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OUR ROOMS
ACORN ROOM
CHERRY TREE AND FERN ROOM
WILLOW TREE & BLOSSOM ROOM
OAK TREE
ROOM
Acorn Room/Baby Room
Our baby room is a clean, bright, open space with large windows leading into the countryside and gardens. There is a separate cosy sleeping area, secluded by a curtain with full sized cots, twinkling lights and babies can be soothed by classical music or ‘white noise’ playing in the background. On shelves along the length of the room, you will find baskets containing a variety of textures, colours and shapes for little ones to choose and explore.
We spend lots of time getting to know your baby. We want them to feel secure and happy in their environment, building a trusting relationship with children and families is particularly important in the baby room. We pay close attention to babies’ routines, learning about their likes, dislikes and comforts so that we can support them emotionally as well as physically. The baby room enjoys lots of Nursery rhymes, songs and simple stories embedded in our daily routines. These are at the heart of our provision because babies learn by hearing and listening to adult voices and sounds. They are particularly receptive to tone and rhythm.
Our babies love exploring! We carefully consider and provide resources such as Natural objects, objects which are interesting and tactile, light and heavy, rough and smooth as well as those that are familiar such as household items in interesting shapes and colours. Building blocks, metal, wooden and plastic rings, balls, books and sensory materials all encourage babies to strengthen muscles in the fingers, hands and arms.
In the Acorn room, babies can experience a variety of textures, sounds, sights and smells that will encourage curiosity and development. This kind of exposure will teach babies about their environment, other children and adults around them and also help develop understanding of themselves and the world, building valuable motor skills and language. Messy play is one of our favourite things to do, and early mark making, or body painting forms an integral part of a child’s development. Messy play allows our children the opportunity to explore, discover, lead play and build the muscles needed to learn skills as they grow older. Mealtimes in the baby room provide lots of sensory & motor development opportunities too!
Cherry Tree And Fern Room
Our toddlers can enjoy the extra freedom and space provided for them In the Cherry tree room. A bright room with double French doors leading out to gardens and a sheltered outdoor learning space, it offers a large carpeted area for sitting with books, socialising and safe exploration of resources. There is a hard floor area, to accommodate messy play and socialising at mealtimes, when the whole group sit down together. An array of open-ended, mind-expanding resources are arranged within sight and reach including wooden blocks, boxes, wooden pegs, tubes and metal objects to allow the children to use their imagination. A home corner full items that they recognise from home help social development whilst they play alongside their peers. Small world toys such as play people, puppets, farm/zoo animals help encourage the children’s imaginations and creativity. Our story corner is an enchanting tree, which children can sit under to explore the world of books and stories. We like to spend a lot of time here!
In the Cherry tree room, children are beginning to settle into daily nursery routine and are rapidly developing their independence - finding their shoes and coat for the garden, washing hands and feeding themselves at mealtimes. Our mealtimes are occasions full of learning opportunities for social development by sitting together, communicating, following each other’s lead and learning good table manners.
We know that our toddlers never stop moving! children will be mastering their gross motor movements and developing their physical skills further, becoming more confident on their feet and will quickly move on to balancing, rolling, dancing, running, jumping and climbing. Opportunities to practise and develop these skills are encouraged by providing low climbing toys, large balls, and outdoor equipment like a sandpit and ride-on toys. Fine motor skills are developed with resources such as puzzles, threading beads, shape sorters, wooden trains and ICT toys to improve hand-eye coordination. Tactile resources such as playdough, sensory play, paint and mark making activities support the development of fine motor coordination and dexterity for building strong muscle and cartilage in little fingers and hands for learning new skills in the years ahead.
We love to sing and dance! Providing a range of music, instruments such as tambourines, xylophones, drums and other simple musical instruments to encourage children’s creativity. Nursery rhymes, stories and songs play a major part in our day and using Makaton whilst we sing helps children participate, communicate and feel valued. Children have lots of opportunities and support in making relationships, understanding feelings and emotions, sharing, taking turns, and making choices
Willow Tree Room
The willow tree room is situated in a warm bright upstairs room of the baby unit. It has a soft carpeted area, as well as hard floor area for messy play, waterplay, and mealtimes.
Children will be busy communicating in the role play area, stocked with items to help inspire creativity, and are supported through sharing ideas and views during role play, imaginary games and acting out experiences. Practitioners model language and extend children's vocabulary with lots of games. Some children will have now started to form friendships with one another and demonstrate turn taking in games/small group activities. Child lead learning and learn about their individual likes and dislikes.
This room offers a secluded mark making area, equipped with all the resources needed to inspire pictures, early marks, ‘letter’ writing, ‘list’ making and expression. They will be able to start forming the large circles and lines which form the basis of prewriting skills and as their vocabulary develops and expands, they will be able to describe and talk about what they have drawn, written and made. With practise and support we learn how to safely use tools such as scissors and knives whilst being supervised by adults. Available for children to choose and explore, are natural objects, construction and small world resources displayed in baskets which are accessible.
The willow room has a cosy story corner with a soft bench, scatter cushions, and interesting books. A variety of short stories, nursery rhymes and songs with Makaton help our children to feel included, accepted and involved. We love familiar favourites as well as new and different stories which capture the children’s attention. We make the stories as interesting as possible using different voices and sounds as we read, to maintain childrens focus and encourage them to engage. We give time for interaction and questioning of why and how, as their natural curiosity takes them into the story.
There is a deeper focus on shape, colours and numbers which we explore through daily routines and resources. We observe shapes in everyday objects and make comparisons with things we see and draw. Counting and number language is introduced, repeated and reinforced through play.
