“Each child has a spark in him/her. It is the responsibility of the people and institutions around each child to find out what would ignite that spark.” Howard Gardener.
Our staff work hard to ‘tune into’ children’s interests and needs and plan the learning environment around these. Although the heart of the areas and the pedagogy within those areas remain the same, resources and ‘workshop areas’ are changed on a regular basis to ensure the ignition of sparks remains constant.
Main nursery has extensive learning spaces both inside and outside in the garden. There is also a variety of associated rooms and spaces for whole group, small group and individual work. All areas are well planned to offer a broad and balanced EYFS curriculum.
The children are encouraged to be independent learners, to explore, discover and experiment, solve problems and review their successes. They are encouraged to express themselves and share experiences with the other children and adults.
The theatre is a place that inspires imagination, allows children to learn about themselves and the world around them, and to step into new make-believe worlds. Dramatic play can be defined as a type of play where children accept and assign roles, and then act them out. It is a time when they break through the walls of reality, pretend to be someone or something different from themselves, and dramatize situations and actions to go along with the roles they have chosen to play. The theatre offers many realms of expression from storying, performing, singing, dancing, and role-playing.
The atelier is a space where children act as authors and constructors of their own learning and of their own individual and collective imaginations, eliminating an idea of central and aesthetic technology and making another one visible. The atelier has the potential to transform teaching-learning contexts, offering children’s’ thoughts and theories new modes of representation.
Children are offered materials such as blocks, recycled materials and jewels to construct and create new worlds alongside technology. They are encouraged to explore the relationship between light and materials with properties that provide opportunity to look at reflection, transparency and translucency.
The Garage – Here you will find our budding engineers, architects and builders. With an array of building materials, tools, vehicles and planning and design opportunities our children impress us daily with their designs and creations.
The studio is a place for child-led artistic exploration, a laboratory for trying out ideas and playing with materials. We do not view it as a ‘classroom’. It is simply a place where children and adults can freely get messy, design, play creatively and follow their own interests and curiosities. The rich range of resources provided
inspire creativity, expression, imagination, a sense of identity and enable children to develop their own cultural languages. Many learning opportunities are provided through resources such as clay, textiles, a woodwork bench, a light centre, painting, drawing and many more.
Uniform
Some children do wear a school uniform however it isn’t compulsory. Many parents find they prefer their child to wear the uniform, so that their good clothes don’t get dirty. Uniform is available from Ace Workwear, Blind Lane, Silksworth.
Our school uniform consists of:
- A navy or red sweatshirt, jumper or cardigan.
- A teal polo shirt.
- Grey or black trousers (this may include jogging bottoms), skirt or a pinafore.
- Flat, comfortable shoes.
The children at nursery have access to outside in ALL weathers so please ensure your child has a suitable coat / waterproof, and also in the summer that they come wearing sun screen and bring a sun hat.
Can we also stress the importance of putting your child’s name in all clothing and belongings.
Please can we also ask that you bring a bag of spare clothes to nursery, which includes pants, socks, trousers/skirt, and a top. As well as the occasional toilet accident, we often find children get wet and muddy from outdoors, despite wearing waterproofs.
Daily Routine
Paid childcare is available for breakfast club from 7.30am
8.45-9.15 / 12.30-1.00
Welcome Time- Children arrive at Nursery and register with their Key Worker. Staff and parents have time to chat and children can show parents what they have been doing. Children can meet up with their friends and talk about what they have been doing and what they might do that day.
9.15-9.35 / 1.00-1.20
Monday and Friday- Key Worker Group Time; Adult directed activity in small key worker groups based around maths and literacy. After the activity, the children plan what they are going to do during the main part of the session. The key worker supports the planning process and monitors the children’s involvement and choices.
Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday – Planning time; We gather together in the piazza at the beginning of the session as one whole group. Staff reveal what will be happening in each of the nursery areas that day. This will be a carefully planned activity based around: what the children already know; their skills and knowledge and how it can be built upon, what the children want to know; the thing or topic that is motivating them to learn, and previous days learning; ways in which staff can extend previous learning opportunities.
9.35–11.05 / 1.20–2.50
Main Session – Children are able to access the whole of the Nursery inside and out. Some staff are based in areas while others are working on focused activities with individuals or small groups of children, based around our play-based curriculum.
11.00–11.10 / 2.40–2.50
Tidy up Time – this is an important part of the session as it encourages children and staff to have respect for the Nursery environment, the resources and each other as they tidy up together.
11.10-11.15 / 2.50—2.55
Review time – We gather together at the end of the session in the piazza as one whole group; individuals or groups of children may want to share some learning that has taken place during the session and to plan for our next steps for the following day.
11.15-11.35 / 2.55—3.15
Group Time – Children and staff gather together into two small groups. Staff plan a group time based around our core book; this may be presented in a range of ways for example – a story time, a music and movement session, or sensory activity.
Paid childcare is available for lunchtimes and afterschool club until 6pm Monday to Thursday and until 5pm on a Friday.
