Nursery represents an important stage in a child’s development where they establish the foundations of their learning and memories are created. Our daily routine at Magic Tree ensures all children enjoy a wide range of activities using both the indoor space and outdoor environment.
Our highly qualified staff follow the EYFS, providing a mix of adult and child led activities, ensuring each child’s development focuses on Communication, Physical and Social skills, before moving onto Numeracy and Literacy. The rooms are all equipped with appropriate resources based on the children’s development stage, giving our children the opportunity to be part of their own learning. Each day, children are welcome to choose what they would like to play with which allows us to further develop their interests and support the learning of new skills.
The children’s exciting and inspiring minds are nurtured and supported to ensure they develop to their best potential whilst having lots of fun. We encourage our children to be engaged, active and creative learners. Creativity is nurtured through a diverse selection of materials and resources and children’s understanding of themselves and the world around them is developed encouraging curiosity and building confident learners.
The Curriculum
We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum, which is thoroughly embedded within the setting, with the Characteristics of Effective Learning and British Fundamental Values at the heart of all learning and development. We use Development Matters to link in developmental objectives to our children’s observations creating a precious and much valued record of your child’s journey through their early years.
For further information on the EYFS curriculum, please visit here.
Additionally, you may find this link useful.
Enriching Learning Experiences
Children can enjoy age-appropriate specialized subjects within the school day including French, Swimming, Magical Musicalrama, Drama, Forest School and Music, as well as external trips and special visitors.
Magical Musicalrama
Magical Musicalrama for our under 3’s gives children a fun introduction to Performing Arts through the use of various activities – movement, action songs, role play, playing musical instruments, traditional rhymes, and poetry. The classes fuel imagination and creativity and enable children to start to develop skills for life. Music guides and supports children by enhancing their communication and numeracy skills. It also helps them to improve their physical co-ordination as well as self-esteem and independence.
French
Pre-Reception’s weekly French sessions are held during term time giving children a fun introduction to languages through singing and games. At a young age the children assimilate the words and accents without inhibition, and are soon able to understand, and then form simple phrases.
Swimming
Swimming lessons are for children aged 3 and over and our qualified swimming instructor gently introduces children to swimming, building confidence, and developing water safety. Swimming lessons take place weekly throughout the entire year, which continues throughout their time at BGS.
Forest School
Music
There are four areas that we focus on during our Music lessons together. They are, Hearing and Listening, Vocalising and Singing, Moving and Dancing, Exploring and Playing. Each of the categories are incorporated into each unit that we teach. Units include, Let’s be Friends, Travel and Movement, This is Me and Let’s Jam! These lessons are extremely engaging and interactive, giving the children plenty of opportunities to express themselves in many different ways.
Drama
Integration with BGS values
Down to Earth We are warm and friendly and make everyone welcome
Ambitious We have big dreams and we are determined to achieve them
Nurturing We are supportive and caring to the world around us
Resilient We embrace challenges, seize opportunities and enjoy taking risks
Inclusive We celebrate individuality and respect everyone for who they are
Joyful We cherish childhood and make every day fun. We inspire a lasting love of learning
Your Child’s profile
Once your child has settled with us, a key person will be allocated. This will be done by following your child’s lead and the bonds they make with their carer. The Key Person will be responsible for completing the daily care diaries in nursery, welcoming in and seeing out and completing weekly observations and uploading photographs to Tapestry.
Your child’s progress and learning will be captured on their journal on Tapestry. Tapestry is live for you to look at as and when you’d like. We invite parents to be as fully involved in this as possible, uploading photos and writing brief encounters of your weekend, as we like to create a precious and valued record of your child’s journey through their early years. Photographs and notes about your child’s playing and exploring at home and in the Nursery will be a unique record to share with the whole family.
Each week your child’s Key Person will upload a photographic record of all the activities your child has enjoyed, along with a brief written paragraph. We offer a twice-yearly Parents evening, to enable you to talk with your child’s Key Person in a more formal manner. This follows on from the reports we complete, a ‘settling in report’ in November and a full developmental report in June. A Six weekly summary is also provided on Tapestry, informing you of what your child has enjoyed and what their next steps will be the following half term.
