So grown up!

Before you know it your tiny baby is on the brink of a whole new adventure – school! To make sure that they are as ready as they can be our pre-school room is designed to encourage their development in all new ways.

Now your child is three, they are developing the skills that they will need to progress smoothly into the national curriculum in their Reception year. These skills are not written around the 3 R’s, but around social skills, encouraging their curiosity, developing their fine and large motor skills and being ready to take on a new adventure.
In our pre-school room your child’s key-worker will focus on their successes and look at areas of progression to help your child move forwards and be ready to start school with confidence.

Days Out

By this stage, your child will be showing high levels of interest in the world around them and to encourage and satisfy this curiosity we plan group visits to interesting locations; following our child-led policy, we often plan these days out around the children’s own interests and ideas, expanding upon topics and themes we’ve been developing in our sessions together.

Early Years Curriculum

We make sure our curriculum is varied with lots of challenges, fun and games; all designed to prepare them for their next step onwards to school. In accordance with national guidelines, and our own knowledge and experience, our emphasis is always on learning through play; by encouraging a love of learning early on we can help sow the seeds for a more successful educational experience for their future in school.

Meal Times

A busy child makes for a hungry child, so we plan all snacks and meals to satisfy all their energy and developmental needs.

If your child stays for a full day, and is EYFS funded, you can choose to provide a packed lunch, or we can provide a freshly prepared meal for them every day. Menus vary according to the season and weather, but include nursery favourites such as cottage pie, or the more exotic, such as sweet and sour chicken with noodles or a tasty curry.

And if you have a fussy eater…don’t panic! It’s always fun to see parents’ faces when they learn of what was wolfed down at lunchtime today, often foods that their child won’t touch at home!

We have yet to meet a child who didn’t love a snack, and here at Kids Count snack time is more than a quick pit stop to re-fuel. Learning about nutrition and healthy eating starts now – and habits formed in their early years will provide life-long support. At snack time your child will be offered healthy choices, whether this be cheese and crackers, dips and veggie sticks or cereal and milk, there is something for everyone. Your child will also be encouraged to self-serve, learning about portion control and developing those fine motor skills.

Reporting

To provide parents and carers with the ultimate in two way communication, we have teamed up with Tapestry online learning journey. This marvellous piece of technology allows us to share information between the parents and their child’s key worker for the benefit of each child in our care. We use this to:

• Collect observations of each child and upload these to the shared portal
• Assess development in line with the EYFS Framework
• Create a personalised album of each child’s experiences
• Evaluate children and track progress over time
• Receive postcards of each child’s at-home learning experiences, provided by parents uploading to the shared portal.

It’s so simple to use; you simply log on using your Smartphone or PC (at home or work!) and we keep you updated with your child’s adventures every day – from playing with jelly to doing music and movement, to getting out and about. Using Tapestry you and your child can work with their assigned key worker to progress from pre-schooler to Reception ready, sharing the fun, the love, the successes and the celebrations all the way.

Call us now on 01606 74100 to discuss how we can support you and your child through their early years.