Welcome to Home from Home nursery

We very much hope that you and your child will enjoy your time at Nursery.
Your child is at a crucial stage in his/her development with research showing that children learn more rapidly in the first seven years of life than at any other time.  It is therefore important that the children are given every opportunity to fulfil their potential.  As a parent you play a vitally important role.  We in the Nursery hope to play our part by offering your child a variety of experiences and activities designed to further their individual development. 
We hope that your child discovers that learning can be an enjoyable and worthwhile process. 
This prospectus is intended to give you information about the Nursery but please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries or concerns. 

Our aim

At home from home nursery we provide a safe, warm and welcoming homely atmosphere.
To encourage the children to learn through play.
We encourage the children to participate in a variety of activities and discover the pleasure of learning.
We provide both structured sessions and free time for the children to explore their own imagination.

Our staff

*Claire London, Owner/ Manager

Claire has worked in the nursery since 1995 and took over the nursery in 2004.
Her qualifications are NNEB and NVQ level 3 she has also attended a variety of early year’s courses including SENCO child protection.

Kelly Taylor, Supervisor

Kelly joined the nursery in May 2008 and has her NVQ level 3 in childcare.
Kelly is responsible for the day to day running of the baby room and will be your first point of call for all children below 2 years of age.

* Jessica White, Nursery Assistant

Jessica joined us in May 2009. She has a level 2 in child care and has been working with children since 2006 . Jess is currently working towards her level 3 in childcare. Jess holds a current and up to date child protection qualification.

Jemma Hancock, Nursery Assistant

Jemma joined us in March 2010 and is working towards her level 3 in childcare. Jemma has completed her SENCO training and is the point of call for any special educational needs.

Emma Carullo, Nursery Assistant

Emma joined the nursery in April 2010 and has been working in childcare since 2006.

Sadie Dyer, Nursery assistant

Sadie started at home from home in September 2010 and has many years experience working with children of all ages. She is currently working towards her Level 3 in childcare.

Katy Higgins, Trainee nursery assistant

Katy joined us in August 2010 and will be working towards her level 3 in childcare.

*Sammy Scanlon, Administrator

Sammy joined the nursery in August 2009 and works upstairs in the office.
Sammy is currently working towards a Business admin qualification.

Garth Vaughan, Cook

Garth joined us in August 2011 and is trying out a variety of home cooked nutritional meals.

Nicole Taylor, Trainee nursery assistant

Nicole joined us in September 2011 and will be working towards her level 3 in childcare.

*First aid trained

Babyroom

We offer a separate room for our Babies and Toddlers under 2 years. Their daily routine consists of free play, meals, nappy changes and sleeps though it is flexible due to individual needs.

The babies spend some time each week in the messy room, experimenting with different materials (ie. Water,paint and playdough).

The older babies (18 months upwards) spend increasing amounts of time elsewhere in the nursery. This facilitates their integration into the next group by encouraging sharing and helping children to learn about each other, developing respect and patience within the different ages. However, they return to the Baby room for cuddles, naps and some quiet time.

The Messy Room (Art Room)

This is the room for anything messy (ie. Water play, many varieties of painting and collage, sand and drawing etc.). The children can (and do) make as much mess as they like here. They are provided with overalls allowing them to become completely absorbed without concern for their clothes. Each child has an art folder and parents are encouraged to take their child's work home.

The Play Room

In this room children are encouraged to play and learn together for varying periods. The range of children using this room range from 18 months to 5 years.

This room houses our home corner and dressing up clothes. A lot of floor based activities take place here (ie. Train sets, large floor puzzles, etc.) as well as table top activities. A lot of construction play takes place in many forms (eg. Wooden bricks, mega blocks, duplo, stickle bricks). Construction play develops the child's self-control and manipulative skills, the piecing together of a tower takes much concentration and hand-eye co-ordination, gradually the child progresses onto constructing representational figures such as cars, houses, etc.
A reading corner, with soft cushions and a sofa which allows the children to sit quietly and comfortably and look at books, have cuddles and have stories read to them individually, or in groups.
We also do pre-school activities. The aim is to increase the child's concentration and to develop other skills (ie. Pre-writing skills, early number work, early scientific concepts, shape and colour work).
We have a computer with various games to help mouse control and learn concepts, numbers, shapes and letters.
We make these activities fun so as to encourage the children to take part. The children are not put under pressure to "perform" but encouraged to take part and learn in small informal groups.
Parents are encouraged to form an interest in their child's "work" and to discuss with staff the on-going progress of their child.

The Sleep Room
 

We have a separate sleep room where we have cots and beds to enable the children to rest when needed. If older children do not wish to sleep in a bed, we have sofas in the play room on which they can rest on. We discuss all children's sleep routines with parents on a regular basis to enable us to adapt them where necessary.

Kitchen and Dining room

Homemade freshly cooked lunches are provided daily to all full time children. We try to arrange mealtimes to be social occasions, encouraging conversation and good table manners.
We are happy to accommodate any individual dietary requirements. 
Organised/Supervised cooking activities also take place here (ie. Fairy cakes, cookies and playdough making).

Garden

We have a large attractive grass area in which we spend as much time as weather permits. Bikes, prams, water play equipment, slides etc are all available outside. Children are encouraged to talk about and explore their environment.

 The older children help dig and plant bulbs and seeds every year and the look after them by watering them, they plant sunflowers, carrots, tomatoes, and lots of flowers. And watch them grow
We have a small forest area for the over 3 year olds to go in and explore, Gemma who works with the over 3s is a forest school leader, they are doing lots of nature pictures with mud and leaves, they also look at the trees, berries and talk about what berries they should not touch

Starting at Home from Home

New parents are always encouraged to come and look round and meet the staff and children with their child a few times before starting if this is possible, this helps the child feel familiar with the Nursery before he or she starts.
When a start date has been arranged, the child and parent will normally come mid-morning on the first day and spend a couple of hours with the member of staff specially allocated to that child – the Key Carer is a member of staff chosen to befriend the child and his parents to help them settle in. The second day, all being well, the parents will leave their child for an hour or so depending on both child and parents, this time will increase as the week goes on, staying for lunch, for a rest and tea. Some children settle in quickly, others take a little longer, don’t despair if there are a few tears as this is very natural. We do recommend that you set aside a week to be available for your child and for us to make the settling in as smooth as possible.