Environment and Activities

Activities Environment and Resources

The best nursery for your children.

We at Sneakers understand that learning through play is something that a child best enjoys. A child’s play has a purpose and can be a step towards the learning and understanding of valuable skills. It can help the child fit into the world physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially, and grow to be a healthy and competent individual.
We endeavour to provide children with a stimulating environment, where playing and learning go hand in hand. A varied selection of activities will be provided throughout the day, using both indoor and outdoor activities. We take into consideration that we make appropriate provisions to include children with special needs and abilities.

This is just a simple example of a typical morning, but every day’s schedule varies greatly so that there’s always something new and exciting happening. We set ourselves clear objectives and targets for every activity to ensure we’re really meeting our goals, whether that’s learning the basics of maths, learning to love the outdoors or just making a mess with finger painting and glitter!

Sometimes we plan quiet activities like story time, other times there’s lots of noise and activity with singing and dancing; everything is designed to let children explore their creativity and get confident with key school skills like using a pencil or recognising numbers and letters.

Some of the activities which the children enjoy at our nurseries:

  • Construction and small world play
  • Heuristic play – independent exploration and investigation of real, found and natural resources and materials
  • Large & fine motor skills and experiences
  • Literacy and numeracy skills
  • Role play and imaginative opportunities
  • Water, sand and malleable experiences
  • Stories and mark making – the marks that children make through a range of media, such as paint, water, sand pencils and the meanings that they give to them
  • Creative workshops
  • Outdoor opportunities
  • Exploring and investigating science and nature
  • Dance, music and sensory experiences
  • Cooking
Learning & Education

Learning through Play

Here, at Sneakers, we understand that Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Children develop quickly in their early years and a child’s experiences between birth and age five have a major impact on their future life chances. A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right. Good parenting and high quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. It promotes teaching and learning to ensure children’s ‘school readiness’ and gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life.

As stated this framework covers children’s development from birth to 5 years.

The EYFS is designed to deliver improved outcomes for all children, across every area of learning and development.

By working in close partnership with parents we are able to form the foundation of each child’s learning and incorporate these outcomes into weekly planned activities.

Through hands on experiences and challenging and exciting activities your child will develop skills and knowledge through the seven areas of learning and development set out in the EYFS. These being:

Prime Areas

  • Communication and Language
  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development
  • Physical Development

Specific Areas

  • Literacy
  • Understanding the World
  • Mathematics
  • Expressive Arts and Design

The “Early Years Outcomes” document demonstrates how the four themes of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework and the principles that inform them work together to support the development of babies, toddlers and young children within the context of the EYFS framework.

We use “Early Years Outcomes” as part of daily observations, assessment and planning for children. We can also use it as a guide to making best-fit summative judgements, with parents and colleagues, in relation to whether a child is showing typical development, may be at risk of delay or is ahead for their age. We will record this information in an online Learning Journal which keep parents informed of their child’s progress, as they can logon at any time of the day with their individual login details and passwords.

We operate an open door policy and welcome parents to come and speak with us in the office if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s development. You are also welcome to book an appointment with your child’s keyworker if you would like to discuss your child’s progress in more detail.

Environment
We believe that children are active learners from birth and that if we provide them with the right environment, support and experiences, it will help to encourage their curiosity, imagination and creativity. We also need to ensure that we stimulate each child emotionally and intellectually by providing the best circumstances to promote active learning.
We have designed our nursery environments to be cosy and exciting and they are structured in such a way as to promote a child’s independence, decision-making, problem solving and making friendships. The environment is organised into clearly defined areas to accommodate different activities appropriate to the development and competence of the children. Areas are divided by the use of low level shelved units that reduces distraction and allows children to become engrossed in their activities.

Children have access to a range of materials such as sand, water and paint which helps their creativity and develops their independence. Equal emphasis is placed on calm areas of the nursery where the children can feel cosy and enjoy stories, rhymes and songs. Wooden toys, materials which encourage children to discover solutions for themselves, and mirrors enhance tactile and visual stimulation. Every environment is designed to encourage physical skills such as crawling, sitting, standing and walking which are all important for development.

Promoting Positive Behaviour

Children benefit most when adults adopt a consistent and positive approach to the management of behaviour. By establishing clear boundaries according to the level of understanding, children become aware of the routines and begin to understand what is expected of them. Children have a lot to learn about behaving and coping with very different environments in their first five years. The children in our nursery are at varying stages of development. Our staff are sensitive to the individual needs of each child, their cultural and family backgrounds, and their developmental stage of learning.

The five outcomes are:

  • stay safe – looking after the children’s welfare and ensuring a safe environment
  • be healthy – safeguarding and promoting children’s health and well-being
  • enjoy and achieve – supporting the children in their learning and development
  • make a positive contribution – working together with parents and encouraging children to play a beneficial part in their nursery and wider community
  • achieve economic well being – Flexible, full daycare provision that supports parents returning to work or education.

 

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Testimonials

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