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Schematic Play

By / March 17, 2022

The Nurture Nursery has recently undertaken training on schematic play. We were taught how to spot schemas in children and then how to help the children further develop these schemas in their play to enrich their learning through playing the way they know how.


So, what are schemas and schematic play?

Schemas are behaviours that children go through when they are exploring the world and trying to find out how things work. Children have a very strong drive to repeat actions, move things from one place to another, cover things up, put things into containers, move in circles and throw things. It’s those repetitive actions that we as adults sometimes feel the need to stop as they can often seem trivial, pointless or even irritating to us, but they are so significant to a child’s learning.

Each child is different, and some may display more than one schema while others show none at all. Understanding schemas can help us to provide what children need for their learning.

There are a lot of different schemes but the most common are: – Connecting; glueing, threading, construction. Children displaying the connecting schema like to join things together, create patterns, make things bigger, longer or different shapes. – Enclosing; often seen in block play. Children show interest in enclosed spaces, they construct fences/ barricades around themselves or their toys. – Enveloping; covering, wrapping, hiding or swaddling themselves, other children or toys/ items. – Rotating; twisting, turning, whirling, winding, round and round. – Trajectory; interest in running water, throwing, “again, again”, discovering things that move, how they move, why they move. One of the earliest schemes observed in babies, throwing toys or food out of highchairs, cots to see where and how they will land. – Transporting; carrying things from place to place, usually in a bag, toy car or basket. – Orientation; seeing things from a different view, upside down, to the side, with one eye, through other things like tubes or toys to get a different perspective.

The role of the adult in this is to observe, respond and be led by children’s actions and creativity. Young children really benefit from opportunities to repeat and practice different actions, this helps their brain development and learning. We as practitioners look out for schemas in children, finding out what a child has/uses as a certain schema in their nursery day means we can give the child opportunities to widen their experiences and allow them to develop their knowledge on different things through playing the way they prefer and the way they enjoy the most. If a child is doing things their way, they are more likely to engage in more meaningful learning and development of the brain. What you as a parent can do to help your child is to watch closely and notice the patterns of your child’s play. You can give them other activities and toys that match that schema, which will hold their interest as well as help them with the stage of development that they are currently working through. For example, if your child likes to climb into the washing basket or wrap themselves up they are enclosing. Offer them a box to explore or build a den with them, wrap up or dress their dolls. If your child likes to put things into a bag/ basket and take it from place to place they are transporters, offer a role-playing game about packing for holiday or going to the shops, set up a tray with bowls and rice/dry pasta and give them spoons to allow them to explore using different utensils to transport.

Your child will lead you by showing you their interest, if you build on that interest you will keep finding new ways to offer more activities.

We are here to talk, go to your child’s key person or any other staff member if you have any questions we can always point you in the right direction!

Sustainable citizenship – Achieving our Bronze Award

By / February 17, 2022

Here at the Nurture Nursery, we encourage as much outdoor play as possible. We were incredibly lucky to spend almost every day outside over the summer months last year. The pre-schoolers enjoyed eating outside, growing fruits and vegetables in our planters, experiencing seed to plate in detail, going on walks in the local community, and enjoying the happiness that nature brings. We found that the children thrived, were happy and content, explored our garden’s freely, looked after wildlife and experience mark-making in lots of different ways. It was a shock to the system when the weather began to turn! 

Inspired by our ethos and love for outdoor learning, we came across the OMEP-UK Early Childhood Education for Sustainable Citizenship Award by SchemaPlay. The ESC Sustainable Citizenship Bronze Award was split into three pillars: Social and Cultural Education, Environmental Education, and Economics Education. This was a partnership between us and our families, enhancing the children’s understanding of what it means to be a sustainable citizen in our world today. The children were given various i-Care Booklets that offered parents topic discussions, books, and activities to consider when thinking about being a sustainable citizen. Alongside this, we had to submit an audit tool which allowed us to assess our resources, acknowledge children’s rights and what it means to be a citizen, as well as understanding the importance of supporting literacy and numeracy. 

