The children at The Orchard Day Nursery (2-3’s and preschool) have a good understanding of technology, for example, they operate hand-held iPads to sort and group shapes as well as record their everyday activities. The iPads also supports their early mathematical skills well.
Practitioners help children to understand their feelings and to develop their self-confidence. For example, children learn to share and take turns to speak and listen. Staff also teach children to accept and respect others whilst promoting ‘British Values’. Practitioners support babies’ (under 2’s) communication and language skills well. For instance, they sing action songs and read stories to babies, which they fully take part in and enjoy.
The outdoor area provides lots of interesting physical challenges for children, including opportunities for children to balance, climb, crawl and move in different ways. This is reinforced by weekly sports classes as well as Teddy tennis.
Children are happy, settled and keen to learn at The Orchard Day Nursery. Practitioners help children to feel confident and value each child as an individual. They motivate children to learn, for example, by providing enjoyable activities linked to their interests. Practitioners place great emphasis on preparing children for school and use a range of very effective ways to help children cope successfully with the move to school. They teach children how to behave in safe ways so that they can use their environment with care. For instance, they carry out regular fire drills, so children know how to leave the building safely in an emergency. Practitioners help children to learn healthy routines. For example, they provide nutritious snacks and meals and the children have outdoor play each day for physical challenges.
We offer nutritious food prepared and cooked by our in-house chef (click here to view our latest menu). During meal times the children find this not only enjoyable, but they also socialise with each other, mirroring each other to encourage ‘good eating’. The practitioners also enjoy watching the chef prepare and cook their food from his open-plan kitchen. Practitioners have ‘regular cooking/baking sessions with the children which encourages the children to try new and exciting foods as well as practicing good hygiene.
The nursery offers plenty of good quality toys with the majority being natural products. There are loads of opportunities for play and learning inside and out in our beautiful garden area where the children get the ‘back to nature’ feel. Practitioners have positive interactions with the children, offer plenty of praise, encouragement and you will always hear laughter throughout the setting.
The nursery offer ‘stay and play’ sessions throughout the year and we endeavour to ensure they are carried out at different times/days as we would like as many parents to attend as possible as we want to promote ‘parents as partners’. Parents are offered questionnaires giving them a voice to make sure they are fully involved and consulted in their children’s care and the activities that are carried out.
