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The Nursery
Our purpose-built premises allow us to provide exceptional care and early education inclusively to all children from 6 months to four years. We also provide after-school provision and holiday club from surrounding schools for children up to eleven years in a separate building on our large grounds. The building is at single-level and doors are secured electronically providing a safe and secure environment for the children to move around and explore our multiple rooms. Tailored care is provided for all our children, with rooms designed to nurture and provide quality care to cater for the range of ages in our care. Children are split into age ranges, with four spacious rooms across the nursery with each child being assigned a keyperson to ensure individual needs are met.
Each room has their own free-flow area, allowing the children to explore both the indoor and outdoor environment, allowing them to make a choice and being child-led within their own learning. Sleep areas in our three younger rooms allow us to cater to the child’s needs and follow a shared care routine from the home environment.
Within the building we also have a sensory room available for all four rooms to use on a regular basis, where the children can explore different textures, lights and sounds to enhance their senses and provides an area for self-regulation and reflection. We also use this room for maths activities .
As well as this we have our ‘Sweet peas’ room, where small group, 1:1 work can take place in a quiet environment to focus on areas of development and early intervention for speech. This space also doubles up as a cooking space for the children to become mini MasterChef’s!
The Outside Environment
The Early Years Foundation Stage states that the outdoor environment has a positive impact on both the child’s emotional and physical well-being. We pride ourselves in our outdoor environment with our outdoor space being extremely popular with the children in our care due to its size and learning opportunities on offer. Each room has their own garden with play experiences such as dens/huts, mud kitchens and sand/water play available freely. Each garden has plenty of space to investigate and explore. Children are able to negotiate space moving around in a variety of ways and take risks safely and under the supervision of our staff in using climbing equipment, bikes and scooters and much more.
Another feature within the nursery is our poly tunnel, within this each room has their own planter where children are supported in planting and caring for their very own plants. We are also growing some fruit and vegetables. It also provides an outdoor space for rainy days, featuring a giant sandpit for the children to explore, dig and bury treasure!
Forest School
Forest School (FS) is a unique approach to learning which offers all children regular opportunities to be able to achieve and develop self-confidence and self-esteem through child-led learning in a natural/woodland/outdoor environment.
At Forest School, all children are viewed as:
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equal, unique and valuable
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competent to explore & discover
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entitled to experience appropriate risk and challenge
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entitled to choose, and to initiate and drive their own learning and development
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entitled to experience regular success
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entitled to develop positive relationships with themselves and other people
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entitled to develop a strong, positive relationship with their natural world.
Here at Gateway, we have Kelcey who is our speech and language intervention teacher who also doubles up as a qualified Forest School leader. We have our very own Forest School area hidden in our outdoor grounds amongst the trees, providing a unique approach to learning. Children in the sunflower room will be learning new skills, having new experiences and joining in activities such as campfire cooking, mini - beasts hunts, exploring the nature, making crafts from wood, digging in the mud, den building and using tools.
Classrooms
Daisies
Our Daisies room accommodate our youngest children, being a small but nurturing environment for up to twelve babies between six – seventeen months following a 1:3 adult/child ratio. The room is open plan with lots of space Each child has a key person who works closely with the parent/carer to share care routines which we support whilst at nursery.
We provide soft furnishings for the children to be comfortable and safe in their play, whilst providing opportunities to build gross motor skills and take controlled risks in using our free-flow area where there is climbing apparatus for them to climb, cruise and move around.
The room has its own nappy changing area and also has its own sleep room where the children sleep in a small pod with a mattress and clean bedding and checked every ten minutes.
Opportunities are endless with activities being at the babies’ reach for them to have a level of independence at an early age whilst adult-led activities provide challenge and new experiences. Activities include a range of messy play, sensory exploration, mark making and free choice.
Poppies
Poppies is right next door to our Daisies room, with toddlers starting in Poppies at seventeen months until they reach two years old. A similar size to Daisies, the room accommodates twelve children following 1:3 adult/child ratio.
