Nibley House Nursery
Nibley House Nursery: 01453 519538
Contact Us
We would like to share the important years of your child’s life with you and help give them the best possible start. We hope to welcome you to Nibley House Nursery very soon.
For an information pack, contact:
Nibley House Nursery
The Cottage
Nibley House
North Nibley
Dursley
Glos. GL11 6DLTel: (01453) 519538
Fax: (01453) 549700
Email: deborah_eley@btinternet.com
What makes a good nursery?
It’s the mix of:
- the setting, the staff, the security, the activities…..
- the fact that parents trust you to provide their children with a safe, happy, healthy, secure and stimulating environment...
We believe that we tick all those boxes. Nibley House Nursery opened in September 2003 and is situated in a cottage within the grounds of Nibley House. We are a ten minute drive from Dursley, Wotton under Edge and Charfield.
Children who love animals will love Nibley House Nursery. Our 200 acres of working farm includes sheep, cattle, horses and chicken. We pay frequent visits to the farm where the children can see and bottle feed new born lambs, take a look at foals, chicks and calves, see sheep being shorn, pick blackberries and apples in the Autumn, harvest potatoes and carrots – the list is endless as we make full use of the environment around us.
We have our own vegetable plot and we make our own compost by recycling our snack and lunch-time waste.
Our Philosophy
All our children are encouraged to develop their creativity, individuality and self confidence led by our caring and qualified staff. We understand that children develop at their own pace, so activities are devised for their individual age and ability.
We ensure that all children are treated as individuals and feel happy and safe when they are with us and away from their parents. We want them to feel confident when they are with us and to develop good relationship with the adults that are caring for them and with the other children in their group.
This was acknowledged in our recent Ofsted report:-
‘Children make good progress in their learning and development because adults plan and provide activities that interest and engage them, and take account of their individual needs'.
‘Personal, social and emotional development is particularly good as children are happy, settled and keen to learn. They demonstrate high levels of self-esteem and develop positive relationships with peers.'
‘Children’s behaviour is good as they copy the good example set by adults.’
Most of all, we want the children to have fun learning through play so that they will be prepared for their first day at school and ready to fulfil their full potential.
Safe, Secure, Healthy and Stimulating Surroundings
The nursery has well-equipped rooms that are homely and inviting and have resources suitable for the age of the children in them. These resources are structured in a way to promote a child’s independence, decision making and problem solving. Low level shelving allows resources to be displayed within reach so that children can make choices about which items they want to use in their activities.
We have two large main classrooms at the nursery and children are divided according to age. The two year olds (Dragonflies) and the three/four year olds (Crickets). After the initial period of planned activities in their classrooms, the children are free to use which ever room they wish to do whatever activity they wish. We also have a large messy play room and cookery area and a separate room for music and movement or circle time. We also have a large outdoor play area.
Children can experience a wide range of materials, paint, glue, sand, water, gloop, crayons, chalk, and clay – whatever the topic (which changes weekly) the emphasis is on fun. We take the lead from the children as well creating activities around their ideas.
We also have a quiet area in each room where the children can sit on a bean bag or cushion and enjoy stories, rhymes and songs.
Learning through play
As from September 2008, a new framework was introduced by the Government for learning, development and care – THE EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE (EYFS). This framework aims to ensure that every child is given the opportunity to learn through high quality play to the best of their ability.
Our curriculum meets all the requirements of the EYFS and supports all aspects of their learning and development. We allow the children to explore, investigate and enjoy learning. We do this through a variety of ways:
- Water, sand and other malleable materials
- Construction and small world play
- Large and fine motor skills
- Literacy and numeracy skills
- Role play and imaginative opportunities
- Stories
- Mark making – through a variety of media, paint, water, sand, clay, play dough, pencils
- Experiences outdoors
- Science and nature
- Dancing, music, instruments and sensory experiences
Experienced Staff you can Trust
We pride ourselves on the quality of our staff who have worked together as a team for many years and are well qualified – good staff are crucial to the success of a setting. Staff are encouraged to extend, improve and update their training and qualifications with the nursery’s full support.
We believe that we are friendly and approachable and fully appreciate the importance of our partnership with our parents or carers, whilst not losing sight of the fact that the focus is on fun and education for the children. Staff must have the skills, knowledge and enthusiasm to observe, assess and plan for children’s learning effectively thus identifying and meeting any additional needs a child may have. This is all linked to the EYFS and recorded in their individual folders and learning journeys.
We operate a key worker system at the nursery. These means that the person assigned to your child will build a special relationship with them and help to meet their needs while they are in our care. They will offer security, reassurance and continuity and are in the best position to understand their key child’s individual needs and to share information with the parents/carers about their child’s experiences in nursery.
The key person also helps the child develop relationships with other staff members. For example, when the time comes for the child to progress from Dragonflies to the Crickets room, the key person will help the child and the parents to develop a new relationship with their new key worker.
Partnership with Parents
It is important for the parents to share information with the nursery staff about a child’s development and learning and this helps to facilitate a positive relationship. This starts at the very beginning of your child’s time with us with a ‘More About Me’ form outlining your child’s current capabilities and likes and dislikes. We use ‘Learning Journeys’ to record our observations and plan for the children’s learning during the forthcoming term.
We encourage parents to continue talking about work and topics that we have been doing at nursery at home. We also encourage parents to use ‘WOW’ vouchers recording a significant achievement in the child’s life which we then share with the group. Finally, we invite parents into the nursery to share any skills they may have with the children or just to read a favourite story.
Ample opportunities are provided for parents to discuss their child’s progress, either before or after each session; or by way of coffee mornings, parents evenings or one of the other social events we hold (Easter party, summer trip, Christmas party). We also have a notice board with useful information and a termly newsletter to keep everyone up to date.
Moving on to School
During a child’s time with us, we introduce them to a variety of activities and experiences that encourage them to solve problems, make decisions and become independent learners. We use activities that provide mathematical concepts for example, big and small, different shapes, full and empty, as well as numbers.
This can be done in a variety of ways, including water and sand play, construction toys, painting and sticking and outdoor play. We use scales for weighing objects, do floating and sinking experiments and do lots of cookery which incorporates many mathematical and scientific aspects.
Children are encouraged to look at books and pictures, listen to stories and telling them, identifying words and signs in the environment, copying patterns – all exposing the children to letters and the first steps to reading. Children have their own name pegs and their own name badges which they are encouraged to pick out and stick onto a board daily. They are also encouraged to write their own names on their ‘work’.
We liaise closely with all the local primary schools and arrange for the reception teachers to visit the children in the Nursery. For those children who will be moving onto our village school (North Nibley C of E School) we arrange for several preschool visits where the children spend time in their future classroom and have an insight into what goes on and familiarise themselves with the reception teachers. This has proved invaluable to many children and their parents.