Our Curriculum
At Aspire Day Nursery we believe that every child should have the best start in life that we can possibly give them.
When children begin at the setting, we will watch them play, comfort them, give them opportunities to explore, and from this we will use their love for exploring and interests to create a world full of new experiences to enhance their natural love to learn through play.
When children leave our setting for Reception, we hope that they do so with the knowledge that prepares them for independent learning and the passion to seek new opportunities. We want them to be confident in making new friendships and building relationships. Embrace a love for books, strengthen their imagination, enjoy exploring, and be curious whilst having a ‘have a go’ attitude.
We will achieve this by providing learning opportunities and creating chances to explore in play. We will expose them to activities like going to the library, taking part in extra curricula classes, to doing sound/environment walks to creating models using loose parts.
We have written our own developmental milestones based on the 7 areas of learning and use this as our assessment tool.
Tapestry
What is Tapestry and how you can get involved:
Tapestry is an online nursery management system that allows us to record children’s interests, developments and achievements.
Each child has their own account where we upload photos, videos and observations. We then link their observation to the bespoke developmental goals. Parents are then sent a notification to their app/email to inform you that an observation has been completed. You will then be able to log on to a secure area and comment on the observation as well.
This is a great system that allows parents and practitioners to work in partnership and keep up to date on children’s interests and development.
We ask parents to take part in our observations, by uploading a photo and sentence of your child’s interests and experiences with you; it may be linked to a holiday they just went on, learning to put their coat on, or the first time on the slide at the park.
The observations can also be used as ideas for activities you can do at home and repeat.
Assessments
Twice a year we complete an Individual development map (IDM) on your child. This marks their developmental progress. When we complete these as parents you can expect to receive a copy of the check which shows you what stage they are at and describes what our next steps for your child are. There is also the opportunity for you to also share what next steps you would like us to work towards with your child.
We believe partnership with parents is vital in the development and happiness of your child. If you ever have any concerns or comments about your child, we are always happy to listen and advise as best we can.
Key person
Children thrive from a base of loving and secure relationships. This is normally provided by a child’s parents but it can also be provided by a key person. A key person is a named member of staff with responsibilities for a small group of children who helps those children in the group feel safe and cared for. The key person responds sensitively to children’s feelings and behaviours and meeting emotional needs by giving reassurance, such as when they are new to a setting or room, and supporting the child’s well-being.
Attachments are the emotional bonds that young children develop with parents and other carers such as their key person. Children with strong early attachments cry less when separated. They engage in more pretend play and sustain attention for longer. They are less aggressive and are popular with other children and with adults. Their sense of who they are is strong. Children need to be safe in the relationship they have with parents or carers. They are vulnerable but will develop resilience when their physical and psychological well-being is protected by an adult. Being emotionally attached to such an adult helps the child feel secure knowing that the person they depend on is there for them. When children feel safe they are more inclined to try things out and be more independent. They are confident to express their ideas and feelings and feel good about themselves. Attachment influences a child’s immediate all-round development and future relationships.
Within the nursery we have small class sizes for our 4 youngest rooms. We do this to help the children settle and build strong relationships with practitioners and other children. If your key person is not at nursery then other practitioners in the room will have also built a strong attachment and will be able to meet your child’s needs.
Transitions
How we make the decision to start a transition
It can be a hard decision to decide when a child will move rooms, as we cannot predict the future and we do not know what they will be like. Therefore we use age as a guide, we also look at how long they have been at nursery, who their friends are and their abilities. We also have to factor in occupancy.
A typical child will transition over a couple of months; we do this so that children do not feel abandoned by their previous carers. They will have a split week, we do this because the pace of a new room can dramatically change and can often be overwhelming. Therefore if they have a split week they have a chance to recuperate in their familiar surroundings.
How routines can change during transition?
When children start nursery or change rooms you will often find their routines may change. For example within our older rooms the children only have one sleep a day. Practitioners will be knowledgeable of this and will start to introduce a new routine after talking to you about this in order to prepare them for the up and coming changes.
How can you help with transition?
You can help your child with a transition by talking to your child about their new room; show them photos of the practitioners and visit the room with your child. In our transition packs which you are given when your child is about to move rooms there is a photo frame that you can decorate with your child, and attach a family photo. This can then be brought on their first day to their new room to show everyone and they can use it as a comfort during the day. This gives the child a sense of belonging and allows them to feel they are making a positive contribution to their new room. It also gives the practitioners and children a talking point to help build new attachments with practitioners in the room and their new key person.
We help with transition by the old key person visiting and assisting with the transition as we see appropriate. This could be frequent visits, or going with the child leading up to the transition for a few minutes a day.
Parent Pack
When you first start our nursery you are provided with a parents pack that details to you various information on how we operate. You can download this information below.