The Nursery Day

Our aim is to make every day a unique and enriching experience. Although no two days are ever exactly the same, we do follow a similar routine, because it helps the children to develop a sense of belonging and self-confidence.

Self register at 9am, the children find their own name and put it in a dish.

The children can 'choose in the areas' when they first come into nursery, whilst everyone arrives.

We then have a mini carpet time where we choose our lunches and sing our morning songs to welcome everyone to the nursery that day.

We then put our laminated picture timetable on the wall, each child putting a card up which marks what we do during the day.  The children take them down as the day progresses, supporting them to understand how long it is until hometime and what we do at each stage of the day.

The timetable is as follows, themed craft time - based on the book/topic of that week.  There is a specific craft activity that is adult led and a number of other sensory and craft based activities, including the water tray. If we are cooking, this is done in the morning and is adult led.

Snack time.

Outdoor playtime and learning - physical development opportunities and lots of number work, as well as understanding the world.  A number of observations are made during this time as the children socialise and take part in wonderful imaginative play. Back inside - carpet time, which is often literacy based - the book of the week, with associated activities (spiders playing football, making pumpkin soup) that can include acting out the story using puppets and other props, by the end of the week the children are able to retell the story themselves. 

Lunch time in the hall and then playtime in the Reception outdoor area.

Once back in nursery, the children 'choose in the areas'.  This time is invaluable as myself and Miss Leach can observe how the children use their learning in their play.  

The last part of the afternoon is often numeracy based carpet time activities - number recognition, counting, finding and matching numbers, shape, positional games and many other challenging activities. 

Further carpet activities involve physical development - including ball skills, yoga, hoops, copying/repeating activities, continually improving listening and communication skills.

Music is an essential part of every day in nursery as it supports the childrens' development in all 7 areas of development - Communication & Language, Personal, Social & Emotional Development (PSED), Physical Development, Literacy, Numeracy, Understanding the World, Expressive Art & Design

We sing, dance, count in nursery rhymes, as well as investigating instruments and the noises they make.

Every day ends with a story and goodbye songs which the children love.

Throughout the day, Miss Leach and I are continually observing the children's communication & language, PSED and physical development. Encouragement, praise, time, recognising each child's uniqueness, listening to the children and valuing their contribution, knowing and understanding what they love and don't like is essential to our day being both successful and rewarding.