Nursery Life

7.30am 

Breakfast Club for those who opt in to this additional service.

8.00 - 9.00am

Nursery opens and children start to arrive.

8.00 - 10.00am 

Morning activities including a range of indoor and outdoor provision, with continual free-flow access. Small groups may participate in circle time, or adult led activities, or come together for Phonics, music, rhymes and number play.

10.00am

Morning snack, normally fruit, rice cakes, cheese straws or similar. The children all drink plenty of water, or milk, with their snacks, and are encouraged to drink regularly throughout the day.

10.30am

Activities continue, indoors and out, whatever the weather!

12.00pm

Lunchtime. Every child, and all the staff, eat together, in a ‘family meal-time’ style. The menu changes often and is published on our website, and all dietary requirements can be catered for.

12.30pm

After lunch, many children sleep in our beautiful sleep space. This room, complete with twinkly fairy lights and relaxing music, is the perfect place to ensure your child gets high-quality sleep during their Nursery day. We work to your routine, following any guidelines you wish, with regard to routines and sleep patterns. For those who do not nap, the activities downstairs continue, with a host of opportunities for messy play, exploration, art and craft, and construction, regularly replenished throughout the day.

2.00pm

Afternoon snack, which is normally crumpets, humous and vegetables, muffins or similar items. During the afternoon, all the children go out for a walk for at least thirty minutes, around our beautiful grounds. They may visit the kitchen to do some cookery, use equipment in the garden to build an obstacle course, or put on a puppet show in our yurt.

4.20pm

Those children booked for a full day are collected.

4.30pm

For those booked on to the additional service, supper is served in the dining room, in the same style as lunch.

5.00pm

The children return to the Nursery to tidy up, clear away in the garden and prepare for collection.

6.00pm

Nursery closes for the day Drop off and collection times are entirely flexible, so that you can arrange to fit around your commitments, but the session charges are fixed.

All children have their meals in the main school dining room to learn about social eating and have lunch with the nursery staff. Specific medical or ethical dietary requirements are catered for.

A wide selection of food is provided by the Catering Department, and pupils and staff (as good role models) are encouraged to:

• Eat at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day from the wide selection on offer. (Nursery children select fruit from the table to take back to school for afternoon break)
• Eat plenty of foods rich in starch and fibre
• Eat less fatty and sugary foods
• Consume less salt by eating fresh and home-produced foods without salt
• Drink water rather than sugary alternatives
• Make sensible choices to ensure they receive healthy and balanced meals

We are committed to helping children develop the skills and resources to make informed decisions about their health both at school and at home.

Leweston Prep has been an accredited Forest School since September 2017 which enables us to offer a host of outdoor opportunities to the children which benefit every area of the curriculum.

We have a large area of designated woodland, called ‘The Enchanted Wood’ which we use for our Forest School sessions. The wood has two clearings with log seating circles and fire pits. In one of the clearings we have our full outdoor classroom, with an all-weather awning, a storage area and sufficient seating for a whole class.

The possibilities in the Forest School sessions are endless, but the benefits remain the same. Children learn to work as part of a team, to solve problems and adapt their ideas, to interact with the world around them and to approach challenges logically. These ‘soft-skills’ are those that will be transferable and beneficial throughout the rest of their lives.

Additionally, Forest School enables staff to view the children in new ways. Providing an additional insight into what motivates them and how their minds work. Fresh air and exercise are indeed a part of the principle, but Forest School offers much more to our children and it is firmly at the heart of Leweston Nursery.

The sessions take place in all weather, from snow to sun, so it is crucial that all children have full kit for each lesson. As in the education of Norwegian children, our philosophy is that there is no such thing as the wrong weather, only the wrong clothing.

Regular communication with home is key and ensures that a true partnership is developed between home and Nursery. We pride ourselves on how well we know each and every child, and we strive to reflect this in all our communications with parents.

The children’s progress is monitored and recorded in Learning Journey folders and through our online Tapestry system.

Your child will bring their Learning Journal folder home to share with you regularly. We also welcome your contributions to their journals, and you will be provided with slips to inform us about activities and developments observed at home. We also invite parents into Nursery to look at their children’s records and to join us for 'Stay and Play' events.

You can also log-in to Tapestry to see photos and videos of what your child has been doing on a daily basis. Your regular contributions to the Tapestry system are hugely valued; you can like and comment on observations and add your own photos and videos.

You can also speak to staff directly at the start and end of every session and will find a home-school book in your child’s book-bag where we will write any important information about your child’s day and you can write messages to us.

If there is anything that you forgot to mention during the Nursery day, staff are contactable by email at all times, or by phone if you are happy to leave a message (01963 211042). We also offer regular parent consultation evenings when you can make an appointment to come in and discuss your child’s progress.