Little Sneakers Studley
At Studley Sneakers, we provide childcare for children aged between 12 weeks and 5 years, Monday to Friday between the hours of 7.30 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. The nursery is open 51 weeks a year, and is only closed for Bank Holidays, and a week at Christmas.
In the Moment Planning
At Sneakers we use the approach of ‘in the moment planning’ to support and extend children’s development. Young children have a natural desire to learn, explore and question. We offer an environment that enables child initiated play in order to capture the moment of engagement. Careful observation by practitioners is key to utilising the approach. Opportunities to seize the moment when a child shows interest in an activity which can be built upon, this is recognised by the practitioner, and we call it a ‘teachable moment’. There will be hundreds of teachable moments a day for children. It is called ‘In the moment’ because the staff in settings will be seizing that moment and therefore, supporting the child immediately. On top of this we do termly targets for each child which are shared which are discussed with parents and reviewed regularly. When children are deeply engaged brain development is enabled with new synapses forming and this means they are making progress. Deep involvement indicates brain activity, and this happens most during high quality child initiated play. Genuine child initiated play is spontaneous and belongs to the child, it is not imposed by adults with any kind of agenda of what they feel the child should be doing and learning. True child initiated play cannot be pre planned because we don't know what the children will initiate. That means that staff will plan as they go, plan spontaneously - plan in the moment and respond as appropriate.
Tapestry
We record observations of children’s progress and record their achievements on a secure app called Tapestry. Parents will give their permissions in the registration form and we set up their own individual account. This also includes a feature for us to share home learning activities and parents can add on children’s achievements and activities from home also.
Pre-school
Pre-school is located on the ground floor of the building and has three rooms which the children can free-flow between. Three year olds are on a 1 to 8 children ratio and two year olds are on a 1 to 4 ratio. Children with additional needs will be supported with additional staffing where appropriate. Children start preschool approximately at 2 ¾ up until they leave for Reception. We support children with preparing for the next step of their learning journey which is Reception. We focus on securing the prime areas and also develop their confidence and abilities in the specific areas. The Prime Areas are Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Communication and Language and Physical Development. The specific areas are Maths, Literacy, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design. Our areas are designed to offer the opportunity to develop all of these skills in every area. Staff support and extend children’s play to develop and explore these skills further based on children’s current interests.
Natural and open-ended materials provide a vast range of opportunities. They can be used in their original state or imagined into something else. They provide more of a sensory experience as children explore how they feel, smell, look and weigh. We provide sensory play activities which encourage children to explore and investigate, while developing their holistic development.
We use natural and real life resources in the setting, which is all risk assessed before play. This gives children more scope for imagination in their play and develops a language rich environment in which children can increase their vocabularies, which is modelled by staff. We celebrate a range of different festivals and celebrations across different cultures, to increase children’s understanding and respect for the world around us.
Meal Times
Meal times are encouraged to be a social time where children discuss what they have done with each other and what their next plans are.
Developing Independence
We provide opportunities for children to develop their independence during children’s play and as part of the daily routine. Children’s independence is developed by listening and valuing their opinions and views, encouragement to complete physical tasks by themselves, giving children choices, supporting friendships, accomplishing next steps.
Children’s Toilets
Children are supervised and supported where needed when using the toilet and washing their hands. We encourage independence and guide children when needed. We do carry out nappy changing for children on pre-school and we support children with toilet training.
Phonics
We support children with Phase One Phonics, which focuses on developing listening skills. Phase One is split into seven areas, we include phonics in our daily activities with children and also plan some structured activities for group times to develop phonics knowledge further. We identify each child’s individual next steps and implement these activities based on what stage the child is at and their current interests.
Supporting Emotions and Wellbeing
We support children in self-regulation and to identify and understand the emotion that they are feeling. We are then able to explore what makes us feel this way and what we can do when we feel these emotions again. Self-regulation skills will support children throughout their life to deal with emotions in a healthy way. We have a lot of resources and books to support children with identifying their emotions. We support disputes in children’s play by modelling language and asking open questions so that children learn the skills to handle future disputes.
Creative play
Creative play is an important part of children’s development. Through creativeness and imaginative play children can grow personally, socially, intellectually and physically. This type of play helps children to express their thoughts and ideas. We support children with their early mark making skills, this is supported with Phonics and activities which develop children’s fine motor skills. As children become ready we support them in identifying and writing their names and other words.
Todder Room
The toddler room has been designed to provide opportunities for all areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. We focus mainly on securing children with their Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Communication and Language and Physical Development at this stage.
Developing Early Speech
Our learning environment provides a range of resources and activities to make it a language rich environment. This is supported by staff who develop positive and secure relationships with children to help them feel safe. Staff model language and allow time for children to process and respond. Our nursery SENCO’s support children who show a delay in any prime area by setting strategies and targets which are individual to the child. We work closely with parents and other professionals, so that children get the best start in life.
The Baby Room
The Baby Room has a maximum of six children at a time and two adults on a one three children ratio. There is always another staff member available to support with nappy changing, mealtimes or when needed. We follow the child’s individual routine so that it is as consistent with their home routine as much as possible. Daily activities are based on children’s age and stage of development. We support early speech, physical skills and social skills. Children benefit from heuristic and sensory play in the baby room.
Behaviour
We support children in making friendships by modelling how to be respectful and kind to one another. We have simple rules that are consistent across nursery which is ‘Be Kind’, ‘Good Sharing’, ‘Good Listening’ and ‘Good Tidying’. We approach ‘challenging’ behaviour in a very calm and understanding manner. We model using our words to solve problems and support children from an early age to identify emotions.
