Our nursery environment and facilities enable your child to explore, develop and learn. Our Baby, Toddler and Preschool spaces are specially designed and equipped especially with them in mind. You’ll see many familiar homely items such as bookcases, tables, chairs, and sofas just much smaller than you are used to!
We consider the spaces around them to be your child’s third teacher, We consider the spaces around your child to be like their third teacher,notice how we use our garden area as an outdoor classroom too, full of features to support their play and learning. Our Baby, Toddler and Preschool rooms are perfect for the ages of children that spend their time in them.
We are located on a working farm, meaning our children have access to a whole farm and all the adventures that it is able to bring them. Additionally, we have a trained forest school leader in our preschool room to take children on daily forest school sessions and a lead staff member in 2-3’s that has trained in outdoor learning, meaning our older children get to spend lots of time outside learning in our beautiful environment that includes streams, fields, woodland and exploring nature’.
We are extremely blessed that our older children at Astwick are not confined to being inside all day and can run, climb and explore our great outdoors each day. Our little ones go out too, but we don’t take them as far as their little legs get tired, so time outside learning on the farm, increases with their age and energy!
Inside we create a home from home environment – our ethos has influences of Hygge and the curiosity approach to ignite their curiosity to explore and learn and we aim to include the following in nursery:
- Atmosphere – creating a warm, calm and homely atmosphere
- Presence – focus on what they are doing and feeling right here, right now
- Pleasure – activities that are fun and promote happiness and wellbeing
- Equality – sharing and respect for others
- Togetherness – spending quality time together and forming strong bonds
- Gratitude – time to reflect and discuss what they’re grateful for
- Harmony – less focus on competitiveness and instead enjoying playing together
- Truce – learning to play fairly and manage conflict
- Comfort – a comfortable, cosy environment
- Shelter – space to relax or read alone
We incorporate this by adding cosy book dens, real life resources in our home corners and create potion benches and playdough units with herbs, scales and fruits to ignite curiosity and invite play.
Babies Environment
Our mobile and non-mobile babies benefit from a large, bright, open plan day room, well equipped with the latest in sensory equipment to test their senses and encourage development.
As babies spend a lot of time sleeping at this early age, we provide a dedicated sleep room. We constantly monitor the room temperature in the day nursery to ensure the babies are comfortable at all times.
There will never be more than three babies to any one member of staff, so you can be assured that your little one will get the essential attention they need at this stage in their life. Your child’s key person will take care of all your child’s personal needs whenever possible.
Tweenies Environment
The Tweenies Room is designed to help Tweenies to start learning how to become independent. It is full of sensory toys, texture and plenty of new opportunities for the Tweenies to engage and explore! In the early stages of the Tweenies development they are mostly exploring the world around them, so it is important that they experience a range of material, objects and sounds.
The Tweenies Room offer a spacious and airy room packed with activities including a ‘Story Corner’ where children can sit in a group and listen to stories, sand and water play area, a construction area to develop coordination and a messy play area for getting mucky. In this room, Tweenies also begin to learn how to feed themselves using utensils with support and encouragement from staff. Children and staff sit together at this time learning the social skills surrounding a family meal time.
Toddlers Environment
When your child moves up a stage, their day is structured around their changing interests. Our nursery equipment has been carefully selected, allowing your child to discover at their individual level of understanding.
The room focuses on the primary area’s of the ‘Early Years Foundation Stage’ framework and encourages learning through play. We have created various dedicated areas offering different activities.
The ‘Story Corner’ where children can sit in a group and listen to stories, sand and water play area, a construction area to develop coordination and a messy play area for getting mucky.
Toddlers also benefit from a staffing ratio of one member of staff looking after no more than three children and supervised access to our fantastic garden.
As this is the time when the majority of children start ‘toilet training’, this area is equipped with brightly decorated children’s toilets, encouraging independence.
Preschool Environment
Pre School children also follow the ‘Early Years Foundation Stage’. We support them and prepare them for their eventual move from day nursery to school. This is a more settled routine, with children working in small groups.
Through our observations of children learning through play, we are able to introduce adult led activities that follow the interest of individual children, linking them to the seven areas of learning:
- communication and language
- physical development
- personal social and emotional development
- literacy
- mathematics
- understanding of the world
- expressive arts and design
The children have open access to the garden every day (free flow) from their room and complete a lot of their daily activities outside through choice. The garden also reflect the areas of learning and allows problem solving on a grander scale.
