Opening Times
The Nurseries are open from 8am to 6pm throughout the week (these times are negotiable, please ask the Nursery Manager).
Apart from statutory Bank Holidays, the nurseries will be closed for the last week in August (incorporating Bank Holiday Monday) and from Christmas Eve to re-opening on 2nd January.
Priority is given to parents/carers requiring full-time childcare and also to parents/carers with a child already attending our nurseries. Part-time places are also available.
The Baby Unit
This brand new facility opened June 2005, whilst located on the same site as the existing building, it is a self contained for maximum security - acknowledging that this is a very anxious time for parents/carers who are facing separation from their little ones for the first time.
Looking after the specific needs of our youngest children, our qualified team members are supported by experienced mature assistants, and are only too happy to speak to parents throughout the day to offer support and reassurance during their first days at Nursery.
The facilities with the baby unit include:
- A comfortable carpet area with plenty of soft toys for our children as they start to explore
- A large conservatory incorporating a kitchen area for preparing individual meals and a messy area for tactile exploration
- A sleep room with cots for our much needed nap times
- Appropriate nappy changing and baby care facilities
Whilst providing essential personal care and attention, team members in the room are also undertaking careful observations to complete the first stages of each child’s ‘All About Me’ files.
Nursery 1
A gradual progression from the baby room, the children are provided with the opportunity to explore a wider environment as their independence increases.
Our qualified team and their trainees keep very busy, whilst introducing exciting new play and learning activities.
The facilities within this unit include:
- A safe carpeted area for practising those first steps
- A large craft area for getting messy
- Space for sleep-time
The interconnecting doors with Nursery 2 help to build the children’s confidence when moving through the Nursery, opportunities are provided for integration and the sharing of facilities.
Nursery 2
By this stage the children are growing in confidence, our qualified team and their trainees encourage the children to make choices whilst developing competence and creativity.
The facilities within this unit include:
- A carpeted area for indoor play, stories, singing and music time
- A separate arts and crafts room, where paint, glue, dough, sand and water are explored to the full!
- Space for sleep-time
Development records at this age often start to show children gaining control of their bodies and using this to play imaginatively with materials using all their senses, staff offer constant support, and achievements are regularly updated.
Nursery 3 and 3a
As the children grow in age and experience they move ‘upstairs’ to Nursery 3. Personal, social and emotional development is one of the areas concentrated on, with toilet training at the top of the agenda.
The facilities within this unit include:
- A large carpeted area housing a home corner, book corner and tables for small construction toys, puzzles and simple board games
- A large craft area with sand and water facilities
- Space for sleep time, if still required
Our qualified and experienced team timetable a wide range of learning activities and play, often coming together with Nursery 3a for group sessions, including story time, role play, music and singing.
Nursery 3a
The integration and sharing of facilities with Nursery 3, assists the movement of children to this next room. ‘All About Me’ folders show the progress being made within the EYFS, individual records are updated on a regular basis and support is offered as required.
The facilities within this unit include:
- A large carpeted area encompassing role play facilities, dressing up clothes, reading corner and tables for more focussed activities
- A large craft area with sand and water facilities
As well as liasing with Nursery 3, the team take the children on regular visits to the Pre-school section, where opportunities for circle time help to increase the children’s confidence and allow them to form new friendships before moving into the largest of the Nursery classes.
The Pre-school
As parents/carers begin to think about ‘big’ school, the children are provided with a valuable insight into how life is going to be in mainstream education. In addition to the specialised day nursery facilities, children are instructed in the basic skills of reading, writing and number work. Older children within the group also receive an introduction to French and a PC is constantly accessible for basic computer skills.
Qualified staff and trainees, supported by our experienced teacher, use the Early Learning Goals as a tool to make the transition to school much easier for the children, parents/carers and the teachers at the new setting.
The facilities within this unit include:
- A carpeted area for large construction toys
- Tables for completing planned topic work
- A large practical floor space for arts and crafts
- A separate home corner with role play facilities and dressing up clothes
- A quiet reading corner
- An activity room for child initiated sand, water and creative activities
Knowledge and understanding of the world is an area of learning actively promoted within this section, studying the environment, different cultures and developing an increased awareness of everyday life. Activities including baking and gardening are undertaken and regular visits into the community help to stimulate the children even further.
Weekly yoga classes have proved a popular addition and in nice weather take place outdoors to promote spatial awareness, concentration and listening skills.
The Outdoor Environment
All the children have access to safe enclosed outdoor play facilities, babies have a shaded decked area providing access to fresh air all year round and the younger children make good use of the astro turfed play area containing see-saws, slides, play house, multi activity centre for climbing, crawling and balancing, coupe and police cars, toddle trucks, prams, balls, hoops, bean bags and stepping stones.
Older children ride trikes, bikes and tractors round our cycle track, stopping only to fill up with petrol or if the traffic lights are on red!
The children play with sand and water outside and also make use of the Nursery garden to grow sunflowers, beans, tomatoes and various other plants. A large grass play area to the rear of the baby annex allows all the children freedom to explore on a grand scale, whilst experiencing elements of the natural world and its therapeutic and stimulating effects.
In addition to trips into the centre of Bingham, the children make use of the local transport services, including buses and trains, to take trips further a field in support of planned topics. Visits are organised on a regular basis to our affiliated MANOR FARM ANIMAL CENTRE AND DONKEY SANCTUARY, initially on a fun basis and subsequently educational outings are geared to incorporate the Early Learning Goals.