Here are the areas we reflected on:

Social/Cultural

The audit tool emphasised on the importance of children being offered the opportunity to recognise themselves doing activities, recognising how they felt in those moments. The children love looking through their learning journals, observing and commenting on what they are doing in each photo, celebrating their friendships and moments of learning. We encourage the children to engage with our floor book, offering space for them to reflect and provide possible lines of development. There was an emphasis placed on offering children the tools to express how they are feeling and identifying emotional states, having access and interacting with local community services, having freedom to choose their own play activities without adult interruption, and having plenty of areas to sit and relax.  The audit tool brought attention to multi-cultural festivals, and this is an area we would like to develop and hopefully be able to attend such festivals in the coming year(s) – COVID depending! 

Environmental

We knew straight away that our setting would be ideal when looking for the possibilities of environmental education. The children have continuous free access between indoor and outdoor play areas, especially during the warmer months, and there are plenty of resources to support gross motor skills, health, and respect for the natural environment. We had so much fun this year watching our tadpoles grow, releasing our butterflies, creating bird feeders and the never-ending worm/slug count. We believe the children have developed a respect and love for looking after and observing nature. One of our biggest achievements this year was growing our very own pumpkin – albeit green! We can’t wait until our polycrub is finished and we can continue planting and growing in our garden. 

Economics

Reflecting upon economics and how we incorporate it into the nursery was perhaps the most eye-opening. It became apparent that it is never too young to encourage and teach children about recycling, locally grown foods, and being mindful of our resources. The pre-schooler’s created a ‘book hospital’ to put books and toys that were broken and could potentially be fixed, we had group discussions on recycling and read lots of useful books and continued to experience seed-to-plate eating. Imaginative and role play is a large part of our children’s play, and we continue to ensure that there were opportunities to play with tills, money, and have supported them in creating their own menus and receipts. We even set up a stall to sell tie-dye clothes, encouraging the children to take on the role of shop keepers. Most recently, we sold our propagated strawberry plants to our parents/carers. 

It has been a fantastic opportunity to reflect and enhance our setting. We cannot thank our parents enough for getting on board and supporting their children’s learning throughout this time. We were awarded the Bronze Award in October and were thrilled with the feedback we received:

“We are particularly impressed by the setting’s engagement in analysing their practice during the baseline audit to promote deeper learning experiences across the three pillars of sustainable citizenship”

“The sustainable activity floor-books promote reflection and discussion – a superb resource, and the setting’s commitment to healthy eating is exemplary”

We cannot wait to make a start on our Silver Award in the new year and have also since joined online sessions with Lynette Brock to deepen our understanding of SchemaPlay. Fingers crossed for another beautiful summer! 

Finding Robert’s Voice

By / December 3, 2021

From a toddler it was clear Robert was a little different from his peers. With time it became more apparent that Robert was perhaps not neurotypical. 

When other toddlers began speaking, Robert did not. He did not respond to his own name and didn’t seem to have much awareness or interest in others. He preferred to play on his own but he was and still is a happy wee boy in his own wee world.

Robert began attending Nurture shortly after his 2nd birthday. It was during our first parents evening Katie and Lorraine (who was Robert’s key worker at the time) brought up the little differences they had notice in Robert compared to his peers. Both Robert’s father and I had noticed these differences for some time. Katie and Lorraine were great in helping getting Robert’s referrals. 

First up was a hearing check in Edinburgh which Robert passed with flying colours.

Next was a catch up with Robert’s Health Care visitor. She was kind enough to pop out to our home to see Robert and of course he ‘performed’ fantastically for her. Engaging in play and bringing her toys/ objects and showing that he was sharing his interests with her. After me telling her, prior to visiting that he would most likely ignore her. Our children do like to show us up and make us into liars don’t they? 

We were then referred to Speech and Language. After our first appointment for which again Robert was a wee star and seemed to responded wonderfully, I voiced my concerns that he showed signs of possibly being on the spectrum. His stimming was becoming more apparent for example flapping his arms when excited, lack of eye contact and the delayed communication and language. We were then invited to the CDC unit at Beatlie Campus.

After a couple of clinic visits we were given the formal diagnosis for Robert being on the Autism Spectrum. 

Even though it was the diagnosis we suspected and expected, I was an emotional wreck. After asking ourselves a lot of what and why questions, we agreed that none of that mattered. We are so lucky to have an amazing child and we are going to do all in our power to help him and we went onto the path of educating ourselves about the Autism Spectrum Disorder. Spoiler, ASD is shockingly complex.

We attended a course for parents called More Than Words which we would highly recommend which concentrates on teaching children social and language skills through play. We were referred for this via the CDC at the Beatlie Clinic. We continue to use the stratagies we learnt to this day.

