Overview
Babies
Our BABY ROOM welcomes children from 5 months up to 2 years and offers a warm friendly environment for them to make the transition from home to nursery care. The nursery offers a homely environment and this room is situated at the front of the house with views onto the street which all the children enjoy, either in the arms of a familiar adult or from the step that was made to enable them to stand and look out independantly.
Throughout the day 3 members of staff work in the BABY ROOM and it has a capacity of 9 children. The children have the opportunity to engage in lots of play and activities that will encourage their all-round development and they are cared for by a warm friendly team who offer all the encouragement and support the individuals need to grow into confident toddlers within the nursery setting.
Activity plans are in place to ensure varied activities and experiences reflect the children's interests, as set out in the “EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE (EYFS)”, celebrating the skill and competence of babies and young children and highlighting the relationship between growth, learning, development and the environment in which they are being cared for.
The babies at Angel Day Nursery enjoy an abundance of fun and exciting activities from singing, stories, painting and sticking to water play, body painting messy play (we are talking sitting in custard, baked beans and shaving foam!) even cooking!
Sleep times
For young babies and young children, sleep and rest times are equally as important as the activities through which they learn. We have a separate sleep room with individual cots for our babies to ensure that they have good quality sleep times. We follow the children's routines from home and encourage parents to bring in familiar comforters or sleeping bags to help enhance their sleeping/rest experiences. The sleep room is a safe, calm and quiet room with baby monitors and regular room checks carried out by the staff.
Partnership with Parents
With three children of my own, I know how important a good parent partnership is with nursery. The staff in BABY ROOM quickly build up strong positive relationships with the parents of the children in their care. This helps them to get to know the children and their needs, and routines, better and to ensure parents have every confidence in us to be able to look after their children away from home.
There is a great deal of important daily information to pass to parents of children in the BABY ROOM and we do this through a feedback diary, in which we record the meals, nappy changes, drinks and sleep patterns of each child, and by talking to the parents when they collect the children. We also send home children’s art work and have a wide range of photos displayed throughout the nursery to show parents what their children get up to when they are not around!
Toddlers
The TODDLER ROOM is the biggest of the Nursery rooms. Located on the ground floor of the building with patio doors out to the enclosed garden.
Throughout the day upto four members of staff work in the TODDLER ROOM and your child will enter between 22 months and 2 years. This age is only a guideline and it really depends on the development of the individual child. Some may join at 22 months, others may benefit from a little longer in our BABY ROOM.
In the TODDLER ROOM our aim is that the children continue to learn through play. The children have the opportunity to engage in lots of free play, and activity plans ensure that children's interests and learning are extended and developed as set out in the “EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE (EYFS)”.
The toddlers are introduced to circle time and your child will enjoy a variety of activities including free play, role-play, music and movement, sand and water, outdoor play and art & craft activities. Topics are planned throughout the nursery, for variation of artwork and to include cultural understanding and knowledge.
Partnership with Parents
As with our baby room, the staff in our TODDLER ROOM build good relationships with the parents and families of the children. This helps when we work together with toilet training or the arrival of a new sibling etc...
Parents of the toddler children are always welcome to speak to any member of staff in the TODDLER ROOM. We pride ourselves on good communication with parents and whilst the majority of communication with parents is done verbally, we can complete daily feedback sheets if requested, parents who have grandparents or childminders collecting their child find that this is a good option and ensures all relevant information is passed on.
Toliet Training
We encourage toilet training children between 2-21/2 years. Working with the parents we decide the best time to start and method for each child. All children are different so how quickly they are toilet trained depends on the individual child.
Pre-school
The PRE SCHOOL at Angel Day Nursery operates from the first floor of the building across two rooms, the ROLE-PLAY ROOM and the ART ROOM. There are also toilets and basins available for the children on this level.
Children will enter our PRE–SCHOOL at around 3 years, and they will enjoy a variety of activities including free play, role-play, music and movement, sand and water, arts & crafts and outings.
Play underpins the delivery of the "EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE (EYFS)" and we aim to provide all children with a broad and balanced range of experiences in order that they develop socially, emotionally, intellectually, physically and morally. Staff therefore, provide a balance of planned and unplanned opportunities (indoors and outdoors) that will allow the children to encounter positive learning across all the areas of Learning and Development.
Liaise with schools
Our policy is to have a strong link with the primary school which your child will be attending to ensure that the transition from nursery to school is a smooth one.
Partnership with Parents
Parents of the Pre School children are always welcome to speak to our staff. We pride ourselves on good communication with parents. We send out a weekly home activity sheet so parents know what the weekly topic is and ideas for activities that can be done at home. This also asks for parent input into the topic based learning.
Assessments and Record Keeping
Food at Angel Day Nursery
Our menus are planned and designed to offer a varied, nutritious and well balanced diet, with food freshly prepared daily on site. We aim to introduce the children to different tastes and textures whist encouraging good manners and a happy atmosphere when we sit down for meal times.
All food and drink is included in the nursery fees and we offer the following (depending on the sessions your child attends):
Mid Morning Snack
This is served between 10 and 10.30am and is a snack to keep the children going until Lunchtime. Snacks include a drink, a choice between water or milk (or both if they are thirsty), a piece of fruit and/or a biscuit, cracker, or toast.
Lunch
Lunch at Angels is a full cooked meal including pudding. All lunchtime food is freshly prepared in the morning ready to be served by midday. Quiches, curries, chilli, roasts etc are all home-made and like all the other meals on offer use fresh ingredients as far as possible. Our meat is delivered from a local butcher and our groceries are delivered every Monday.
All puddings are also freshly prepared, so cakes, custard, fruit puddings etc are also made in the morning. Water is always offered to drink at lunchtime.
Tea
Tea at Angels is served at 3.30pm. It is a “High Tea” (see definition) and as such is not intended to be the last meal of the day. Teatime is a very enjoyable time at nursery and it enables the children to rest and refuel for the last part of the day. Tea is predominantly finger food offering a balanced selection of savoury and sweet foods and always with fresh fruit and a drink of either water or milk. Again the food is freshly prepared and cooked on site and all cakes and biscuits are home made.
Drinks
All children are offered water throughout the day; this is cool boiled water for children under 12 months. Cows milk is offered as a choice for all children over 12 months at snack and tea.
Special Dietary Requirements
As we prepare our food daily on the premises, we can cater for special dietary requirements, by prior arrangement. This also means that the children who are affected by dietary requirements are offered a similar alternative e.g. vegetarian chilli, egg and dairy free cake, custard made with Soya milk etc, and they are not singled out because of their dietary needs.
Allergen information for our menus is available on request.
We cater for special dietary requirements, by prior arrangement. This is possible because we prepare food on site and we are in control of the ingredients purchased and the set up of the cooking area. It also means that the children who are affected by the requirements are offered a similar alternative e.g. vegetarian chilli, egg and dairy free cake, custard made with Soya milk etc, and they are not singled out because of their dietary needs.
Babies at meal times
Eating and drinking are very important developmentally for babies and young children. At Angels we work closely with the parents of the babies, especially at the weaning stage. We offer a variety of pureed fruit and vegetables in the first instance, all freshly prepared and cooked on site, and will then introduce other ingredients in line with what is being offered at home, such as meat and dairy products, until the parents are confident that their children are ready to be introduced to the full menu (all be it pureed to start with).
Snack and tea times offer excellent opportunities for the younger children to experience finger foods and mastering drinking from free flow cups.
