times to extend children’s learning. The garden area is open for the children and a range of activities are made available for the children. This area is free flowing. Creative activities such as sand, water and paint are set up. Small group time - a staff member is able to take their key person group off to do small group activities; Mark Making or Focus Activities.
11.20am - Garden time/small hall or circle games
The children can join up in the garden or the small hall, to join in with physical activities or circle games. The tables are set up for dinner and the children wash their hands.
11.30am - Dinner
The children take turns to give out dinner and give out the cutlery etc. The children and staff sit together in key person groups for lunch.
12.15pm - Bathroom
The children are encouraged to wash their hands/ face and brush their teeth independently. Tables and floors are cleaned. Toys are set up for free play for the children that do not sleep or wake after a short time.
12.30pm - Free play
The children play with the toys/activities set out.
3.00pm - Snack time
The children take turns to hand out the snack. Children and staff sit together in key person groups for snack.
4.00pm - Play
The staff sit and interact with the children whilst playing with the planned afternoon activities.
5.45pm - Tidy up time
The children and staff help to tidy up. At this time fruit and water are provided.
6.00pm - Free play
The children play with construction toys, read books or mark make using a range of equipment.
The Early Years scheme closes at 6.30pm
Please note that this is a general routine. Each room has its own routine which reflects the age group and includes out-door play, romp room etc.
Early Years Foundation Stage
The Early Years Foundation Stage is a new framework, which was introduced by the government in September 2008. Its aim is to ensure that all children receive the same provision from birth to five within every childcare setting.The Early Years Foundation Stage joins together Birth to Three Matters, the Foundation Stage (The Foundation Stage Profile was renamed the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile in September 2008) and the National Standards for Day Care and Childminding to provide the best early years practice and a more consistent approach to child development, care and learning by combining.
The overarching aim of the EYFS is to help young children achieve the five every child matters outcomes of staying safe, being healthy, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and achieving economic well-being by:
- setting the standards - ensuring that every child makes progress and that no child gets left behind
- providing for equality of opportunity - ensuring that every child is being included and not disadvantaged because of ethnicity, culture or religion, home language, family background, learning difficulties or disabilities, gender or ability
- creating the framework for parents working - between parents and professionals and between all the settings that the child attends
- improving quality and consistency - ending the distinction between care and learning in the existing frameworks, and providing the basis for the inspection and regulation regime
- laying a secure foundation for future learning - through learning and development that is planned around the individual needs and interests of the child, and informed by the use of ongoing observational assessment
It describes how early years practitioners should work with children and their families to support their development and learning. As well as, how your child should be kept safe and cared for and how all concerned can make sure that your child achieves the most that they can in their earliest years of life.
It is based on four important principles and commitments.
Theme: A Unique Child
Principle: Every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
Theme: Positive Relationships
Principle: Children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person.
Theme: Enabling Environments
Principle: The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning.
Theme: Learning And Development
Principle: Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of Learning and Development are equally important and interconnected.
Education provision
Our overarching play theme is that children need to explore, need approval, praise and encouragement to gain motivation for learning. All rooms work within themes which change every 6 weeks. All rooms do weekly planning.The pre-school curriculum is divided into 6 areas of learning and recognises learning is best achieved through active play that is based on children's individual needs and interests.
There are six areas of learning and development, which are equally important, connected and underpinned by the above Principles of the EYFS (From Early Learning Goals, produced by DfE)
- Personal, social and emotional development – critical for very young children in all aspects of their lives. It is a prerequisite for their success in all other areas of learning.
- Communication, language and literacy - speaking and listening to different situations and for different purposes, reading a range of simple texts and writing for a variety of purposes.
- Problem solving, reasoning and numeracy - this area of learning includes counting, sorting, matching, seeking patterns and working with numbers, shapes, spaces and measures.
- Knowledge and understanding of the world – develop skills, knowledge and understanding that help children make sense of the world. This forms the later work in science, history, geography, design and technology and information and communication technology.
- Physical development - develop confidence and control of the way they move and the way they handle tools and equipment.
- Creative development – art, dance, role play and imaginative play.
- Being creative enables children to make connections between one area of learning and another, and so extend their understanding.
We would like parents to bear in mind that every child develops in their own way, and there may be big differences from child to child. Some will learn certain skills faster than other children of the same age, whereas other things may take longer.
Our staff are trained to identify the needs of the children and develop the child’s individual learning around these needs. They will regularly observe the children at play and identify what the children are doing and what they are interested in. From these observations, staff will decide what the next step for learning would be for that child and plan activities to extend that child’s development.
Key Person
All children are assigned a key person as they start at the nursery who is responsible for building the relationship between home and nursery. In particular they play an important part in supporting the family during the settling in process.Observations
The key person will carry out observation of your child throughout the day and use these to develop individual learning experiences for them. These will be collected in a profile record which you can access at any time.
The key person will discuss your child’s next steps, informally, on a regular basis in order to create a link between your home and nursery experiences.
For children aged 3months-2 years a daily record sheet is completed to ensure the information you need to know is readily available and for our pre-schoolers a daily record sheets is displayed on the rooms’ door.
Parental involvement
We encourage parents to be involved in all aspects of the nursery day but we understand that this is difficult when working full-time so we are happy for parents to telephone or write to us any time.We involve parents in fund-raising activities and on outings with the children and hold parents evenings that provide the opportunity to discuss your child's progress with the key person and members of the team.
Nursery Records
Developmental profiles are completed twice a year, of which you will receive a copy. Your child’s file consists of, an admission form, correspondence to or from you or regarding you or your child.Data Protection
- Personal data will be processed fairly and lawfully
- Data shall be obtained for specified purposes
- Data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive
- Data shall be accurate and up to date
- It shall not be kept for longer than necessary of the purpose
- Data shall be processed in accordance with the rights of the data subject
- Appropriate technical or organisational measures shall be taken against unlawful use
Parents’ Evening
Parent evenings are held twice a year. This gives an opportunity for parents to come and discuss their child's development with the nursery staff team and for parents to look through their child's Early Years Foundation Stage Record folder and meet other parents.Your Childs First Week
Early Years has a settling in procedure that normally consists of three days, although sometimes it is necessary for settling in to take a little longer.The first day, between 9.30 – 11 a.m., provides the opportunity for parents/carers and children to form relationships with the staff and children and to see what sorts of activities their child will be doing. Parents are able to spend time in the Room observing how their child interacts with the other children and staff and can use the opportunity to ask any questions they may have. The Room Leader will run through the daily routine/planning systems and EYFS profile with and discuss any additional requirements/dietary needs/allergies the child may have.
On Day Two, also between 9.30 – 11 a.m., parents/carers leave the Room once their child is confident enough, but remain within Gingerbread Corner. This gives the child the opportunity to explore their environment and build their confidence at their own rate, and to spend time interacting and playing with the other children and with staff. Should the child become distressed, staff will ask the parent/carer to return to the Room.
Day Three starts at 9.30 a.m. Once staff feel that the child has settled sufficiently and is happy, parents/carers normally may leave Gingerbread Corner, returning to collect their child after they have had their lunch, at 12.30 p.m. for Under 3s or 1 p.m. for pre- schoolers. Sometimes, it will be necessary however for parents/carers to remain within the building.
Please bring with you on your child's first day:
- Your child's birth certificate
- A complete change of named clothes, which can be left on your child's peg. Please always try to dress your child in sensible play clothes
- Comforter, if needed
- Photograph of your child
