Home Learning 

 

Hello all Nursery children and parents! We hope you have all managed to enjoy your Easter break and eaten lots of chocolate! We understand that this is a very confusing time at the moment, especially for young children and know it is hard to explain why they currently cannot attend school to see their friends and teachers. Therefore we have decided to set Nursery Home Learning challenges via video from now on, so children can see their teacher and parents can get an idea of some of the activities they can do at home to benefit child learning.These videos will be added to Tapestry and the school Website for parents to access. There is no expectation for every activity to be completed or uploaded to Tapestry, but a weekly update to Tapestry of some of the activities you have tried or even your own home learning ideas would be lovely to see! Most importantly please remember, children learn through play, so please play and spend time doing the things you and your children love, interacting with them as they do! 

 

Many thanks, Miss O’Neil and Mrs Coates!

Story Time - 

Story time! Let us know your favourite repetitive stories or rhyming books. Please comment the titles and author below.

Read your favourites together and look out for and discuss repetitive phrases and rhyming words and discuss what you see in the pictures too.

Home Learning Activities

 

Please find below links to further activities to carry out with your Early Years Child to ensure continued development and learning at home. These are great activities to be carried out with all of the family.

 

Please remember to share progress on Tapestry.

 

https://abcdoes.com/home-learning/

 

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resources/home-early-years/home-early-years-home-learning

 

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/advice-for-parents/fun-ideas-learning-at-home/

                   Welcome to Richmond Hill Nursery 2's!

Who are we?

 

Richmond Hill nursery 2's is open to children from the term after their 2nd birthday until the term after their 3rd birthday.

Places are available for both Funded 2 year olds and fee paying children.

We have 12 spaces available daily term time only.

 

Session times: 9am-12pm; 12pm-3pm or full day 9am-3pm

Session cost: Funded places or £12 per session (£4 per hour)

Lunch: Parents provide packed lunches

 

For more information regarding Funded Education for 2 year olds please follow the link below:

https://www.cumbria.gov.uk/childrensservices/childrenandfamilies/cfis/freechildcarefortwoyearolds.asp

 

Staffing

 

Working directly with the children every day are Mrs Amanda Coates, Mrs Jill Mossop, Miss Danielle Scott and Miss Emily Carruthers.

 

We work as part of our wider team in the Early Years and throughout school to provide seamless transitions into the maintained nursery and on to school life.

The Early Years Staff that the children will meet are Miss Megan O'Neil, Mrs Allison Kyffin, Miss Taylor Hardon, Miss Claire Ostle, Mrs Sarah Little, Miss Kelly Dickinson.

 

 

 

Our routine is very flexible and very much based on the children's needs. However, as we feel it is very important at an early age to establish routines we have a very flexible timetable which is as follows...

 

• Welcome
• Adult supported free play (may include an adult led activity)
• Snack / Lunch - Staff always sit with the children and share this very important social time.
• Adult supported free play (may include an adult led activity)
• Outdoor play (we make the most of our outdoors at all times)
• Home

Nappies and toileting are carried out as and when needed.

 

We will often be outside for most of our session. The benefits of outdoor learning and exploration are huge.

 

What do we do?

We learn through Play!!

 

We have an outstanding environment with highly qualified practitioners, and we believe that these are the two most important factors in our provision.

 

We build strong and trusting relationships with our children and their parent's and carers. We believe parents and carers to be the child's first and most important educator, therefore we ensure that these partnerships are formed early and are built upon.

 

 

We are here to provide Early Years Care and Education for some of our youngest children and are required to follow the Early Years Foundation Stage as our Curriculum.

 

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets standards for the learning, development and care of your child from birth to 5 years old.

All schools and Ofsted-registered early years providers must follow the EYFS, including childminders, preschools, nurseries and school reception classes.

 

Areas of learning

Your child will be taught through games and play.

The areas of learning at age 2 are:

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

 

We also are very keen to find out and plan for a child's Characteristics of Learning this describes how they like to play and learn such as what motivates them and how their play allows them to learn and develop.

 

These are split into 3 areas...

 

Characteristics of Effective Learning

Playing and exploring – engagement

Finding out and exploring

Playing with what they know

Being willing to ‘have a go’

 

Active learning – motivation

Being involved and concentrating

Keeping trying

Enjoying achieving what they set out to do

 

Creating and thinking critically – thinking

Having their own ideas

Making links

Choosing ways to do things

 

To read more about the Early Years Foundation Stage and the Early Years Outcomes please follow the links below...

 

https://www.foundationyears.org.uk/files/2017/03/eyfs_statutory_framework_2017.pdf

 

https://www.foundationyears.org.uk/files/2012/03/Early_Years_Outcomes.pdf

 

 

Progress and Development

 

Staff work very closely with yourselves and your children every day and therefore are very aware of their likes, dislikes, interests and abilities.

 

As part of the Early Years Foundation Stage above we are required to monitor this progress and support your child to reach their full potential. With our close relationships with children and families, this is what we pride ourselves on. We are required to Observe your children, Assess their needs and Plan for their learning. To support us in this we have an online learning Journal called Tapestry.

 

Tapestry allows us to capture precious moments of learning as well as lots of fun activities to share with yourselves. It allows us to monitor children's development and learning to plan for the best possible support. We will use tapestry to provide parents with regular progress reports. We are required by law to provide a Progress check at between the ages of 2 and 3 years which you can share with your child's health visitor and any other setting your child may attend.

