The Nursery

• Welcome to The Nursery
• Our Commitment to your child
• Learning Through Play
• Moving On
• A View from The Nursery

Learning through play - The zest for learning starts here

First steps

Children join one of our three Nursery classes - Honeycomb, Beehive or Busy Bees - From the age of 2½ (and when they are toilet-trained).

Morning sessions start at 9am and end at 12 noon with a break for milk and biscuits.

How often

Some children start off with two or three mornings a week and increase their sessions gradually. Others will spend considerably more time with us right from the start - perhaps including some lunchtime and afternoon sessions.

A particular feature of the Nursery is our afternoon programme of activities. Depending on the day chosen they can include: Ballet, Communication skills, Cookery, Early Clay, Fun with French and Kindermusic.

Early Learning Goals

This is a time for our children to have fun in a stimulating caring environment.

At the same time, we have developed a wide ranging curriculum to ensure our children meet the early learning goals set out by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.

These cover:

• personal, social and emotional development
• communication, language and literacy
• mathematical development
• knowledge and understanding of the world
• physical development
• creative development

Our varied Nursery programme includes painting, drawing, model making, developing motor control and recognition of colour, shape, phonic sounds and numbers.

Children do not make a distinction between work and play. Singing songs, listening to stories and playing make-believe are fun; they also aid children's understanding of language and the world around them.

Counting games, matching sorting and measuring help build mathematical skills.

We spend time each day working with each child individually, and we also work with children in groups.

There is plenty of space outside to run, jump, skip and use tricycles and other ride-on toys.

We ensure there is time and space for our children to focus on the activities they enjoy.

Children are encouraged to speak - they learn that their opinions are valued and also that sometimes it is important to listen.