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Nursery
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General Information and Admissions |
Nursery Routine |
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Admissions |
Enabling Environment |
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The Learning Journey |
What Children say about nursery |
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Parents and Children |
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General Information
and Admissions |
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The Nursery caters for children aged 3 and 4
years old and forms part of the Early Years Foundation
Stage (EYFS) within Darell Primary School. The Nursery runs two
sessions per day and can register up to 26 children per session. |
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Nursery times: |
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Morning session |
08.45 to 11.45 am |
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Afternoon session |
12.30 to 3.30 pm |
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The term before your child starts in the
Nursery we invite you to visit us. Then we arrange to visit you
at home just before your child-s admission date.
In this way we can find out about your child's interests and
experiences, answer any of your questions and help make the
transition from home to school as smooth as possible. |
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Admissions |
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The main school keeps a waiting list of
applicants for Nursery places and children's names can be added
from the age of 2 years. Children are normally admitted in
September or January of each year. Priority is siblings and then
proximity to the school.
The Nursery and the school are separate institutions. While many
of our children enter the Reception class of this school before
their 5th birthday, attendance at Darell Nursery is NOT a
guarantee of a Reception place. A place in Darell Nursery is
similarly not dependent on an application having been made for a
Reception place in the school. |
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Nursery Routine |
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Each session follows the same routine:
- Welcome
- Self-registration
- Self-chosen activities
- Circle time songs, rhymes,
sharing our news
- Free-flow indoor and outdoor
play
- Fruit
- Story
- Goodbye song
- Home time
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The Learning Journey |
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"All areas of learning and development are
connected and all are equally important". Children-s learning in
the Nursery is planned around the six areas of learning set out
in the Early Years Foundation Stage, the government guidelines
for learning and development from birth to 5 years. |
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These areas are as follows: |
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Personal, social and
emotional development - children learn to cooperate
with others, to form friendships and to develop in confidence
and self-esteem through their participation in a wide range of
activities. We encourage them to become independent and capable
individuals with a positive attitude to new experiences.
Knowledge and Understanding -
children develop a sense of curiosity towards their
surroundings. They are encouraged to explore and experiment with
materials and tools, to construct and pull apart. Together we
talk about what they know already about themselves and the world
around them and help to extend their understanding. We learn
about different cultures, places and times and how we care for
our environment. Together we question why things happen and how
things work to help make sense of our world.
Communication, Language and Literacy
- children learn to express themselves and build relationships
with other children and adults using gesture and language.
Through role-play, rhymes, song and story, as well as simply by
playing alongside one another, the children learn to listen,
join in and talk about their experiences. Simple games are
played to encourage children to develop an understanding of
sound and to begin to recognise and write their own name. The
Nursery provides an environment rich in the spoken and written
word, with books, writing equipment, story CDs and staff ready
to listen and respond to your child.
Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
- children begin to develop a feel for number as they play
in our number rich environment both inside and out. Through
number games, song, and rhyme, the children learn to count out,
match, sort and compare. They explore shape, colour and size and
begin to use number language spontaneously in their play.
Physical Development - children
learn to develop and control both large scale and small scale
movements of their body. Outside and in our weekly PE sessions,
there are opportunities to balance, climb, jump, slide and run,
to build with large blocks and squeeze into a small space.
Children have access to the school's gym equipment, climbing
frames, trikes and scooters. On a smaller scale, their
manipulative skills are developed from using a wide range of
hand held tools and developing their hand-eye coordination.
Creative Development - children
learn to respond to their experiences both inside and outside
Nursery through language, song, music, dance, paint, modelling
and print. They engage in role-play, using props and costumes or
simply their own rich imagination. Through the different
activities available, Nursery life allows the children to
explore their own creative thinking using all their senses.
The children's routine is planned around a range of stimulating,
engaging experiences and learning opportunities to address the
all-round development of the individual child. Their routine is
further enhanced by music with our specialist teacher, PE and
cookery on a weekly basis. The Nursery also takes part in whole
school events such as arts week, maths week and science week and
joins the school community to celebrate Christmas, Diwali,
Chinese New Year and Sports Day.
We know that children learn through play and at Darell Nursery
we plan a balance of child and adult initiated activities.
Theses are spread across the six areas of learning to provide
strong foundations for your child's learning journey.
Children learn differently, some choose to play alone, whilst
others prefer the company of another or several children. At
Nursery, children have the opportunity to play at their own pace
and level. As they progress through Nursery they are encouraged
to participate at adult-led activities to help develop their
skills and understanding and prepare them for entry into
Reception. |
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Monitoring Progress
We monitor children's progress through observations which in
turn are used to assist us when planning our sessions. Each
child has a golden book that records their achievements, with
photographs and samples of their work. Parent/Teacher
consultations are held in both the Autumn and Spring terms and
each child receives an academic report before moving on to
Reception class. |
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Enabling Environment |
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Inside Area: |
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During the session children will be
encouraged to use both the indoor and outdoor areas.
Whilst inside children can take part in a wide range of
activities including:
- Home corner and role play area
- Making area
- Story cd's
- Computer
- Small construction and investigative
activities
- Dry sand and water play
- Clay, dough and other malleable
materials
- Art and craft activities
- Junk modelling and woodwork
- Cookery Music
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The Outdoors: |
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"Outdoor environments offer children freedom
to explore, use their senses, and be physically active and
exuberant." The Early Years Foundation Stage, May 2008.
At Darell Nursery we aim to provide continuous provision; that
is an outdoor environment that supports and extends the learning
offered inside, such as role play, construction, sand and water,
a place to be creative, a place to read and write and a place to
dig and grow plants. The outdoor environment has a covered area
so children are able to play outside in all weathers.
Outside learning can be different, it offers many freedoms. As
well as physical freedom, the outdoors offers children the
opportunity to take greater charge of their learning. Outside is
more changeable, responsive to the elements, less predictable
and children feel a huge sense of freedom creating, modifying
and responding to this space. It is a place to use materials and
resources in ways which are not possible indoors and above all
it is a place to observe, explore and enjoy the natural world.
For many children, especially boys, playing outdoors is the best
environment to develop all areas of learning and to build
confidence, independence and self-esteem. |
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Parents and Children |
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Parents as Partners |
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We understand that effective communication is
key to your child-s learning and development and hope to build a
close two-way partnership with each parent, exchanging
information on a child-s achievements, interests and concerns.
Parents are encouraged to talk to staff briefly at the beginning
or end of a session and are welcome to make an appointment for a
longer discussion should they have a specific concern. It is
helpful if we are aware of any changes in your child-s routine
which may affect their enjoyment of Nursery. |
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How parents can take part in
nursery |
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We value the contributions parents make at
nursery and once your child has fully settled, we welcome you to
stay and help out. We want to involve families in their child-s
education and value contributions parents make to the
partnership. A timetable is on display for parents to sign up
for half an hour or longer during a session.
We value the
contributions parents make at nursery and once your child has
fully settled, we welcome you to stay and help out. We want to
involve families in their child's education and value
contributions parents make to the partnership. A timetable is on
display for parents to sign up for half an hour or longer during
a session.
There are many ways in which parents can take part in their
child's nursery experience such as: |
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- Helping out in nursery sessions
- Sharing their own special
interest/profession or hobby with the children
- Exchanging knowledge about their
child's needs, activities, interests and progress with the
nursery staff
- Becoming a parent rep
- Providing, making and looking after
the equipment and resources used in the children's play
activities
- Joining us on visits/outings
- Joining in community activities in
which nursery and the school takes part
- Building friendships with other
parents
- Borrowing books and maths and
language packs from the Nursery
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