At Orchard Day Nursery, we provide a happy and nurturing environment in which we encourage imaginative little minds to develop to their full potential. Our staff are passionate about childcare and early years education, and work to the goals set by the national Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).

Emotional development and support:

We value each child as an individual and help them understand their feelings and develop their self-confidence. For example, children learn to share and take turns to speak and listen. Staff also teach children to accept and respect others while promoting British values. Practitioners have positive interactions with the children, offering plenty of praise and encouragement. You will always hear laughter throughout the nursey!

Learning through activities and play:

We motivate children to learn by providing enjoyable activities linked to their interests. The nursery offers plenty of good quality toys with the majority being natural products. Our set up allows children freedom to choose resources based on their individual interests.

Our practitioners support developing babies’ (under 2’s) communication and language skills. For instance, they sing action songs and read stories to babies, which they fully take part in and enjoy. Older children at The Orchard Day Nursery (2-3’s and preschool) have a good understanding of technology, for example, they operate hand-held iPads to sort and group shapes as well as record their everyday activities. The iPads also supports their early mathematical skills.

The Nursery’s outdoor area provides lots of interesting physical challenges for children, including opportunities for them to balance, climb, crawl and move in different ways. This is reinforced by weekly sports classes as well as Teddy tennis.

Healthy habits & eating routines

At the Nursery, we are passionate about children developing healthy routines from an early age. We offer nutritious food and snacks prepared by our in-house chef. All meals are cooked in our open plan kitchen which the kids enjoy watching. Practitioners also have regular cooking/baking sessions with the children which encourages the children to try new and exciting foods as well as practicing good hygiene. During meal times, the kids socialise with each other, mirroring each other to encourage ‘good eating’.

Growing up and staying safe:

We place great emphasis on preparing children for school and use a range of very effective ways to help children cope successfully with the transition. Our staff teach children how to behave in safe ways so that they can use their environment with care. For instance, we carry out regular fire drills, so children know how to leave the building safely in an emergency.

Parent involvement:

The nursery offer ‘stay and play’ sessions throughout the year and we endeavour to ensure they are carried out at different times/days as we would like as many parents to attend as possible as we want to promote ‘parents as partners’. Parents are offered questionnaires giving you a voice to make sure you are fully involved and consulted in your child’s care and wellbeing.