Sharing thoughts and ideas is always encouraged, to give children the confidence to express their needs and wants. Independence is developing in selfcare and when ready, children are able to begin potty training with the provision of a large bathroom and potties nearby. Here, we can teach our children about the importance of washing hands and good hygiene practices.
Blossom Room
The Blossom room is situated in the 2-5’s unit. With a large patio door leading out into a designated garden space, it enjoys natural light and with child level windows looking out into the gardens which inspires conversations and interest in the natural world. The white and wooden furniture gives this room a spacious but soft warmth, with natural resources to encourage curiosity of texture, shape and colour. The Blossom room plays a special role in transitioning children from the baby unit smoothly and sensitively.
Exploring similar resources as the willow tree room, in the special mark making area, children can spend time experimenting with the marks that they make using paintbrushes, pencils, sticks, glue sticks, and scissors and progress forward holding tools with more control, confidence and safety. Writing skills are emerging and our children are starting to draw lines and circles. Children are developing expression of thoughts and feelings with and without added communication.
The blossom room also has its own role play area where children can be imaginative, collaborative and creative. We love to express ourselves! You will find us singing, dancing, make believing. Children are supported and encouraged to be empathetic and observant of other’s feelings and wishes. Our Story corner has an exciting choice of information and picture books, with scatter cushions which is made cosy with drapes and a soft rug. Children can choose from familiar favourites or something new and different and will be learning to stay focused for a short period of time, as an adult reads or they explore the pages independently.
Our children enjoy learning how to be independent and are able to start making choices and decisions. The blossom is perfect for this kind of progression. We provide opportunities for children to voice thoughts and feelings and their choices come to the fore front of their learning.
In the blossom room we spend time developing skills that will be needed at the next stage, for example tipping and pouring from jugs in the water tray will help children become independent in pouring their own drinks for snack. By helping children to prepare and share snack, supporting them to make healthy choices about the food they eat and a choice of what they’d like to explore or play with, we are giving children desire to express and voice their own choices. This is a vital part of development and children’s opinions are given care and consideration.
Alongside making choices comes a new level of independence within a child’s play. Within the blossom room, children have time to explore the environment around them and gain independence in their selfcare. Children will be potty trained or training in this room. Promoting good hygiene and toileting at the first instance of their experience is certainly one way this can be achieved, as well as pouring their own drinks at meal times, helping to give out plates and cutlery in addition to starting to attempt putting on and taking off their own clothing and shoes.
Oak Tree Room
The oak tree room which is the largest in the nursery has been organised into different learning areas. It has a clean, spacious feel with white and natural wooden furnishings. In an open side room, you will find a cosy library area with scatter cushions, ceiling drapes and twinkling lights where children can enjoy books and stories or some quiet time. Also adjacent to this room, is a separate cloak room for children to hang their personal items. Each child will have their own named tray for safekeeping of comforters, pictures and paintings and learning journey scrap book.
You will find a mark making area, role play area, science and discovery area (STEM), maths area, malleable materials, art area, and a protected construction and small world area. In each area, children can access and explore a whole variety of exciting resources in the company of friends and supportive adults. In the roleplay area, we have a working computer with educational programmes that children are able to access freely and enjoy together.
Leone, our EYFS leader provides children with a fun and educational maths or phonics focus during group time each day, encouraging participation of activities and games which move and exercise the mouth and tongue. This not only helps children to communicate effectively and broaden vocabulary, but also helps them to understand the sounds linked with letters to support them as they begin to read and write. This all helps with the formation of new sounds and to pronounce them correctly to aid with segmenting and blending which come in school.
We will be pulling funny faces, blowing, sucking, puffing out our cheeks, stretching our tongue and moving our jaws around. We love learning new rhymes, songs and stories to build an interest in different topics and knowledge of the world around us.
Children will need to develop strong fine motor skills to help them be independent at school and throughout life. In the oak tree room, we understand that children need to progress through a series of grips before being able to hold a pen or pencil in the correct way. Our malleable materials area (squash and squeeze) is designed for exactly that. Activities that help are building blocks, threading, weaving, play dough, pegging up things and puzzles too. Little hands need to be able to push, squeeze, squash, pat, pinch, climb and pull a variety of materials before using a pen/pencil effectively. We provide mark making in areas around the room, outside spaces and use play dough, moon sand and malleable materials to build up the muscles and cartilage in their wrists to progress on to writing and letter formation.
Our children prepare their own snacks each morning, developing skills and independence and adopting a ‘have a go’ attitude. We encourage children to try different ways of doing things and enjoy responsibility. Using child friendly knives to cut a variety of fruit and vegetables and using hands to peel develops motor skills as well as teaching children how to use tools safely and why, understanding and following instructions for the safe use of equipment. Children are encouraged to acknowledge and take pride in what they have been able to accomplish, as well as gain understanding of healthy practices with regards to their choice of foods and a willingness to try new things when they have taken responsibility to prepare them.
We have lots of fun exploring and investigating, showing curiosity and predicting what the outcomes may be. Children show a natural curiosity about their environment, and we provide them with the opportunities to be inquisitive and understand that their own actions can affect the outcome, depending on what they do or change. This is an important process for children learning about themselves and the world around them. We spend time exploring likes and dislikes during circle times as well as participating in experiments, listening to others, thinking and using vocabulary to share ideas. Using a range of senses, we investigate and explore the inside and outside space we have shape hunts, nature hunts, talk about what we can hear, and explore in the mud kitchen.