 

For more information and to see what it's all about...

 

https://tapestry.info/

 

We have good partnerships formed with other Early Years settings and professionals who are currently working with or may be required to support our families at any time.

Here is a flavour of what we do...

 

Outdoor Learning and exploring the natural world...

The benefits of outdoor play and learning for young children are huge and it is crucial that for their health and well being children are able to have access to the outdoors daily.

 

We are lucky that we have a safe and secure outdoor area which is enriched with resources to allow children to play and explore using all of their senses. We plan for activities outside as well as having lots of free play outdoors.

 

We have access to a huge field and play area as well as our schools garden with bug hotels and growing areas and we have lots of trees and open spaces to allow us to carry out lots of outdoor learning.

 

We have included a link to a list of benefits of outdoor learning and also to the Physical activity guidelines for under 5's for your information.

 

Benefits to outdoor learning:

http://lotc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Benefits-for-Early-Years-LOtC-Final-5AUG09.pdf

 

Government guidance for physical activity for under 5years:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/213737/dh_128142.pdf

Creativity and sensory exploring...

It is proven that the connections in our brain are strengthened when more of our senses are involved in an activity. We ensure that the children have lot's of sensory experiences in our nursery from using our hands to make marks in gloop to walking barefoot in paints as well as cooking, smelling and tasting activities.

Music and Movement...

Music and movement is an integral part of our practice in nursery. We sing nursery rhymes; we listen to music Cd's; we play instruments and we dance along. We are also very lucky to have a music teacher visit us once a fortnight to play instruments with the children and introduce them to lots of instruments which they may have never seen, we join together for the 3 and 4 year old nursery for this.

 

Music and movement from babies to age 3 years are vital to future language development.

 

We have regard to the guidance in Musical Development Matters written by Early Education:

https://www.early-education.org.uk/sites/default/files/Musical%20Development%20Matters%20ONLINE.pdf

 

And also use ICAN Toddler Talk materials when considering our play experiences:

https://www.ican.org.uk/how-we-support-children/

 

 

Sharing stories and books...

Sharing stories and books is another integral part of our day and we encourage children to sit together in groups; to sit with adults on a one to one and also to look at books independently.

 

Studies show that children who have not been read to from an early age or those who do not own books at home are less likely to be as articulate and as able to read and write as their peers and this can continue through school.

 

For more information on reading supporting children's learning please see link below:

http://licensing.ican.org.uk/sites/licensing.ican.org.uk/files/pdfs/Using-books-to-develop-language.pdf

Mark Making...

'When children are making these early marks, they are practising to hold a pencil and are attempting to control their marks with their muscles. This enhances their physical development by improving their fine motor skills and helps to develop their hand-eye coordination'.  Early Years Resources web.

 

Early Mark Making is a vital experience to allow children to build the muscle control and posture to be able to begin to write, the earlier children are allowed and enabled to make marks the more ready and able they will be.

 

We always have pens, pencils, crayons and paints available but we also understand that at this early age it is as important, if not more so, that children are encouraged to make marks in mud, sand, gloop, with sticks outdoors, with wellies in water etc...

 

For more information please see Mark Making Matters:

https://www.foundationyears.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/mark_marking_matters.pdf

Constructing...

Block Play has many benefits to children. Problem solving, creativity, working together, science, design. The possibilities are endless even at such an early age.

 

We have lot's of wooden blocks (large and small); loose parts; duplo and stickle bricks to name a few. The children love working together and with staff as well as independently to create all types of designs and creations and are always pleased to show these off to staff and to parents via our tapestry app.

 

For more information on the benefits of block play please see below:

http://www.oxhill.durham.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/92/2015/05/EYFS-block-play.pdf

Role Play...

.

Role play is one of the main types of play to support children's Personal Social and Emotional Development as well as their imagination and ability to make sense of the world around them. They use Role play to enact real life experiences and problem solve as well as develop confidence and creativity.

 

Role play begins as symbolic play... copying actions which they have observed adults and other children do such as talking on the telephone or making and drinking cups of tea. As their imagination and vocabulary develop this role play becomes more complex and this really begins to flourish.

 

We ensure that our setting is well resourced to be able to allow the children to carry out their role play alone and with other children and the staff love to be asked to be involved in this too. Staff find that children enjoy role play and do this in greater depth when it is a child on child activity, and staff are their to observe and scaffold their learning or to support with language development through this play.

 

 

Sand and Water...

Sand and Water play being closely linked to sensory play allows children to explore and discover properties, to develop early mathematical skills such as predictions, quantities and supporting physical shills such as digging, pouring, starting stopping etc... all of the above are skills which thread into all areas of the Early Years Curriculum.

Last but Most Importantly...

We are together: 

Playing; Communicating; Sharing; Caring for; Understanding;

Developing life skills!

 

Adults and children sit together, play together, support each other and care for each other.

 

Children are encouraged to be independent in their health and self care such as toileting, hand washing, eating and drinking. They are given as much or as little support as they need throughout all aspects of nursery to allow them to become confident little beings.

 

To arrange a visit please contact the main office.

We would be happy to share our wonderful nursery with you!