We pride ourselves in offering the highest standard of childcare and our values and ethos are based around the following aims:
- To develop the full potential of every child
- To teach the children through fun and play
- To care for each child as an individual
- To stimulate imagination and creativity
We follow and support the new Early Years Foundation Stage Framework (EYFS) and a School Readiness Programme for our pre-school children.
We also follow and support 3 Outdoor Learning Approaches across our whole nursery where children have daily access to outdoor fun and play:
1. Forest School: Forest School is based on a Scandinavian model of pre-school outdoor education that encourages children to explore a woodland site, take risks and learn skills as diverse as using tools and cooking on campfires. We are a fully accredited forest school provider and our qualified forest school leaders encourage children to explore our woodland and bring out the natural curiosity children have for the world around them, enabling children to decide what they are interested in and what they want to do.
2. Curriculum linked outdoor learning: This approach allows our skilled Early Years practitioners to select a curriculum area and utilise the special nature of outdoors to deliver content in an exciting and engaging way for all children. An example of this would be an outdoor maths session that includes collecting and sorting leaves using different criteria, making bush craft from natural resources or bringing a topic of interest to life in the woodland (ie. after reading the book “we are going on a bear hunt”).
3. Environmental Education: Our practitioners teach the children about the natural world by planning and leading activities such as nature walks, species identification, pond dipping in our own woodland stream, building a bug hotel etc. These activities, are hugely important as they deepen and engage children’s interest in the natural world.
Our highly qualified and experienced team use their excellent skills and knowledge to plan rich and varied activities to support the individual needs and interests of each child. All aspects of our teaching highlight our strong focus on preparing the children for school and ensuring that all children make excellent progress in their development.