Then 2020 hit us all. All the therapies and consultations were placed on pause but guess what…… during lockdown, Robert began to speak. He was a lot more engaged in play with us, following simple instructions and showed more general understanding and awareness. Robert was going through a huge leap. He discovered his love of dinosaurs and he can now name them all. Honestly, I have dinosaurs out of my ears!

My advice for any parents going through this is early intervention. We would not have had the knowledge or the help had we left it and pretended there was no issue. That our child was ‘just  a bit slower and will catch up’. When the reality was that we had concerns and we wanted a professional opinion, even if it wasn’t what we wanted to hear. 

We have Katie and the Nurture Team to thank for this, if it wasn’t for them, we may not have received the help as soon as we did.

Robert is thriving and continues to make great leaps in his learning. 

We have days where we feel overwhelmed but I remind myself that the days are long but the years are short. 

Thank you for reading

Suki

Jessica Smillie – The Nurture Nursery

By / March 17, 2022

Since I was a little girl, I have enjoyed playing ‘schools’ in the garden, where I would make my gran act as the pupil, and I, the teacher. I have always wanted to work with, and alongside children. Fittingly, I am currently studying to become a primary school teacher at the University of Stirling. After working part-time in retail for the first part of my degree, I was then given the fantastic opportunity of becoming part of the ‘bank staff’ team for The Nurture Nursery, which I was delighted to join!

Being part of the bank staff team gives me great opportunities to work with children of all age groups. From working in the baby room one day, to working with the pre-school children the next, I have the chance to gain insight and take part in the fun daily activities that the nursery offers, as well as gaining valuable experience and learning new things every day!

Having only started working at The Nurture Nursery at the end of April, I have learned a great deal and gained experience which will impact and influence the way I plan to teach once I qualify. Additionally, I have met fantastic staff and fabulous children who continue to make me laugh every day.

One of the main things I have learned from my time so far at the nursery is how important a safe and happy environment is in relation to a child’s development. When I first began working at the nursery, I thought the use of outdoor space was fantastic and children, of all ages, are given great opportunities to learn outdoors. Additionally, the staff create a happy and friendly environment for the children to play and learn in. This has given me an understanding that a safe and friendly environment for children to learn in is key. This allows the children to feel comfortable and secure, and most importantly, happy! ‘Happy children learn best’! (Daniel Goleman).

I have also gained early experience of communicating with and building relationships with parents, which will be a crucial part of my role as a primary teacher. Just as the nursery ‘hand-over’ takes place at the end of the day, where staff give parents information on how their child’s day has gone, as a teacher, I will encounter parents’ nights and teacher-parent meetings! Being involved in a child’s ‘hand over’, has already helped me to gain confidence in building relationships with parents.

As The Nurture Nursery is based on a key worker system, and focuses on attachment led practice, it has allowed me to learn how important it is to build strong, trusting relationships with the children in our care. Due to COVID-19, my university second year placement was cancelled, however, working here has allowed me to gain alternative experience and has allowed me to build strong bonds with the children.

I absolutely love working as part of the bank staff team at The Nurture Nursery and hope to continue working here throughout the rest of my degree. Having learned so much and gained lots of experience in only the first few months, I am looking forward to learning much more, which will help me greatly with my future career!

Gender Equal Play

By / July 14, 2021

I have always liked to think of myself as a bit of a feminist. Being a woman, I have always had a passion for gender equality and I have always been aware of the societal stereotypes thrown upon me from an early age. More recently, the #metoo movement and the Sarah Everard case has made me even more aware of the challenges facing women in this modern age and research has shown a clear link between gender stereotyping and gender based violence towards women and girls.

Similarly, everyone I know has had their health and wellbeing impacted majorly by the recent pandemic. I have heard of so many young suicides and attempted suicides in the local area. Research has also shown that gender stereotyping is directly linked to a higher suicide rate in men, as society has instilled in men from a young age that is a weakness to show and talk about feelings. 

If we want to address these issues, for me, gender equality is key and it has to start in the early years. When The Nurture Nursery opened 3 years ago, we decided as a team, that we would always have a progressive outlook to childcare and education – challenging the norms and conventional expectations of a traditional nursery. As part of this, we wanted to ensure that children’s experiences at nursery were not limited by their gender. 

