Welcome
We hope the information you find on these pages will help you settle your child in the Nursery and answer some of the questions about your child’s time at Mr Bee’s. On acceptance of a place in the nursery, your family will be offered a home visit. We encourage you to accept the offer as it helps your child make the transition from home to nursery. During the home visit or at the first visit to the nursery you will work with a staff member to collect information about your child. This will be used as ‘starting points’ for your child’s key person to plan for your child’s next steps.
Do talk about starting Nursery with your child so that he/she knows what to expect. The following pages will ‘help us help them’ and provide tips on how you can support them with this transition. Let your child know that Mr Bee’s is a friendly and exciting place to play and meet new friends. Whilst visiting, please join in the activities; show your child the toilets, where to wash their hands, how to use paper towels; where to find a drink of water and introduce them to the staff so they’ll know who to go to for help.
Most of all, come and enjoy yourselves!
Settling into nursery
This is an important time for young children and their families. This will be a new experience for some children and will be the first time they have been left with other people in a different environment with lots of other children.
We aim to make the process as smooth as possible. Further information can be found in our ‘Key Person and settling in’ and ‘Admissions policies’. We understand that all children and families are unique and individual and take this into account in our settling-in process.
To help with the transition we ask parents to come for a ‘stay and play’ visit with their child. This is usually followed by a home visit, and then by a ‘lone visit’ where your child will spend about an hour in the Nursery while the parent is still available in the building. After the lone visit, you can discuss details with your child’s key person. The details include how best to start your child at the nursery and for how long. Dates for the settling-in sessions and who your key person is will be given at registration.
We hope that by working with parents and carers we can provide the best possible start for children coming to nursery and lay firm foundations for their future care and learning.
Partnership with Parents
Mr Bee’s recognises working in partnership with parents is paramount to children’s learning and development. Although all the staff at the nursery will all be responsible for your child, he/she will be allocated a member of staff known as a Key Person and another staff member known as a Shared Key Person. Your child’s Key Person will have knowledge and understanding on how children learn and develop and after talking with you as their first educator during the settling in process will have a good understanding of your child’s current interests and needs.
The relationship between the ‘Key Person’, child and parent will begin on day one of your child visiting the centre. A positive partnership between parents and key people will allow the child to begin to build a relationship with the key person and start to build an attachment which has been linked to brain development.
The Key Person will capture all of your child’s learning and talking about your child’s learning may happen informally at the beginning or end of the day when you drop off or collect your child from nursery. We recognise that this is not always possible and Mr Bee’s have introduced tools to support a regular two way flow of communication through Famly messages/newsfeeds.
A Suggestion Box can be found in the reception area of the nursery — we welcome parents from time to time to write a brief comment, compliment, suggestion and post in to the box so that we are aware of anything that you feel needs addressing — this can be done anonymously.
Children’s Learning
Children initiated play
During each day children have access to play with a wide range of toys and equipment which they can choose for themselves. Our environments are laid out to encourage this type of play.
Adult intervention
Childcare workers have been trained to observe children at play and know when to intervene to extend children’s learning or to deal with disruptive behaviour.
Adult initiated activities
Adults observe children at play and prepare several adult-initiated activities related to children’s interests to help them learn new skills. These include story time and tabletop activities where children’s learning is supported by their Key Person.
At Mr Bee’s we believe that children learn best from their own play experiences, their learning can be extended through sensitive adults playing and having fun with them. This pedagogy (teaching) is known as social constructivism which is based on the idea that learners construct new knowledge.
Learning Concepts
How can we tell when a child is learning?
As well as assessing learning using the Development Matters guidance of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), Mr Bee’s uses two other tools to assess a child’s learning.
Firstly, the Leuven Scale allows a setting to assess children’s well-being and involvement. Well-being refers to a child feeling at ease, being spontaneous and free of emotional tensions and leads to the development of self-confidence, self-esteem and resilience. Involvement refers to being intensely engaged in activities and is considered to be a necessary condition for deep-level learning and development.
Secondly, we observe children and consider their patterns of behaviour known as ‘schema’s’. Schema’s are about how children systematically explore their environment and find out about the space around them. Exploring schema is an important part of the way children develop concepts about shape, space, distance, movement etc.
When we notice this type of behaviour in a child we leave them to continue their learning uninterrupted unless they ask us to intervene.
Each term, your child’s key person will complete an assessment which includes the Early Years Foundation Themes, areas of learning, well-being and involvement and schematic play.
Early Years Foundation Stage
What does the Early Years Foundation Stage mean for my child?
“Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Children develop quickly in the 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.”(Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage 2021)
The Early Years Foundation Stage sets statutory standards for learning, development and care for children from birth to five. EYFS is aimed to reassure parents that by using registered childcare they are doing the best thing for their child, who will be safe and well looked after. There is an emphasis on working closely with parents to encourage them to be more involved with their child’s development both at home and when they are at nursery.
