6 months - 16 months old  baby room

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Where it all begins! during this important phase, babies are exploring the world around them with all their senses and their whole bodies and so the resources and activities support and encourage children’s strong exploratory impulses.

Our carpeted area provides a soft environment for babies to crawl, roll, shuffle and wriggle whilst the messy play area has non-slip flooring; keeping children safe throughout their different types of play. We adopt a no-shoes policy for cleanliness and the safety of the babies.

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There are baby changing facilities and a food prep area to ensure that staff do not need to leave the room and are supervising the children at all times.

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OUTDOOR LEARNING

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We believe that babies sleep better at night if they’ve had some fresh air and sunshine during the day; they need the opportunity to use their whole bodies to develop their gross motor skills. Our babies are taken for regular walks around the local community. We just ask parents to provide waterproof all-in-one suits for their  babies so they can explore the environment whilst keeping warm and dry on cooler, wet days.

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FEEDING TIME

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We encourage self-feeding skills at every meal right from the start. Finger-feeding is one of the only safe early opportunities your little one will have to practice his finger coordination with very small objects and it is most often through the process of finger feeding that the pincer grasp emerges. Through self-feeding, babies gain “Visual Motor Skills” (hand eye coordination skills), refine sensory processing skills and independence whilst also enjoying a range of home-cooked, healthy, well-balanced meals cooked on sight by our fabulous Early Years caterers.

 

 2-3 years old

 

Children aged 2-3 years old have increasingly well-developed physical and language skills. We support these areas in their continuing development. Children’s curiosity is at an all-time high as they happily explore and investigate the world around them - seeking answers to the perpetual question ‘why?’ We motivate your child to learn, encouraging them to try new things and ensuring that quality time is spent with them in both small groups and individually.

 

The development of social skills is continuing and staff support children starting to understand how to engage with others - taking time and sensitively supporting difficult concepts such as sharing and turn taking. Your child will be learning numbers and letters through our approach to storytelling, songs and rhymes whilst their speech and vocabulary will be advancing. Children feel secure when they have a consistent routine: we support this through event sequencing - so for instance, after tidy up time the children sit for an action time song or after tea the children will wash their hands and go out to play. Provision is made for sleep time if your child needs a rest, although it is in this room that children start to grow out of an afternoon sleep.

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We ensure that our 2-3 year olds environment is inviting and interesting and you will see your children exploring various areas of provision including:

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* Sensory play including music

* Heuristic play – discovery play with natural materials

* Cosy areas for snuggling, books and stories with puppets

* Pretend play

* Large and small construction

* Physical play

* Creative play including water, sand, paint, playdough and sticking

 

 

3-4 year old room

 

In our Pre-School, we will be teaching your child everything they need to enable them to successfully transition into school. We support children’s developing skills within the structure of the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework. We look at both the Characteristics of Effective Learning as well as Prime and Specific Areas of Learning to support children during their time with us:

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The Characteristics of Learning are:

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* Playing and exploring

* Active learning

* Creating and thinking critically

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The Prime and Specific Areas of Learning are:

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* Personal, social and emotional development

* Physical development

* Communication and language

* Literacy

* Mathematics

* Understanding the world

* Expressive arts and design

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Our approach ensures that we take into account the age and stage that the child is at, and that we “observe, plan, carryout & review” the activities that we deliver. We take a holistic approach to learning, recognising that children often cover lots of areas of learning in the course of doing one activity. We support children to be successful readers and writers by ensuring a “language rich” environment which includes interest tables, areas for children to mark make and “write” throughout the provision so that they are able to understand the value of communicating through the written word.

 

We select a “Book of the Month” to spark children’s interest in literacy and plan exciting, educational and stimulating activities around this to inspire children too. Social skills are further enhanced but we ensure that children’s unique and individual personalities are celebrated to enable them to have the confidence to contribute within the room, to make friendships and to engage with adults. Of course, our educational approach is combined with care and attention to every child.

 

We encourage and support children to explore arts, music, dance and technology to develop their learning further. We provide opportunities for children to be excited about mathematics and science, to problem solve and find things out for themselves, as well as scaffolding their learning – our approach to the role that the adult plays. Our environment is set up for children to independently access resources through different areas of provision which are available to children throughout the day.

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The areas of provision on offer include:

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Books and Puppets – children can read and tell stories themselves, make up their own stories using the props provided or sit and listen while an adult reads in small groups or individually.

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Creative Workshop – lots of materials are available for children to make collages and junk models. We may ask you for empty cereals boxes and cardboard tubes from time to time, to keep this area stocked up!

