Our rooms and activities
Pre-Birth To Three
Positive Outcomes for Scotland’s Children and Families is a document introduced by the Scottish Office, in association with Learning and Teaching Scotland to provide guidance for all those whose work, involves caring for babies and young children. The four key features of Pre-Birth to Three are closely linked:
- Rights of the Child
- Relationships
- Responsive Care
- Respect
Our nursery staff work very closely with the Pre-Birth to Three documents to provide the quality experiences children under 3 years need: from feeding, cuddles and nappy changing to sensory experiences, outdoor play and music.
The Baby Room and First Steps at First Class Nursery provides warmth, fun and security for children under 1 year old. The three rooms allow staff to provide the appropriate activities for your child’s age group and developmental stage. It is important for children of this age to receive continuity of care between nursery and home therefore the nursery staff will ensure your child’s familiar routine is maintained. The staff encourages the babies to freely explore and enjoy their play activities in a safe, relaxed environment allowing them to develop their confidence, independence and learning. A variety of resources, activities and experiences on offer for children under 1 years in line with the Pre-Birth to Three Document including:
- Music, songs, rhymes, to copy actions and musical instruments to explore different concepts such as loud and soft, fast and to get different facial expressions from the different sounds of music.
- ‘Peek-a-boo’ and other simple interactive games to encourage social interaction.
- Treasure Baskets (baskets containing sensory items with (First Steps) different textures, sounds and smells).
- Extensive selection of books, stories and rhymes which helps to develop communication and language.
- Sand play, water play, paint, play dough help develop creativity and is a sensory experience for young children.
- Outside fun – Taking the children outside. Let them feel different surfaces, let them sit and crawl on the grass, feel stones and leaves with supervision – some objects can look like a tasty treat.
12 Months to 2 Years
In our 12 months – 2 years room the Pre-Birth to Three Document is used by our nursery staff to provide the quality experiences your child needs at this stage as they begin to assert their independence and individuality.
- Music, songs, rhymes, musical instruments, action songs (‘ring-a-rosies’, ‘this little piggy’) to develop language skills, physical development and expression through music.
- Your child will be encouraged to access resources and exercise freedom of choice about the activities they wish to participate in.
- Stimulating conversation, interactive play and learning to socialise, share and make friends is all part of the day.
- Walks and outdoor play for health, fitness, physical development and learning about ‘the world around us’.
- Heuristic Play (play using everyday objects such as wooden spoons and pans which encourages curiosity and exploration and offers opportunities to categorise and compare)
- The nursery staff will support your child through toilet training and developing independence at meal times in a secure, loving environment.
2-3 Years Activities
As well as many of the activities already mentioned in Baby Room and First Steps your
child will also be able to participate in:
- Extensive selection of books, stories, poems and rhymes to encourage communication and language.
- Multi-cultural musical instruments, singing, action songs, musical games, music and movement.
- Daily opportunities for outdoor play for health, fitness and physical development.
- Introduction to computer skills through the supervised use of interactive educational programmes. The nursery also has a wide range of interactive toys and resources to further your child’s I.T knowledge.
- Sand play, water play to introduce early science concepts such as pouring, measuring, wet, dry, full, empty.
- Extensive opportunities for encouraging expressive development through painting, gluing and drawing using a variety of art materials.
- Play dough and clay are sensory experiences which encourage small motor skills in hands and fingers.
- Role play through dressing up, using puppets and ‘let’s pretend’ in the home corner. Children use role play to make sense of the world around them through acting out familiar experiences.
- Cooking and baking helps develop science knowledge such as measuring and weighing. Healthy eating habits are also encouraged.
- Planting and growing activities both in the garden and indoors to encourage the children to care for living things and gain knowledge of nature and the world around them.
- An extensive range of construction toys such as bricks and lego to encourage small motor skills in the fingers and hands.
Your Child’s Progress (Pre-Birth to Three)
The staff members at First Class Nursery monitor and record each child’s progress. For children aged 0 to 3 years the following areas of development are observed by our staff:
- Physical Development – the most important area of physical development for very young children is to have their physical needs met: warmth, nutrition and health care. Children from birth to three will go through many stages of large physical development including: learning to roll over, sit up, crawl, walk, run and jump. Fine motor skills are also very important beginning with grasping rattles through to holding a pencil or crayon.
- Social Development – from birth children enjoy social interaction through cuddles, eye contact and facial expressions. Social development also involves your child becoming more independent in feeding, dressing, toileting and expressing their thoughts and feelings.
- Cognitive Development – very young children use all 5 senses to make discoveries about the world around them. Repetitive learning experiences are very important for children under 3 years old as their memory is still developing. Cognitive development includes: language development, recognition of colours, simple problem solving, basic counting skills and
- matching and sorting skills. All children are treated as individuals. We recognise that each child will develop at their own pace therefore developmental stages are used as guidance only.
3-5 Curriculum
Pre-school Room (3 to 5 Years)
In the Pre-school Room your child will have the opportunity to experience a range of activities which meet all eight areas of the curriculum. Your child will be introduced to early reading, writing, maths and science skills. These activities are delivered in a fun, relaxed manner allowing all children to learn naturally through play. Each child is encouraged to learn at their own pace within their own capabilities.
Pre-school Room Activities
The children in the Pre-school Room can participate in all the activities mentioned previously for the under 3’s although these activities are more structured in the Pre-school Room and offered at a level suited to their age. In the Pre-school Room your child will also have the opportunity to experience:
- Interest Tables e.g. a harvest table with wheat, flour, bread or a beach table with shells, sand, pebbles, seaweed. The children are encouraged to experiment and explore the items on the table freely.
- Writing Table – to introduce your child to mark making and ‘writing’ using a variety of pens and pencils. Your child will be encouraged to use the writing table freely which develops pencil control for more formal writing later.
- Science Experiments e.g. simply showing the children that flowers ‘drink’ water by placing a white flower in a vase of coloured water – the flower will become the colour of the water.
- Computer Skills – your child will have access to a computer, printer and digital camera in the Preschool Room. Interactive, educational software helps your child learn basic mouse skills such as point, click, point and drag, scrolling etc. Your child will be able to take their own photographs and print them out to include in their portfolio if they wish. There are also many other interactive games and resources available for your child to use.
- Outdoor play experiences, allowing children to understand and assess risk, to enable them to be confident and forward thinking individuals
- Local community links, allowing us to arrange visits to nearby Mill Farm, go on local forest walks, visit nearby parks and a weekly visit to a local community church to join in with a singalong with local pensioners
The Curriculum for Excellence (3 to 18 Years)
The Curriculum for Excellence was introduced within a strong partnership between the Scottish Government, Learning and Teaching Scotland, Scottish Qualifications Authority and HM Inspectorate of Education to ensure pre-school children’s developmental needs are met. The emphasis is on learning through quality play experiences in a relaxed atmosphere. There are eight areas of the curriculum:
- Health and Wellbeing
- Language and Literacy
- Mathmatics and Numeracy
- Expressive Arts
- Religious and Moral Education
- Science
- Social Studies
- Technology
The Curriculum for Excellence aims to:
Focus playroom practice upon the child and around the four capacities of education:
- Successful learners
- Confident individuals
- Responsible citizens
- Effective contributors
- Encourage more learning through experiences
- Create a single framework for the curriculum and
- assessment aged 3 to 18 years.
Should you require any further information please feel welcome to contact the nursery or visit: www.curriculumforexcellencescotland.gov.uk
We encourage parents to come along and look around our designated rooms, whatever the age of your child.
Call us for more information on
01506 411112