Each child has a key person who works with in partnership with parents/carers to share care routines and work collaboratively in supporting the children’s progress and development. The room provides a cosy environment with a book corner, soft furnishings and a place to self-regulate.
The children are supported in their learning through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activities. Poppies work alongside Daisies, in using the Daisies room as a sleep area in the afternoon so they can get there much needed rest. Stimulating activities where the children become engrossed in their play allow the children to learn whilst they play.
Poppies have their own nappy changing facilities, providing potties for the children to explore and sit on during nappy changes to learn its function. Poppies share the free-flow conservatory with Daisies to provide opportunity to build gross motor skills and use climbing apparatus even in bad weather.
Bluebells
Children move into our Bluebells room at the age of two years old, a gentle routine is introduced to the children for them to begin to understand boundaries and develop a concept of what is happening next.
Bluebells can accommodate for up to twenty-four children following a 1:4 adult/child ratio. Children in the bluebells room start to develop small friendships and the key person approach is significant for building bonds between both staff and peers and for targeting next steps for their learning and development.
Our Bluebell room is incredibly spacious with areas to explore and investigate such as a mark making area where the children can freely draw, colour and get creative. The children have a roleplay room which allows the children’s imagination to run wild with a variety of role-play opportunities on offer from a home corner to pirates! This rooms also doubles as a sleep area for the children in the afternoon.
With lots of space the children have the freedom to choose what they would like to explore, whether it be sitting quietly in the book corner or playing in the sand tray. Key group times allow the children’s key person to plan specific activities which meet each child’s developmental needs as well building knowledge in experiencing new activities.
Bluebells is fitted with an interactive whiteboard which is used for exploring cultural celebrations and building on ICT skills. Working with parents is key in supporting the children in their progress, in this room there is a focus on potty training and self-care skills for when they reach the sunflower room. The room allows children to be independent in making choices, with activities being at the children’s level and a range of activities on offer.
Bluebells have their own garden with access to the polytunnel. In the garden they have access to sand and water play as well bikes and scooters from the shed.
Sunflowers
Sunflowers is our final room before the children transition to school, our families will be supported when it comes to transitioning through the key person giving a detailed report to the school as well supporting families in arranging visits and meeting the teachers.
The Sunflower room accommodates for thirty-six children with a 1:8 adult/child ratio ( or 1:13 with a qualified teacher, of which we have 3). Our sunflower room is a large room with a variety of activities on offer. Group times and a more structured routine provides consistency and helps prepare the children for school. An interactive whiteboard is used for register and group times to enhance the children’s technology skills and support learning experiences.
The children can choose how they learn through independent choices and the key person plans around the children’s interests as well as providing a diverse range of activities, where they include topics to learn about seasons and weather, different cultures and celebrations as well following the children’s lead in choosing the topic, dinosaurs was a big hit! The room has a space for the children to reflect and take time to self-regulate in their quiet area where they can look at a book or talk to peers.
In Sunflowers the children are encouraged to be independent, from putting on their own shoes from using the toilet and washing their hands. Emotional intelligence is also central in their planning, allowing the children to begin to understand and communicate their feelings to support communicating their needs and interests.
The sunflower room allows the children to choose whether they want to play indoors or outdoors, with a free flow area with a water wall, sand tray and outdoor activities. They also have two gardens to choose from, one having a giant pirate ship for them to let their imagination take over!
Sunflowers work closely with Kelcey, our in-house speech and language intervention teacher. Kelcey uses a ‘Wellcomm’ programme to assess the children’s communication skills and to identify any need for additional support in this area. Kelcey provides 1:1 and small group work focussing on each child’s area of need and provides feedback to the Sunflower staff and the childen’s parents/carers.
Sunflowers room is where children will continue their journey for transition into school and in building independence and focusing on their communication and language skills in preparation for this