It sets out:
- Safeguarding and welfare requirements that everyone registered to look after children must follow to keep your child safe and promote their welfare.
- Learning and development requirements guide professionals’ engagement with your child’s play and activities as they learn new skills and knowledge.
- Assessment arrangements for measuring your child’s progress and requirements for informing parents throughout the EYFS.
- The three prime areas lay the foundations for children’s development in all areas of learning.
The four overarching principles of the EYFS are:
- every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured
- children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
- children learn and develop well in enabling environments with teaching and support from adults, who respond to their individual interests and needs and help them to build their learning over time. Children benefit from a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers.
- importance of learning and development. Children develop and learn at different rates. (See “the characteristics of effective teaching and learning” at paragraph 1.15). The framework covers the education and care of all children in
early years provision, including children with special educational needs and
disabilities (SEND).
The prime areas are:
- Personal, social and emotional development.
- Communication and language; and
- Physical development;
As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in four specific areas. The four specific areas provide essential skills and knowledge and provide important concepts for learning. The specific areas are:
- Literacy;
- Mathematics;
- Understanding the world; and
- Expressive arts and design.
The three prime and four specific areas are used to plan your child’s learning and activities. The professionals teaching and supporting your child will make sure that the activities are suited to your child’s unique needs at any given moment in time. This is a little bit like a curriculum in primary and secondary schools, but it’s suitable for very young children, and it’s designed to be flexible so that staff can follow your child’s unique needs and interests.
Children in the Early Years learn by playing and exploring, being active learners, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outside (see our Learning Environment Policy). These are known as characteristics of effective teaching and learning and will guide our practitioners in identifying the different rates at which children develop and learn and adjust their practice appropriately.
What can parents and carers do to support at home?
Parents and carers are children’s first teachers. Whey they are with you, learning can happen at any time and any where, for example:
- Be generous with praise: be specific about what they have done well – respond with ‘great counting’ or ‘good sharing’.
- Talk through activities: When you are feeding, bathing, or going somewhere with your child, talk through what you are doing – engage with them and make them an active participant.
- Sing to your child or rock them to music: You can sing simple songs, play music, clap, or repeat nursery rhymes to encourage the development of rhythm and speech.
- Point things out: Share the world with your child by pointing out new things as you walk down the street or go to the park, including letters, animals, shapes, numbers, and toys.
- Story-tell: When you’re playing with toys or enroute to an appointment, tell stories to your child. Make it fun by adding different voices or animal noises.
- Count, measure, sort: Whether you’re playing with blocks or going up and down the stairs, be sure to count out loud and engage your child with measuring and sorting when they’re at the appropriate age.
Food & Snacks
Hot meals are available from our Café at St Augustine’s and prepared by trained cooks. Where possible all meals are made from fresh ingredients. We encourage parents to use this service as it helps children to try a range of foods which they may be unwilling to eat at home. Alternatively, a healthy sandwich, fruit and yoghurt are available. Please refer to our price list for costs for both hot meals and sandwiches.
Drop Off at Nursery
Please bring your child into their room and make a member of staff aware of their arrival. Share with them anything you think is important, i.e. if they have not slept well or need breakfast or if there are any changes in the person collecting (routines may alter a little during an outbreak of serious diseases).
Toileting
If your child is anxious about asking for the toilet or has just started using the toilet, please take them before you leave the room. Discuss with your child’s key person any terminology and or behaviours your child may use when they need the toilet.
Let us know if your child may need support with cleaning themselves after using the toilet—staff will always support children where necessary but independence is encouraged so please be patient while your child develops their cleaning skills.
Clothing
All clothing must be labelled with the child’s name.
Please ensure that your child is dressed in comfortable clothes that are easy to unfasten and easily washed—we do love messy play. They will need wellie boots for the garden and sun hats during the summer.
Sun cream & Outdoor Play
Mr Bee’s will apply sun cream with the written permission of parents —please let your Centre Lead know if your child has sensitive skin and/or allergies.
The outdoor area is open all year round (rain or shine). The children will need to be sent with appropriate coats, footwear, hats, scarves and gloves to reflect the weather. All items should be labelled with your child’s name.
Trips & Outings
Trips and outings are an important learning experience for children, but to ensure safety high adult child ratio must be in place and usually requires the support of our parents.
Emergency Closure
If the Centre has to close because of an emergency i.e. inclement weather, or loss of heating, parents will still be charged for up to three days; however, parents who incur a cost for alternative childcare will be reimbursed upon presentation of a receipt. Parents will be notified by Famly notifications and alerts sent to the local radio stations.