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Mile Oak Branch
We have three types of rooms for children of different age groups.
Baby Room
Our Baby Room is warm and secure, and caters for six babies aged between 0 and 18 months (depending on ability).
We provide a happy, stimulating, safe environment where the staff are always eager to assist in your child’s development, with plenty of cuddles on the way!
The babies have plenty of opportunity for messier activities – with finger painting and footprints, which provide you with invaluable keepsakes.
At least twice a day, the babies go outside and have a play with outdoor toys. The playground is covered with an outdoor ‘carpet’ with a thick layer of underlay beneath it, which is so soft and springy that it won’t hurt their delicate skin.
We have periods of rest where calmer activities take place. For example, baby yoga and massage whilst listening to classical music.
There is a wide variety of toys and equipment, which are cleaned with a sterilising solution on a regular basis. Toys which children frequently put in their mouths, i.e. rattles, are sterilised daily.
Your child’s comfort and cleanliness is paramount, and nappies are changed very frequently.
Daily diaries are sent home with your child (applicable to all children in nursery), so that you know just how much fun they’ve had that day!
Tweenie Room
There are two Tweenie Rooms, one caters for a small group of children aged between 18 months and 2 years, and the other caters for children aged between 2 and 3 years. Both groups operate separately, but join together occasionally for certain activities or teatime.
The Tweenie children enjoy a wide variety of fun activities that provides them with plenty of opportunities to learn new skills. They will begin to explore natural materials such as sand and water as well as discovering the pleasures of play-dough, painting and printing.
We have a pet's corner (available for all children), and with parental consent, the children enjoy feeding the animals, stroking them and generally learning to be kind to
animals and to take care of them. We also incubate eggs, watch them hatch and then return the chicks to a nearby farm!
The older Tweenie children start to explore other living things, and enjoy growing plants and looking after them.
As well as lots of noisy activities, such as music, song and dance, we have quiet activities where the children enjoy listening to exciting stories or creating a fantastic piece of artwork.
The children love cooking, and often make cakes and biscuits. However, after lots of begging and pleading, the children sometimes eat them at teatime! We then have to show you photographic evidence of your child's cookery skills!
Pre-School The Pre School children have many areas of learning in their rooms, such as a computer corner, writing area, creative area, music area, maths table, home corner and many more. They also have access to as much outdoor play as they want. As from the age of three, we start to plan the children’s activities in accordance with the Stepping Stones Curriculum Planning. As previously mentioned, this is a nationally recognised curriculum and is used in all schools. As well as planning the curriculum, the staff makes sure each child has achieved each learning outcome from all of the six areas of learning. We have guidance from an Early Years Advisor to help us provide the best method of learning for the children. We also have a teacher, once a week, to teach the children basic French. Government Grants are available for all children, the term after their third birthday. Staff will provide further details on this area if required. The Pre-School children have more of a structured day because of the activity planning. This will involve some ‘Adult Focused Activities’ where the staff will choose which activity they want the children to participate in, mainly because they want the children to achieve a particular learning outcome. Then there are ‘Child Choice Activities’ where the children choose the activity. Computer skills are also encouraged using education software.
Like the Tweenie children, Pre-School have opportunities to care for the pets, to grow plants and to cook lots of nice things. They also have a daily diary to take home at the end of each day.
