Our Nursery provides a welcoming, safe and exciting environment in which children are eager to learn! Carefully planned routines ensure there is a familiar pattern to children’s daily experiences and, as a result, children feel secure and settle quickly, benefitting from the learning activities on offer from their first session. We encourage parents and carers to engage in their children’s learning as much as possible and enjoy close partnership work with our families.

We offer a rich range of play-based activities and real life experiences through which children learn about themselves, their friends and the world in which we all live. Through these opportunities, children also acquire excellent communication skills and enjoy exploring and investigating alongside others, developing into motivated, confident and skilled learners.

Nursery is a crucial time in a child’s life where they develop the skills to explore and investigate play and form relationships with adults and peers outside their home. It is the first step on a child’s school journey and it is important to us that all children have a positive and memorable experience.

Learning begins for teachers during the home visit as this is when we meet you and your child and share information about your child’s interests; this conversation with parents/carers and their child is invaluable in making sure the transition from home to Nursery is smooth.

We want children to develop independence and confidence so in the early weeks of Nursery we share information about toileting, washing hands and putting coats on. We talk to the children about what we will need if we are getting wet, muddy, hot or cold. All these skills help the focus on what children do best, which is learning through play.

Our Nursery consists of two classrooms – one indoor and one outdoor; children are able to access these areas independently throughout the session. Adults are tactfully placed, both inside and outside, to enhance these independent experiences by interacting with children. You will notice, when walking around our Nursery, that adults are working at child height and fully involved in the learning experience!

We engage children in conversation and extend their learning through questioning, explaining and modelling, using their interests as a focus. During interactions, teachers introduce new concepts and make suggestions as well as setting appropriate and personalised challenges which children love.

At King’s Oak Primary, we have created an environment where communication and language are key, giving children an opportunity in every interaction to use talk, by offering explanations and questioning about topics that children find fascinating while modelling a good standard of English at all times.

We offer a ‘snack shop’ style break where children can access milk and fruit or a healthy snack from home at any time during the session. This enables children to learn when they are hungry or thirsty. Often an adult facilitates this, especially at the beginning of year when children are learning routines such as washing hands before sitting down for snack time.

Our environment supports the development of children’s independence and resourcefulness. We offer a range of activities such as water play, sand play, role play, music making, creativity/art and a reading corner. The children also access a teacher-led session which involves a story or song at the end of the day.