Day Nursery and Pre School Information

We document and share your child’s development through personal daily diary, special books for sharing their achievements and our weekly planning

Day Nursery and Pre School Information

Planning

Our daily/weekly planning is displayed in the nursery, and we try to base it around the children’s interests and all childrens individual next steps. We try to create a balance of activities and opportunities for learning through play by offering experiences that have come from children’s previous knowledge and interest, and also areas that they may become interested in when offered opportunities to explore. Please speak to your child’s key person for more detailed information on how this is achieved.

Observations, Developmental Reports, Memory Books & Parent Meetings

Termly observations written by your child’s key person, will be available to view in your child’s ‘Memory Book’ which records their special memories of their time at Golden Owls through individual and group photos.
We also offer the opportunity to come and discuss your child in more detail at our parent’s meetings which are held every term. These meetings take place within the beginning or end of nursery sessions and are a chance for you to come and look through their Memory book together and discuss their development.

Toilet Training

We try wherever possible to promote independence in the children who attend Golden Owls so we are keen to support them in learning to take care of their own needs. A key area of this is toilet training and we understand that the stages of this are unique to each child.

We have a nappy changing unit within our disabled toilet, and ask you to provide a supply of nappies, wipes and any cream that you would like us to apply. We will try for the key person or familiar staff to change their own children where possible for continuity. Once you feel your child is ready to try moving on to our child size toilets or potties, we will endeavour to follow a similar routine at nursery as to what you are trying at home. This would be in discussion with your child’s key person.

Spare Clothes

We ask all parents to provide us with at least 2 sets of spare clothes (kept in a provided Golden Owls bag) on the pegs in our entrance area, so if a child needs to change their clothes for any reason, they have some to change into. Please make sure you check these bags regularly.

If we change a child, we will try to let you know by adding a note on our signing in and out sheets. Please look out for their clothes which will be put in their Golden Owls bag (or a named carrier bag if they have forgotten their bag that day) in the entrance area for you to take home to wash.

Going Home box

Just outside our main entrance, you will find our ‘Going Home Boxes’. This has all the children’s creations that they have been busy making at nursery. Please check this box regularly. If you would also like to give any letters/invitations etc. to other parents, you can put them in this box rather than trying to catch them at drop off.

Nursery Updates

Information regarding general information and updates concerning all nursery parents are displayed on our entrance area display boards and doors. We also email out a weekly update so please make sure you have given us an email address to send to on your application form. Please make sure you check this information regularly to ensure you do not miss out on nursery events etc. as we are not able to catch every parent individually.

We understand the importance of rest and sleep when developing children’s knowledge of their health and we encourage the children to become aware of looking after their bodies throughout our daily routine. We also understand that some children are with us for a long period so they may wish to have some quieter or restful times. We have a quiet/cosy area inside and sheltered spaces outside for children to use if they wish to relax during the day. We also encourage children to rest after lunch and tea. For children who need a longer sleep during the day, we do have some fold out beds that we can shelter in our quieter areas after lunch.

We will discuss your child’s sleep patterns during the settling in visits so if you have any queries regarding your child’s sleep, we can discuss them further then.

When your child enters Golden Owls Day Nursery, we will ask the adult who drops your child off to sign your child in on our daily signing in and out sheet. When collecting your child, the same will happen in regards to signing out your child. We ask for emergency contacts and passwords for collection on our registration forms and at the settling in sessions and we will not let your child go home with anyone that you have not previously discussed with us to collect your child.

It is vital that your child is signed in and out correctly so please explain this process to anyone else dropping off/collecting your child.

As every child arrives, we ask them to find their name and put it on our daily information board in Barnies. Each child also has a colour coat tree in the main room and on children’s arrival, we expect them to hang their coats and jumpers on their tree so they can find them easily throughout the day.