We started with the basics! How many children’s books have to you read where girls are portrayed as ‘damsels in distress’ – princesses waiting to be rescued (or even kissed) by a white knight? Or children’s books where the female character has a particular role – a wife, mother, teacher, nurse. How many books, cast the male as a superhero and fearless, strong character? Think of snow white or superman. These books subconsciously provide children with these gender stereotypes, sometimes before they are even aware of their gender! Limiting how children can imagine their future and putting them a disadvantage before their life has barely begun. Therefore, we carefully scrutinised our books (as we now do regularly) and made sure we had books with independent, inspiring female characters such as ‘Ada Twist Scientist’ and books that show males in sensitive and caregiving roles too such as ‘It takes Two to Tango’ (I know this book is about penguins, but it is such a lovely story about 2 males caring for an infant).

We then looked at our other resources. It’s worth noting before I go on, that creating a gender equal environment is not about forcing children to do things they don’t want to do. Boys can still play football, girls can still dress up as princesses. It is about ensuring that no child feels any option is closed off to them because of their gender.

In our dressing up baskets, we introduced lots of different materials – vibrant coloured silks, tea towels, cosy blankets. Instead of pre-made dresses or costumes, as well as stimulating creativity for the children, this ensured that there was no pre-made illusions of gender and the children would imagine they were anything they wanted to be. They children have spent many fun hours creating costumes for stage shows, tying materials together to make togas and literally walking around with sheets over their heads pretending to be ghosts!

Another thing which is key in promoting gender equality is the language we use as adults. Language can be incredibly powerful. Its said that they way adults speak to us as children can often become our inner voice. At nursery, we agreed not to use language such as ‘the boys are being rough’ or ‘play nicely with the girls’. This attributes certain behaviours to a specific gender. We also continuously talk to our boys so they know it’s okay to cry and be scared as well as talking to our girls so they know it’s okay to be angry and to express that anger. We try our best to use inclusive language such as ‘hello everyone’ rather than ‘hello boys and girls’.

It’s a sad fact of life that girls and women are often stereotyped by the way they look. In a society where a teenage girls worth can be based on the how many likes their filtered Instagram picture can get, it is more important now that ever that we instil a strong sense of self-worth in the early years, based on a child’s achievement and skills. Again, language is so important for this. At The Nurture Nursery, we make a conscious effort to praise children on what they do, rather than how they look. For example, ‘I like your skipping’ rather than ‘I like your hair’. This is such a simple substitute but is so powerful is defining the source of a child’s self worth. 

Although we try to promote gender equality at nursery, there will always be outside influences on our children which will affect them, such as marketing adverts or adults who don’t share the same gender equal views, maybe an older generation. This does often mean that children themselves, can voice opinions such as ‘girls can’t do this’ or ‘boys can’t do that’. Just yesterday, I heard my own 6 year old daughter telling her boy cousin that he couldn’t have pink nail polish because it was only for girls – something that we have never said to her. We ALWAYS challenge these views and discuss it with the children as it arises. We don’t just say ‘that’s not right’, we talk about why the child feels this way and encourage them to see it differently. By doing it this way, we are encouraging the children to think deeper on their own already developed stereotypical ideas and challenge them, if they can learn do this, they will then have the confidence to challenge these ideas with others also as they grow.

One of the final things we decided to always do, which seems like such a simple thing, is we ask all parents to ensure their children come dressed appropriately for nursery. We spend the large majority of the day outdoors, as we have such a stimulating garden space. We ask that children come in practical clothes that allow them to run, jump and climb. We ask that they come in old clothes that children can freely get dirt and paint on. You might wonder how this relates to gender equality. Simple, a boy climbs a tree in trainers and shorts, a girl climbs the same tree in a dress and sandals – who do you think climbed the highest?

Settling in at The Nurture Nursery

By / October 20, 2020

The Nurture Nursery is our second attempt at settling Ayla (age 3) in a nursery and we couldn’t be happier. The previous one was much larger, and attached to a primary school. Unfortunately, Ayla didn’t take to it at all and became increasingly upset at the thought of going, so we withdrew her place. 


The appearance of Covid made the idea of finding a new nursery, and with that, a whole set of new challenges on top, seem all the more daunting. After hearing that funded places were available at the Nurture Nursery, and hearing lots of positive reviews, I jumped at the chance to visit. From the moment we arrived in the amazing big front garden, I instantly felt at ease and breathed a sigh of relief that this would be a more positive nursery experience for Ayla. The number of kids in attendance was much lower and I got an immediate sense of family from the staff and kids there. It was easy to see that every child was getting one-to-one interaction and the staff knew their individual personalities so well.


