The Morning Arrival
On a morning at Sweet Peas, families are warmly welcomed into our bright and spacious Suites by our team members. We use a doorbell system which allows us to only permit entry to people we know into the Suite and allows for every child to receive a warm greeting by name from their Key People.
Children have their own peg for their belongings where you can leave their coat and bag, then our team members will have a chat about your child’s morning so far, evening or weekend and find out what adventures children have been up to – learning anything from you that they may need to know to support your child in having the best day with us.
There will be a delicious smell of breakfast and children can choose whether to join us for breakfast before playing, or vice versa, giving them a gentle ease into their day with us.
Settling Into the Morning
In each of our Suites children will come together after a gentle breakfast time with our team and their friends to enjoy Wake Up Shake Up, before sharing as a group the names of the adults who are caring for them that day and the activities that will be available for them to play with.
Throughout the morning at Sweet Peas children will choose where they would like to play and explore, with our Key People encouraging and supporting children where they need this. It may be challenging them to mould playdough into a new shape, or if they’ve chosen to have a little quieter start and read some stories our team may encourage them to fill in missing words of a familiar story with a rhyme or turn their own pages, depending on their age.
Children may need some gentle reassurance from their Key Person to choose where or who they’d like to play with before they become engrossed in the engaging activities or areas of provision our team have set out for them to enjoy. Key People will use their knowledge of children’s interests to help them make this decision quickly and settle happily into their day with us.
Learning Through Play
We know first hand that children’s learning happens best and skills and vocabulary are most effectively developed when it happens through play.
Children may choose to create a jelly fish in the creative area, strengthening their fine motor skills to help early writing development as they cut ribbon and thread through a hole in paper, or mixing colours and exploring different shades of paint to create a masterpiece!
Throughout our day children are introduced to rich language and new vocabulary which is carefully chosen to link with our themed planning. When we had Owl Week we explored different textures that were as soft as an owls feathers and used dried mud to create claw prints that felt brittle like an owls foot. Our children were full of curiosity and excitement when Owls came to nursery to see us – and they could confidently tell the bird of prey trainers that owls were nocturnal and what this meant.
Whilst children share story books with our Early Years Educators we consistently identify and refer to the title and author. Whilst reading carefully chosen books with rhythm, rhyme and repetition children learn to use their own speech in different ways and the repetition, sounds and rhythm, help children to predict what’s coming next and make this more memorable for children – paving the way for a love for reading.
Meal time is another key time for building strong key person relationships with children. We eat in a small key person colour groups, having meaningful conversations with our friends while we enjoy a family service style meal time. Children will help set the tables before we self serve some elements of the meal from the middle of our tables, learning about where our food comes from and the benefits from eating particular foods. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to have conversations about what we have enjoyed playing with that morning and what we are looking forward to enjoying in the afternoon.
Outdoor Play & Exploration
We have two separate outdoor areas for outdoor play time at Garforth – giving our children a safe space to enjoy the fresh air and lots of movement!
Children can scoot, ride bikes, climb the climbing frame, sing and perform for their friends on the stage or mix up a potion in the mud kitchen – we’re always busy outside!
We like to make sure children have the option to enjoy the same kind of play and learning they can do indoors – but on a much larger scale! Children who love mark making can roll our large wheeled mark makers through water to create marks, chalk on our chalk boards or paint with mud at our outdoor easel and those who love to build and construct can enjoy den building and making obstacle courses to challenge themselves and their friends – always supporting one another to find a way to complete these.
Our younger children have their own separate space which allows them to enjoy the outdoors in a calming way, taking in our surroundings and making friends with the children from the next Suite which makes transition in nursery so smooth!
Rest, Calm & Emotional Support
At Sweet Peas we are a home from home setting, adopting children’s routine into our day, where our key people ensure that children’s individual care needs are met, learning from parents the indicators we should look for to ensure we can respond quickly. For example, we will learn when children are displaying early signs of tiredness, being ready for a bottle or needing to be engaged in a new activity.
Our routine allows for restful moments and we are always ready for comfort and cuddles at any time of this day, be this when children need a little reassurance on separating from parents in the morning, are just waking from a nap, or have put their coat on by ourselves for the first time and enjoy a celebratory hug!
The Key Person system at nursery is really robust – we know when your child needs us for more than just play. We know when they will need a cuddle to sleep, we know when they need a little bit of quieter time if it is a particular time of day they find overwhelming and we know just how to make them feel reassured through the time we have spent really getting to know them as individuals and the bonds and relationships we have built with them.
The End of the Day & Parent Communication
We have a flexible drop off and collection process for children where you arrive at nursery when you’re ready to, then come into the Suites where children have been playing and hear all about their exciting adventures of the day.
The app will have been updated with the important information such as the meals they have been offered, how much they have eaten, when they napped and any personal care needs – meaning when you arrive we can share with you everything you would have given your arm to see that day! We get really excited to tell you about the faces children made when they achieve something they have been working on or the funny conversations we have overheard between them and their friends as their personalities bloom in front of us. We know it’s really important to share these moments with you and every parent receives a personal handover at the end of each day, where you too can share with us anything similar you have seen your child do at home, or an area of development you’d like to ask us about.
Every day at Sweet Peas Garforth is built around helping children feel safe, confident and happy. If you’d like to see it for yourself, we’d love to welcome you for a nursery tour.
