Oakengates Nursery School

Welcome to our Baby Room

                                        0-24 Months                                                 

 

We understand that your baby is your most precious gift and leaving them in the care of someone else can be hard, that is why we pride ourselves on having a warm, nurturing team of qualified staff that are here to cherish and care for your young babies.

 

The Environment

Our appropriately organized and stimulating baby room is an open and accessible space with defined areas that are suitable for little babies. It is set up to promote your baby's natural curiosity to explore in a safe and secure environment that is carefully planned to meet the outcomes of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum (EYFS). Each area supports babies to develop skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, making positive relationships and friendships as well as independence, whist learning new skills that will enable them to make sense of the world around them.

We have appropriate space for rest and relaxation, where babies can recharge their energy or have a reassuring cuddle with their key person. The snack area allows children to experience new tastes and textures whilst growing in independence learning how to feed themselves.

Babies have regular access to their own secured Garden where they can explore all the wonders of the outdoors safely. Learning how to master physically challenging skills such as climbing, walking, pushing themselves on trikes, etc. as well as noticing the finer details of the natural world such as bugs, birds and plants.

 

The Curriculum

Babies have a natural and strong sense of exploration, they need to touch and feel the world around them. This is supported and encouraged by the exciting and stimulating heuristic resources and learning within the baby room. Practitioners use carefully planned opportunities to extend babies thinking and allowing them to challenge their own expectations.

The Prime areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage (Personal, Social & Emotional, Communication & Language, Physical development) are very much the focus of the baby room. They are the supporting developmental stages for children as they begin to develop their specific areas later in their education (literacy, Maths, Knowledge & understanding of the world, Expressive arts & design).

We strongly believe songs, rhymes and stories are integral for language development and promote this regularly throughout the curriculum.

We use every part of the routine as a learning opportunity: Nappy changing times to learn about and the names of our body parts, Snack time to learn about and the names of food and encourage empathy by supporting each other as we play and learn together.

We track how your baby is developing by making regular observations of their achievements using a programme called '2simple' and assessing their learning using the EYFS 'Learning journey'. The Learning journey is accessible at all times for you to look at how your baby is progressing and you can make appointments to speak to your babies key person or attend our termly stay and play sessions.

 

Routines

We believe your baby is unique and therefore we find out as much as we can about your home routines so that we can support their individual needs and interests.

We have a flexible rhythm of the day that sets out what your baby will be accessing throughout the day.

Time Provision
7:30 Breakfast time
8:30 & 12:30 Welcome time
9:00 & 1:30 Music & Movement
9:30 & 2:30 Outdoor Provision
10.15 & 2:30 Snack time
10:45 & 3:00 Enhanced provision
11:30  & 3:45 Story/Song time
11:45  & 4:00 Lunch/High tea time
4:30& 6:00 Enhanced provision

We will also give you a daily diary which shows details about your Baby's day so that you can follow how your baby is doing, what they have eaten, how they have slept and what experiences they have enjoyed.

 

Meals & Snacks

Our meals are freshly prepared on site by our cook daily and all menus are developed by Telford and Wrekin ensuring they are healthy and balanced. Babies that are weaning have their meals blended to start with and then as they become more developmentally ready we introduce soft chunks, encouraging babies to become more independent by introducing cutlery. The lunch and snack menus offer a range of healthy choices catering for all dietary needs including allergies.

We support breast (also expressed milk) and bottle feeding. We ask that parents/carers provide formula in an unopened tin, where we prepare fresh feeds daily to reduce the risk of infections. We have appropriate storage facilities for breast and formula milk. (please see our breast and bottle feeding policy for more information).

Water provided throughout the day with the addition of cows milk at snack times for babies over 12 months (or alternative milk for those with dairy allergies).

 

Home-School Links

During your babies induction we ask you to complete an 'All about my child' booklet that helps us to support your baby in their first days settling in.

We actively encourage parents and carers to get involved with their babies nursery education inviting you in for termly stay & plays as well as contributing to your babies 'learning journey' by telling us about their  achievements at home.

You will have the opportunity to take our mascot 'Boo Bear' home and tell us about the exciting things he does with your family by filling in his diary for us to share.

Each week during term time a weekly newsletter is published on the website that will inform you of what's happening in nursery, important dates, visitors, celebrations and what learning will be taking place. It will also inform you of any important events such as trips etc. that you may wish to get involved with.

 

Our Staff

Babies learn and develop best when they feel safe and secure with warm and nurturing relationships. That is why all our babies have a Key person that is there to help your baby settle and be the point of reassurance when comfort is needed as well as track how they are developing and work together with you should you be concerned about you babies progress. 

Our staffing structure consists of a Supervisor supported by a team of practitioners that have a wealth of experience and training specifically for supporting young babies development. 

 

Keeping Safe

We ensure we adhere to the Ofsted Statutory requirements by having robust policies and procedures to safeguard your baby such as regular sleep monitoring, appropriate bottle preparing facilities, secure nappy changing and more. We have no less that one adult to 3 babies on site and our outdoor area is secured so that Babies have safe access to the outdoor environment.

Ofsted reported in our school inspection (Sept 2017) 'Children's safety is of paramount importance to every member of staff. All staff are vigilant and have a thorough understanding of what to do if they have concerns about a child' they felt that 'Leaders go to great lengths to ensure that all early years welfare and safeguarding requirements are met and children are kept safe'

We will inform you if your Baby is unwell or has an accident whilst in our care though an accident form or a phone call, all parents & carers are required to fill in all permission documents on enrolment. All staff have regular and up to date first aid and child protection training.

We ensure all our policies are available by publishing them on the website for you to access, we encourage all our parents/carers to read them carefully.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sessions

Morning (Including Breakfast & Lunch): 7:30am - 12:30pm

Afternoon (Including High-Tea): 12:30pm - 6:00pm

Short Day (Including Lunch): 8:30am - 3:30pm

Full Day (Including Breakfast, Lunch & High-Tea): 7:30am - 6:00pm

 

CHARGES:

                                        Full Year          Term-time

Full Day 7.30-6.00:            £49.14              £54.06

5 x full days:                    £233.42             £256.79

Short day 8.30-3.30:         £33.70               £37.07

5 x short days:                 £160.08             £176.08

Morning 7.30-12.30:          £25.95              £28.55

5 x mornings:                   £123.26             £135.61

Afternoon 12.30-6.00:        £26.51              £29.17

5 x afternoons:                 £125.92              £138.56

 

Breakfast  £4.99

Lunch £5.61

Late session £10.88