Facilities at Whitchurch Pre-School Nursery (Shropshire) Ltd.
Kitchen
An experienced cook works daily to provide a main meal and dessert at dinnertime, meals vary between meat, fish and vegetable dishes and are rotated on a 3 weekly basis. Teatime meals are usually lighter meals, such as sandwiches, soup & bread, spaghetti on toast.
Any special dietary requirements must be stated on your enrolment details to ensure that all staff are aware of any allergies, etc.
We can adapt the consistency of meals according to the age and stage of your child. You are welcome to provide your own meals if you prefer.
Early Years Foundation Stage
We follow a framework called the "Early Years Foundation Stage" (EYFS), which begins in the baby room until the children leave to go to school. The framework is in place to support nursery providers and their practitioners in delivering high quality educare to all children and to also ensure that we promote the health, safety and wellbeing of all children and adults within the nursery.
The framework has two parts, "The Statutory Framework" which is enforced by Ofsted to ensure the health, safety & wellbeing of all children, and the "Development Matters" document to provide guidance to our practitioners when providing a high qualityand unique educare service to your child.
The EYFS in Development Matters, is broken down in 7 areas:
Prime Areas:
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Physical Development
- Communication and Language
Specific Areas:
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
For more information about the EYFS, please feel free to contact the nursery or alternatively click the following link: www.gov.uk/government/publications/development-matters--2
Babyroom (Zebra's)
In this room we care for babies from 3 months old to approximately 18 months old. We work closely with parents to ensure their child is developmentally ready to move into our toddler room, therefore the stage in which they progress into the next room is customised to the readiness of each child. We provide a secure, nurturing environment to ensure that in those first precious months spent with us, our babies feel safe, cared for and happy!
We are a breastfeeding friendly nursery, and welcome parents to breastfeed at any time.
We do not provide formula milk but are more than happy for parents to bring either cartoned formula or the tubs of powdered formula which we will prepare for you.
The baby room envrironment is a calm but also stimulating for our little ones to explore. Please come and visit us for further information about our dedicated Baby Room.
Toddler room (Crocodile's) (Approx. 18 - 30 months)
Once your child is a confident mover, and ready for our next "toddling" stage, he/she will move into the Crocodile room, with different zones for your child to explore, such as a role play area, creative area & story corner. We feel quiet time and rest is also a very important part of the nursery day for the children and therefore the children are given opportunities throughout the day for a nap/quiet time.
When your child turns 2 years old, you will be invited by your Health Visitor to attend a "Two Year Development" appointment which we compliment at the nursery as we also are able to provide parents with feedback as to how their child is progressing during their time with us. We aim to coincide our feedback in time for you to be able to share this with your Health Visitor during that appointment and our summary can then be put inside your child's red book. Your child's key person will spend time with you to discuss this when the time approaches.
The term after your child turns 2 years old, they may also be eligible for 24U funding which entitles your child up to 15 hours per week of free Nursery Care & Education, this is subject to eligibility criteria. Please click the following link to apply: www.shropshire.gov.uk/media/17662/24u-application.pdf
Monkey Room (Approx. 24 - 36 months)
Within this age range we continue to organise our routine alongside the EYFS framework incorporating topics. This room is also organised into different areas to enable children to easily access all activities & equipment, such as a construction & small world area.
We ensure that the nursery day is always an enjoyable one, we feel that play (which is balanced between Child & Adult led) is the best way children learn. Within this age range the children may still need a sleep during the day, depending on the needs of each individual child, we have a quiet area where they can rest or alternatively a designated sleeping area where our children can sleep.
Our Monkey Room has double doors linking directly to the outdoor learning/play area under a shelter which allows them to choose indoor/outdoor play time simultaneously whatever the weather.
Lion & Giraffe Rooms
Our Lion & Giraffe rooms are designed for our Pre-school children and follows the thread of the other rooms, where we have different zones to enable the children to explore different types of play, for example 'small world' and 'mark making'. The promotion of the 7 Areas of Learning and Development within the EYFS are our focus when planning adult and child led experiences for each child (as previously stated, if you would like more information about the EYFS click the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/development-matters--2)
We practice phonic based activities & games to support further development of each child's communication & language. We communicate cohesively with our feeder schools in the area to promote smooth transitions as the children leave us to go into full time education. We also work alongside other settings where we have a child attend more than one setting to ensure the child is supported appropriately.
Free entitlement of 15 or 30 hours Early Years Education - the hours of funded Early Years Education with us. (For more information on this, please click the following link: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/
Out of school Club/Wrap around care
Once your child attends school, we can offer childcare before, after school and in the school holidays. We currently currently do not provide a service to take & collect children to/from school, however if parents can arrange their own transport, we can provide breakfast club and after-school club. Our session times/fees for this age range can be sent to you either via email or a parent pack can be posted out to you.
On behalf of all the staff at Whitchurch Pre-school Nursery, we hope to make your child's day a happy one! Our staff team are always happy to help!