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ICT – children are introduced to technology, using digital cameras, light boxes, overhead projectors and computers.

Investigation and Exploration – broadly covering science, nature, problem solving, reasoning and numeracy. Children have the opportunity to examine, enquire and experiment.

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Large Construction – block play develops children’s ability to problem solve and their spatial awareness. It provides physical play which enhances co-ordination.

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Literacy and Numeracy are supported throughout the room using number and alphabet lines, posters and environmental print. Children’s pegs are labelled and they are able to register themselves when they arrive at nursery.

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Malleable Materials – clay, goop, play dough and other materials offer opportunities for tactile and imaginative play.

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Mark Making – although we have a specific area for crayoning, emergent writing and drawing, we also make ‘mark making’ materials available around the nursery so that children can write in other areas – for example making shopping lists in the role play area or drawing maps in the construction area.

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Music – instruments are provided for children to access and props to support this area to include ribbons and fabric, a CD player and CDs are provided. Children can play instruments, move, sing, dance and explore in this area.

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Paint – children can create works of art using paint with brushes, sponges and string. We will display some of these on our walls - and you can take some home for your walls!

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Role Play – children can dress up and pretend. Whether it’s a home or a hospital they can take on different roles.

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Sand – wet and dry sand offer different experiences to learn about the properties of natural materials and to dig, pour, mould, and make marks.

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Small Construction – duplo, sticklebricks and other resources help to develop children’s fine motor skills.

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Small World – model animals, vehicles and people are available in most areas; sand, water, construction to allow children to use their imagination to make up and tell stories and scenarios.

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Water – children love water, pouring, splashing, floating and sinking sailing boats, filling and emptying.

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The opportunities in these areas of provision have the potential to support problem solving, critical thinking, understanding mathematical and scientific concepts, understand the world around them looking at differences and similarities of families and people - and develop an understanding of British Values. They also have the potential to develop literacy; writing and numeracy skills; develop their imaginations; help children explore different media and how they relate to each other; develop social skills including friendships & managing their own behaviour; develop fine manipulative hand to eye co-ordination, spacial awareness and large motor skills; develop vocabulary and communication skills; share, celebrate and represent their own experiences; support and develop their understanding of managing their own health, body awareness and safety rules; and create and work within expected boundaries - both social and for safety reasons.

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Every day, at the beginning of the session, we hold Key Person led group times which include discussion involving each child’s ideas and opinions to help them to plan and get the best out of their day. The well planned day offers opportunity for individual and group learning (both indoors and outside) through both planned activities specifically for children and through open access to resources, so that children can have their own explorations and lead their own learning experiences. Our approach ensures that the seven key areas of learning within the Early Years Foundation Stage are fully covered.

 

Children have individual assessments throughout the year which monitors and reviews their progress and gives us the opportunity to include you in how, together, we can continue to ensure that they make progress during their time at our nursery - supporting their future. We make learning fun so that our children feel positive about learning and feel confident and competent, as this will enable them to succeed at school and beyond.

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we strive to offer a warm, inclusive, child-centered environment.  We provide imaginative play based opportunities to extend and enrich each child’s learning and soft play on site for all our preschool children aged 16 months-5 years.

 

We pride ourselves on developing close and co-operative relationships with parents, carers and our local merton community.  Our small class size enables us to to work together to instil confidence and a love of learning and exploring and discovery in each child as an individual.

 

We look forward to arranging a visit for you and your child. Contact us

Our main aim is to provide a secure and happy environment where children can learn through play.

 

We are open from 7.30-18.00 Monday-Friday , throughout the year.

closed bank holidays and a week between Christmas and New Year.

 

Our home from home environment offers excellent opportunities for children aged from 16 months to 5 years to play and learn throughout our individually designed areas.

We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework.

Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outside.

 

We offer Free Early Education for 2 year (FEET) , 3 and 4 year olds (30 hours funded session available to those eligible)

 

 

Session Timings:

Full day session - 7.30-18.00

Half day - 8.00-13.00 or 13.00-18.00

Short  Sessions- 9.30-12.30

Holiday Clubs / school day sessions- 9.30-15.30

 

 

For all of these reasons and more, we’ve developed the drop in programme to offer ad-hoc care arrangements for families in need. Be it a single hour session or a full day requirement, we can care for your little one in an inspirationally engaging, early years educational environment. We’ve are a provider of emergency childcare.

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Availability dependent on nursery numbers.

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Please make enquiries to enquire about spaces.

imaginenationwimbledon@gmail.com

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