The atmosphere is relaxed and the learning being led by the children was a breath of fresh air, allowing the kids to develop a sense of adventure outdoors. From daily slug counts to picking vegetables for lunch from the garden, they learn about nature in an exciting and interactive way. This aspect really appealed to me as I’m aware that Ayla is a true girly girl has always hated getting her hands dirty! Suddenly, that didn’t seem to matter to her and she was exploring the veg garden, spotting insects, or taking turns being pulled on a sledge down the garden. It makes me so proud to see how much she’s grown and flourished, even in her first few months there. I’m even happy that she’s come home on occasion with the obligatory scrapes and dirty clothes that comes with the best type of childhood.


I appreciate getting updates of her activities when I collect her each day – whether it’s painting, running around dancing and singing her favourite songs, or a day spent entirely outside enjoying the huge garden and making the most of the weather (rain or shine!). 


Ayla attends the morning session and is therefore offered toast in the morning (which is great since it’s a struggle to get her to eat in the morning!) and a cooked lunch, prepared by the lovely chef, Rachel. Unfortunately, Ayla has a stubborn aversion to new foods but I’m still hopeful that she’ll eventually tuck in because the menu always sounds delicious! (I’ve seen first-hand Rachel’s freshly prepared profiteroles and can vouch that they look mouth-watering!)


I’d recommend to anyone the very aptly named Nurture Nursery, as I most definitely feel that all the children there are nurtured, while having fun learning early life skills, and making lots of friends. Even although Ayla is a Mummy’s girl and can be clingy at times, she is excited to go to nursery each day, which makes me one happy Mum!

Supporting Attachment at The Nurture Nursery

By / May 5, 2020

Attachment is important mainly in supporting children with their emotional and social development through forming a positive relationship with a key worker and supporting children in forming friendships. This can help children with their communication, relationships with others and in their overall emotional wellbeing.

Within the baby room there is a range of children from ages 3 months to 2 years old. The babies have 4 rooms which currently are set as a meal/messy room, a nap room/sensory room, and two free flow and open opportunity of play rooms. 

When initially visiting the nursery, the parents/guardians of the child can access a tour of the building which allows children and parents to meet staff and children, and feel the welcoming and comforting vibe we set out for everyone. 

We offer an initial settle which consists of the key worker meeting with the parent(s) and child to get to know each other, allow the child to become familiar with the setting and faces of staff, and allow time to build a positive relationship with each other. This time usually consists of an hour which gives time to provide a positive experience for the child within their routine. We complete an ‘all about me’ which helps staff understand the child’s daily routine at home, their likes and dislikes, times for naps and mealtimes so we can follow as closely as possible what they are used to. 

We further assess the ease of the settle and offer 1-4 hour settles where the parents can remain with us to support the child and further discuss what we need to that will help one another. The children have this time to build relationships with staff and children, and have happy and welcoming experiences at nursery. The aim is for the child to feel safe, secure and loved, and giving the opportunity to form a relationship with a consistent adult (key worker), as stated in the Relationships section of the Pre-Birth to Three Curriculum. 

Our key worker system is attachment led. This means that as a key worker, we provide all the needs for the child. This can be in areas where the child can feel secure and protected in nappy changing, changes, toileting, feeding and nap times/resting times. 

We as key workers aim to solely provide their opportunities in nursery and in being the key worker we can enjoy their experiences with them and build our relationships. The children can further feel safe and secure with their key worker in nursery, and therefore can be supported in their confidence to explore and feel content at all times whilst in the setting. 

With forming a positive relationship and building these important attachments with the staff to children and families, this supports in how they learn within nursery. If they feel they have positive attachments, the children are comfortable to learn, play and meet their full potential effectively. 

Jenni

Victoria

Victoria’s first year at The Nurture Nursery

By / October 20, 2020

My mum was a nursery nurse and my grandmother a nursery practitioner. Did I ever think I would find myself down the same path? Not at all. I remember being in Primary 7 at Boghall Primary School and writing down my dream job: beautician or a primary school teacher. How things have changed! 

