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Children are cared for in groups according to their age. These are:
The ages are guidelines and staff continually monitor the children to assess when it would suit them best to move to a new group. Before such a move, a child will make a number of 'visits' to ensure he or she is confident before joining the new group full-time. Similarly, a child may go to a different group or room for a particular activity, to visit a sibling or to join others for a nap if needed. This helps develop the children's confidence and allows us to ensure each child's individual needs are met. Acorns The Acorns have their own dedicated room with nappy changing and bottle preparation facilities. It is fully-equipped to meet the needs of our under 2s including high chairs, bouncy cradles and play mats. All children have their own bed linen, and are allocated their own cot to ensure they feel at home. We operate a 'fresh air' sleeping policy for all babies in this room which means they can take their daytime naps outdoors, well protected from the elements. In the summer, they sleep in the garden in prams under the pergola and in wet weather we use our 'sleepy house'. In the past, this was common practice for all children and recent research has highlighted its benefits. The policy is optional and we also have a partitioned quiet sleeping area attached to the Acorns room for babies sleeping indoors. The play space includes areas for wet and messy play, quiet time and many other activities and the children have direct access to the garden. As you would expect, children are able to choose from a wide range of toys to stimulate and interest under 2s.
Saplings and Oaks Saplings and Oaks have their own separate areas for quiet time and general play and can both access the children's toilets. However, all the grounds and rooms are used by all the children.
Children in these groups start to enjoy a more structured day with set meal and nap times, according to age and requirements. Children are helped to become more independent and potty training is encouraged (subject to parents' requirements and child's readiness). The room is fully-equipped with a home corner, dressing up area, extensive children's library, computers, building blocks and many other toys and equipment.
The structure of the day is informal, allowing activities to be adapted to the requirements of each child. At a very young age, babies' sleep and feeding patterns dictate the format of the day, but as children become older, they gradually start to learn skills of sitting with other children for rhymes and stories; sharing toys while playing with others and learning to do things for themselves.
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