Monkshouse Nursery has 31 FTE (full time equivalent) places which offers a range of options for childcare including 30 hours. Children are admitted at the beginning of the school year in which they become 4. 

At Monkshouse Nursery we have great respect for all the children coming through our doors, provide a stimulating and engaging place to take their first steps in their life-long learning journey.  Children join our nursery from a number of different nurseries or straight from home. We hold open days in November and a meeting for parents during the term prior to their child starting at the nursery to find out more about us. Children are also invited to visit the nursery with their parents for stay and play sessions. 

The children are the centre of everything we do and we aim to provide a learning environment in which each unique child can inquire, engage and investigate through play. Through play, children take an interest and develop an understanding of the world around them, use their creativity to build their imagination and become confident in the roles they take on. Without the children even realising, they are developing their dexterity and physical skills, becoming communicators and mathematicians, fine tuning their resilience and determination as well as building the important foundations for cognitive and emotional development.

The Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum

Focuses on 4 main themes; A Unique Child, Positive Relationships, Enabling Environments and Learning and Development. Through these, staff look at how each child is a competent learner, how they build friendships and relationships with key people and how the environment in which they are in contributes to their extended learning and development as well as respecting the different ways that each child learns.

There are 7 defined areas of learning:

All staff in the Nursery apply their extensive training and knowledge of child development to provide an environment which allows each child to progress through these areas of learning. Whilst creating a stimulating and secure learning space, staff monitor each of the Characteristics of Effective Learning for each child to ensure they are reaching their full potential. We use Tapestry, an online learning journal, to share with parents some of the many learning opportunities that occur each week. Parents are actively encouraged to upload posts about their family activities and their child's personal achievements at home. Tapestry is one way that staff and parents to communicate with each other, sharing and celebrating developments. Through quality interactions with the children, staff seize opportunities as they occur to enable the children to make that next step in their learning journey. All staff play with the children all day and are highly skilled in supporting each unique child as they play. Our provision and activities are very child led, creating an engaging and meaningful learning environment where progress is planned and delivered in the moment.

So what will you find inside our Nursery?

We pride ourselves in offering a warm and safe environment which is rich in fun and engaging activities. The inside offers areas to build and create with various materials and media, a reading and quiet area, a home role play area and small world areas. We encourage transportation as a schema of learning. This means if a child creates a pizza in the playdoh area, we fully expect and allow them to build on that creativity and transport it to the role play area where they might engage in a ‘family meal’ either by themselves or with another child or staff member. The child that builds a bear out of cardboard boxes and tubes can take it into the Book Nook to share a story with it. There are stations where children can independently select resources for mathematics, resources to investigate and resources to create.  There are activity stations where children can focus on a specific skill, often linked to the specific areas of learning or fine motor skill development. We have a healthy snack each morning, during which all the children and staff sit together. Children take turns to hand out the snack and to pour drinks. We talk about things we have been doing earlier that morning and other topics of discussion that are important to the children. The children can independently get drinks throughout the day. At lunchtime we all eat together at dressed dining tables and everyone is responsible for clearing away afterwards.

Our outdoor learning environment

Accessible in all weathers, with wet weather clothing provided, where the children can access the same learning possibilities outside as they can inside, just in a different style. There is a mud kitchen with jars of natural ingredients, a forest area with space and equipment to create dens.  A large sandpit, a water station, a loose parts area alongside a more traditional construction area and small world stations are many of the zoned areas we have. There is a large tarmac area with bikes, trikes and other equipment designed to develop gross motor skills as well as be an area to encourage role play, does anyone need a car wash?