I love education. I was the person who cried buckets when they left primary school and even more when leaving high school. Four years at Queen Margaret University studying Drama & Performance and a year-long Masters degree in Playwriting & Dramaturgy at The University of Glasgow. Tears, celebrations, and a lot more prosecco those times around! I have completed five years of higher education and they had absolutely nothing to do with beauty or teaching. I owe it all to my drama teacher at Bathgate Academy. It is not until you look back on your education that you realise it is all about the people who encouraged you along the way. I still remember my favourite nursery teacher; I am still in contact with my drama teacher and I am continually inspired by the lecturers I had over the years. The Nurture Nursery is no different with its attachment led practice and aim to form secure and lasting attachments between children and staff. 

I began helping at The Nurture Nursery in January 2019, a few hours here and there to support lunch covers. You fall in love with the place quickly, very quickly. I was half-way through my Masters, working a part-time job and still I found myself wanting more time at the nursery. By June I had left my job and was working more hours each week. Fast forward to now – albeit before the lockdown – and I am working full-time with three of my own key children. Laughing and smiling, at times pulling my hair out, and always in awe of the energy and creativity children hold. It has been a massive learning curve for myself and both the most rewarding and difficult job I have had. Do not even get me started on the tidying up!

I have sat in on many ‘shows’ – my favourite still being Frozen 2. You cannot dance, you might be allowed to sing, and you simply cannot clap until the entire soundtrack has been performed. I have tried desperately to teach the kids how to do the YMCA. I have been a doctor, a teacher, a mother, and a father. I know the songs that can hopefully stop the tears and the ones that encourage outbreaks of dancing. The books, comforting toys, and sensory play. Mountains of coloured rice. Chasing the painted hands, feet and, often, faces. It has been about learning to go with the flow, letting the kids lead the way and celebrating the small victories.

We are all living through a surreal time. We are being invited to think creatively and uniquely, navigating waters we have never touched before. Between baking cakes and pestering my family, I have had time to reflect upon how lucky I am to have a job I truly love. I cannot wait for things to return to normal, to see those familiar faces and to hopefully gain my qualification in childcare. Plus, I need more material for the next instalment of the short stories I am hoping to write!

“You get to play for a living? I think you’ve won” is what an old colleague said upon hearing what I do now. I agree with her wholeheartedly.

 

Starcatchers – Creative Skills and Making our Mark Campaign

By / April 27, 2020

At Nurture Nursery we introduce new artistic and creative experiences to our youngest children, from 6-months-old. We plan in the moment and follow the child’s lead, an approach that requires confident, creative and dynamic practitioners who can think out of the box and implement new ideas which capture children’s interest and spark creativity! 

Every day we see our children are innately creative and we want to nurture that, making sure they experience the big, messy arts and sensory play that allows them to jump straight in. We use real objects and loose parts as open-ended play resources encouraging children to think in new ways within their play.   

The Creative Skills training gave me time to immerse myself in the learning experience as though I were a child in nursery. By remembering and experiencing creative play myself I was able to put myself in their shoes and reflected on our children’s time at nursery. Now, when I see a little one who wants to explore the ‘gluk’ with their whole body in the middle of the tuff tray I can also see all the incredible learning they are experiencing.  

Here’s a glimpse of just some of the day-to-day artistic and creative experiences here:  

Music-makers  

A visiting musician once a week works with small groups across all ages using the Kodaly Method, using traditional song and the music the children hear on a daily basis to encourage them to be confident music makers! Alice Gentenaar creates environment that support their natural curiosity and is fantastic at adapting her sessions to suit individual children’s learning styles and pace.  

Visual art and movement 

All our staff respond creatively to children’s interests. For example, one morning we observed children’s interest in water play and had previously introduced water balloons. We extended the learning by allowing the children to mix water and paint, fill the balloons and observe what patterns they make when they explode onto paper; fences; and grass!  

Outdoor stone painting and face-painting are also favourites, giving children the opportunity to develop their fine motor skills and marvel in their beautiful, colourful creations!  

Children can take their ideas in a myriad of different directions. By introducing new resources in interesting ways the children often become completely engrossed for extended periods of time.  

Another member of our team is participating in Starcatchers’ Creative Skills Training and I’m really looking forward to seeing how these sessions develop her practice within the nursery.  

Katie

 

March Newsletter

By / April 24, 2020

Hi everyone!

Nursery fun so far….

So far this year we have been busy settling in lots of new babies into our baby rooms! Our new baby room practitioners Tracy and Jenni have been a great addition to our wee team.

