Nursery class. 

Our Nursery is set in the Foundation Stage of the school and consists of a large class room, outdoor play area with a sensory garden, an outdoor covered area to ensure the children can always play outside whatever the weather and their own toilets.

The class room is spacious and imaginatively designed.  It is an exciting learning environment in which every child can thrive.

All staff are fully qualified and have very outgoing, bubbly and enthusiastic personalities and show a sincere caring attitude towards all children in our setting. All staff are very committed to their jobs and have all worked in early years for many years.

Foundation stage
The Foundation Stage is the government-defined stage for all children between the ages of three to six years. The foundation stage is divided into six main areas of learning, these are as follows:

• Physical development


• Knowledge and understanding of the world


• Communication, language and literacy


• Personal and emotional development


• Mathematical development


• Creative development

Nursery activities
Activities within the Nursery differ according to the child’s stage of development. The play that we offer builds on previous learning and takes into account each child’s increasing concentration span and developing skills. We encourage creativity and individual expression.  We have different activities for the children to be involved in and are changed or adapted regularly to maintain the children’s interest.

Free choice/messy activities
Throughout our daily routine we give the children lots of opportunities to promote all six areas of learning by having a wide range of activities set out for them, these include sand/water play, creative/messy area, clay work, sticking and cutting, cooking activities which promote healthy eating messages, home corner/imaginative play area, writing and construction tables, discovery boxes, play house, dolls and prams, workshop etc.

Computer
We encourage the children to use ICT to find out about and identify uses of everyday technology and uses ICT and programmable toys to support their learning. Each day children have access to the computer where they can select from a wide range of educational learning programmes and perform simple functions.

Singing/nursery rhymes and Music activities
Each day the children will interact within musical activities where they are able to show an interest in the way instruments sound, explore how sounds can be changed, imitate and create movement / creative dance in response to music.  They will also be encouraged to participate within singing and rhyming activities to enable them to build a repertoire of songs, sing a few simple familiar songs and make some up.

Story time/book sharing
Story time and book sharing is very important to enable the children to foster a love of language and listening skills. In our comfortable book corner children are given plenty of opportunities to look at a wide range of books and are read to regularly either in a group or individually. Books are a very important part of language and literacy where by children are given the opportunity to share books and read/make up their own stories and tell them to the rest of group.  Children are encouraged to borrow books from the Nursery library to share at home.

Physical development
Within our Nursery we encourage a high level of physical activities to promote the children’s physical development and help them to become aware of the effects of activity on their bodies and show some understanding that good practices with regard to exercise, eating, sleeping and hygiene can contribute to good health.  They will also be participating within outdoor play activities using equipment such as balls and hoops, cars and bikes, climbing frame and so on.

Additional fun activities
Throughout the year we have additional fun activities which are planned spontaneously either for children during their day at Nursery or for both children and their parents.