Moorgate Nursery School and Munchkins Childcare

Nursery Day

Nursery is organised so children have time to be involved in adult directed activities and in their own initiated activities. We involve the children in their learning and let them know why they are doing something. Children are encouraged to make decisions and solve problems, to initiate, plan, carry out and review their activities. The children become more independent, acquire a desire to explore and learn, and develop skills, which will enable them to become successful students as they grow older.

Morning Nursery session are from 9.00am to 12.00pm and afternoon sessions are 1.00pm to 3.00pm or 1.00pm to 4.00pm.  We have two registrations one at the start of both nursery sessions at 9.00am and 1.00pm.

There are several elements within the daily routine:-

Daily Phonics

Please see the curriculum section of our website for more information.

Adult Led Activities

The children will carry out various activities with the Class Teacher, Key Person or other adults.  The activities are based on children’s ideas and learning needs/skills. They are planned using the EYFS and Development Matters guidance and are based upon the goals within our unique curriculum. Activities ensure that children will be involved in all areas of the curriculum throughout the week. Both the indoor and outdoor environments are used for these activities.

We also deliver Shonette Bason-Wood’s ‘Squiggle as You Wiggle’ and ‘Dough Disco’  as adult-led activities in order to build children’s fine and gross motor skills in preparation for writing. These take place on alternate weeks daily, however skills are also developed within provision enhancements such as through using tools at the malleable table or practising the skills learned at SAYW on the large whiteboards, clipboards or any other surface that children can use for early mark making!

Child Initiated Activities

Staff engage in skillful interactions with the children whilst they play in continuous provision, outside and inside. Staff know their children’s targets and differentiate their questioning and input to the needs of each child. Children learn much more when they are playing. 

Our Nursery Environment - Learning Through Play

Each week, staff record their observations and interests of the children. This information is then used to enhance the environment so that learning is purposeful and exciting! For example, if children are enjoying pretending to bake cakes in the sand, staff would add cupcake cases, baking utensils etc and focus on a particular skill to develop.  The enhancements within our conitnous provision are planned for.

Story Time

Story sessions are planned for each week - books are chosen to focus on children's current interests and reflect Literacy objectives.  Children attend story time in their Key Groups. We read and discuss stories, poems and information books. 

Bucket Time

Bucket Time is part of the Attention Autism approach created by Gina Davies, with the aim of developing children’s shared attention skills in a group setting. During Bucket Time, the children are provided with motivating and visually exciting experiences that encourage them to focus their attention for extended periods of time and to take part in an adult-led group activity. Although developed specifically with the needs of children on the Autistic spectrum in mind, Bucket Time is a very useful tool for any child to develop and support their listening and attention skills. This is especially useful when children join Nursery and they may not be used to focusing their attention for a longer period of time.

Please see the video below:

https://www.facebook.com/moorgatenurseryschoolandmunchkinschildcare/videos/1057080675064426

Once you are familiar with the structure of the sessions, you could lead your own sessions using items you have at home.

There are 4 stages to Bucket time, although we will mostly focus on stages 1 and 2. We may, on occasion, move to stage 3, which requires children to take turns/have a go at the activity. Stage four encourages children to focus for a longer period, transitioning to working independently.

Stages 1 and 2

Stage 1: The bucket. Objects are explored from within the bucket, the aim being to grab the attention of the child with visually motivating and stimulating items. The child will gradually learn to focus on the adult and the activity they have chosen, watching what they are doing more consistently. The bucket includes cause and effect/interesting items such as wind up toys, balloons, party blowers etc.

Stage 2: Attention builder. The aim in this stage is to extend the amount of time that the child is able to focus for, introducing activities that build anticipation. An activity might include pouring water into various containers, sieving flower onto black paper etc.

At both of these stages:

• The adult is aiming to be the most motivating and interesting thing in the room. Try to remove other distractions and motivators where possible. 
• The child is watching the adult, not carrying out the actions themselves. Only the adult touches the objects used. At later stages, turn-taking and independent exploration are introduced.
• Use minimal language, focusing on keywords which describe the current action you are carrying out.

If you have a query about Bucket Time, please do not hesitate to ask

Science, Technology, Engineering and Music (STEM)

STEM sessions are held twice per week. These exciting adult-guided activities are planned to develop many curriculum objectives, but often have a focus on Communication and Language (learning key vocabulary), The Natural World (learning about the world and observing change), Expressive Arts and Design (constructing using various resources) and Mathematics (particularly problem solving). Please let us know of any STEM activities you complete at home!