Research based practice

As a team we have been busy looking at the approaches we are taking with our children and our resources in the nursery. This has included carrying out a book audit in relation to ‘gender equal play’ guidelines. We have been reflecting on our own experiences of gender, play and toys. We found that lots of children’s story books have male central characters. We looked at our own resources and have updated some of the books in our 2-5s room.

We have been looking at the use of comfort toys in nursery and found that the overwhelming majority of research indicates that these are important for security and ease of transition. We will continue to encourage comfort toys and other items from home in our setting.

We also took time to discuss the development of sharing in our young children including the developmental norms around this.

What have our children been up to?

Our 2-5s have been spending lots of time outdoors exploring the garden. They have created a small pond in the back garden and have been enjoying jumping in it and using the water for different purposes. Following a number of children’s interests our dolls house has transformed into a dinosaur land. We are now looking at developing it into an ice cream shop. Our children have been showing a keen interest in music from various musicals and selling ice cream at their performances. This interest led to the development of a small stage. The children also continue to explore a number of sensory based interests including using gluk, hay, shredded paper, oats and sand in our tuff trays. Messy but lots of fun!

The children in the 2-5 room have been showing an interest in taking photographs on our nursery phone. These have been particularly interesting! To follow up on this interest we provided disposable cameras. We are currently waiting on the photographs being developed and to see what the children would like to do with them.

We have also started our intergenerational project with royal scot court. This runs every second Thursday from 10-10.45am.

Our 0-2s have been spending time getting to know our new staff and settling into our upstairs rooms. It has been really important to allow plenty of time for this and so we have had additional help in our upstairs rooms. We have added a number of new sensory experiences for our 0-2s including using water, shredded paper and sand in our tuff trays. Following many of our children’s developmental stage we brought the bridge upstairs to facilitate standing, cruising and walking. We also bought small walkers to help children grow in confidence whilst walking. We have taken our 0-2s outside into both the baby garden and the larger garden where possible and we have been getting out and about into the community.

Nursery self-assessment and improvement

We have recently developed a ‘settling in’ care pathway. This has been following feedback from parents about how they feel their settling in process went and how it could be improved upon.
We are also currently carrying out a food audit by looking at the meals the children are having and which meals they like better. Where possible we are asking the children to give verbal feedback on the food. As we are looking to hire a chef this will help inform the menu that we are able to create.

Music classes

We are exploring the possibility of starting up music classes within the nursery. These will be led by an independent music teacher and based around the children’s interests. If this is something that would be of interest to you please let me know.

Room names

You will notice that we are using 0-2s and 2-5s as our temporary room names. If parents or children have any ideas of names for our rooms please let us know. I will pop some paper at the front door for any ideas!

Staff training

We recently had a staff training evening on ‘risky play’ and using the fire pit. This was facilitated by Tiptoes nursery in Falkirk whom we have been working with since before we opened to share ideas and good practice. The team are keen to get going with using the fire pit to prepare snack.

The team are also heading off to the Playworks conference in May which looks to be a fun and informative day.

I have also been taking part in Starcatchers training in Glasgow. This has been 4 days of training on visual arts, puppetry, creative movement and music. I’m looking forward to implementing some of the many ideas from this training with the children.

Dates for your diary!

Resilience screening: We will be showing the film ‘resilience’ on Wednesday 15th May at 6.30pm. This is a film about adverse childhood experiences and how they impact on long term health. It is a fascinating watch. Please ask about tickets for this screening which will be free for our parents!

Spring open day: we will be having an open day for new families should you know of anyone who would like to have a look around. This will be on Saturday 25th May 1-4pm

New staff

You will have noticed that we have new faces in the nursery. We are happy to introduce Amy into our 0-2s room. Amy Whitter originally joined us through an agency but quickly settled into working with us and so we offered her a full-time position.

We will also be introducing Anna McGregor to our 2-5s room. Anna has a range of experience working with children and in particular children with additional support needs. Having Anna join us will allow us to take on more children in our 2-5s room which we are really looking forward to.

We also have a number of bank staff joining us. The majority of our bank staff are local parents who have been keen to get involved in early childcare and education or are qualified practitioners. Our bank staff will help with covering lunch breaks, holidays and sick leave. The children will have time to get to know them as they cover lunch breaks prior to starting any holiday or sick leave cover.

Thanks for reading!

Katie