About Us
We firmly believe in the value of play, apart from being fun and exciting it provides opportunities for our children to generate their own ideas, be free to explore, let their imaginations run, solve problems and work through things that puzzle them. They begin to see the world from the perspective of others and are able to use their reasoning skills to adapt to new challenges and situations.
To support us in our commitment to making a difference we place our children at the centre of everything we do. We begin by ensuring they live free from fear, safe from harm, and are protected from abuse and exploitation.
The Early Years Foundation Stage
We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage which is a play based curriculum – we know that children learn more effectively when they engage in meaningful activities which are based on their own interests and prior learning so we begin gathering this information from parents/carers during initial stay and play sessions. Nursery staff will use this to plan an environment in which our attending children are motivated to explore, investigate and learn through first hand experiences. Nursery staff ‘tune into children’, listen to what they are thinking and note how they play. This allows us to engage in sustained shared thinking as play partners and co-learners to ensure we respond at an appropriate level with the right balance of reassurance, support and challenge to enhance our children’s learning and development.
Children have access to all areas of the nursery during ‘free flow,’ as well as having group time with key people.
Our activities, resources, outings, and celebrations are meaningful interesting, and exciting, this motivates children and their desire to find out more.
Some examples of activities and resources we use and include:
- Small world play– Is an important aspect of children’s play as it supports many areas of development. Imaginative skills are promoted allowing children to express themselves whilst exploring the world in which they live. Small World offers the opportunity for children to build on their language skills, expanding their vocabulary and understanding. It also benefits children’s independent play skills.
- Messy play– Provides children with a tactile and sensory experience that inspires their curiosity, allows them to explore the world around them, and enhances their learning, language, and creativity. There is no right or wrong way to carry out messy play, it is all about letting children explore and experiment with raw materials (such as sand, water, chalk, paint, dough, glue, etc) without any end goals or restrictions in how to use them. These materials encourage our children’s imaginations to run wild as they make their own discoveries.
- Roleplay– We have many role play areas which reflect children’s interests. Roleplay builds confidence, creativity, communication, physical development, and problem-solving. It allows children to get into character and act out real-life roles and experiences.
- Construction play– Offers a hands-on learning experience for children, making it easier for them to recall information gathered during the course of learning. They find out about the attributes of different materials, engage their curiosity and imagination, experiment with applying concepts and explore new ways to use physical materials. Children’s active involvement in this way means the information they gather is first-hand and so much better remembered than if told by another.
- Natural resources– Such as shells, moss, conkers, and twigs inspire children’s creativity and develop their imaginations. They are open-ended resources which means they can be used over and over again and each time be used in a different way for a different purpose to support ideas and intentions.
Staff members watch, listen, and respond appropriately to individual children’s needs, taking into account the children’s ages and stages of development and differentiate activities as necessary. Our daily timetable is flexible to enable us to be spontaneous and respond to children’s choices and interests.
Environment
The nursery building is accessed via a ramp, once inside, the two classrooms and bathroom areas are on ground level which supports independent access for children and adults.
Our nursery environment supports inclusion and is easily accessible to all children and adults. We have our own entrance and outside play area which is available for use throughout the day. At TreeTots we view our outdoor area as an extension of our classrooms. All spaces, resources and layout are versatile, and flexible to maximise their value. Children are able to follow their own interests and needs through play based activities, giving them autonomy, whilst promoting independence, self-organisation and confidence.
TreeTots employs highly qualified staff who have years of experience working with children. They all hold either NNEB / NVQ Level 3 in early years qualifications, one member of staff has Early Years Teacher Status.
In our setting through a key person relationship, we welcome parents/carers to work in partnership with us. We believe that by working together children will receive the best care, learning and outcomes.
To see more information about our Ethos please click here
To see our Ofsted reports click here
