All About The Nursery
Little Angels is a nurturing and safe environment for children from 6mnths – 5yrs to grow, explore and flourish in the world. We have two separate buildings; the Baby Room which accommodates children 6mnths-2yrs and the Pre-school Room which accommodates children 2yrs – 5yrs.
We are also very lucky to have a wonderful outdoor ‘garden’ space for the children which includes a sand/water play area, colourful murals and also plenty of ‘loose parts resources’ to encourage imaginative play (e.g. making a train with crates, tyres and tubes).
In addition to the outdoor space, the children also benefit from a conservatory room which can be used for all-year-round and all-weather play. We have recently turned this space into a ‘sensory room’ which all the children highly enjoy. The pre-school children also use it to do yoga classes and we hold parties there for them on special occasions (e.g. Halloween, Christmas etc)
Curriculum
This is the link to the "Parents Guide to The Principles of the EYFS"
We use the cycle of observations,plannng and assessment to help children reach their next goals.
In our pre-school we use a combination of adult let and child initiated activities. This means that every morning the room will have resources available for all of the areas of learning. Children can explore the nursery freely. We will then do daily activities that are linked to our monthly plannng folders that go out to parents, this is the adult let planning.
And then on top of this we will choose next steps for each child. These are shared with parents through Eylog and they should be linked to the chlds needs and interests, and be acheievavle for that child over the space of 2-4 weeks. If they can complete their next steps we will assign them a new one immediately after so that they are always working towards a goal.
Eylog
We understand the value of strong lines of communication between nursery and home in order to better support the progress of your child, and have been using Eylog since 2014 to help us with this. We can share all observations, curriculum tracking and progress reports along with parents beng able to digitally sgn off on accident/medicine forms.
The app also has a secure messaging system and allows us to publish a diary of sleep/food/nappies/milk for your child. You can also view and pay all invoces and view our parents google drive folder with all of our resources.
Extra curricular activities in the pre-school
Drama sessions every other week with "Empower Arts"
Weekly multisports sessions with Coach Ross with "Tiny Sports Stars"
Weekly Gymnastics sessions with Coach Els
Phonics
To prepare our older children for Reception, we use the "Read,Write Inc" nursery phonics scheme which teaches them the foundation of phonics. We teach children based on ability rather than age and make sure it is taught through fun games and activities, rather than structured learning/lessons.
Catering and Healthy Eating
At Little Angels we place a high value on providing a balanced and nourishing diet to all the children. Staff members prepare toast/bagels/muffins for ‘breakfast’ for the children each morning. At lunchtime a two-course meal is prepared and cooked on the premises by our wonderful cook, Hetty. For teatime staff members prepare a variety of finger foods such as sandwiches/wraps/pizza as well as fresh fruit and salad vegetables. Snacks consist of fresh fruit/savoury or plain biscuits.
Milk feeds & baby food
We also liquidise baby food and staff members are qualified and competent in preparing formula milk and/or expressed breastmilk if supplied by the parents/carers.
Special Dietary Needs & Allergies
We cater for vegetarian/vegan and any other special dietary requirements.
Plesae note, we are a NUT FREE nursery. As the number of children with a nut allergy is increasing we rely on parental support to maintain our setting nut-free. Please do not bring in any food or food packaging into the nursery.
If you wish your child to avoid sugary foods, please just let us know. For health and safety reasons, Little Angels do not accept children bringing in their own food unless an arrangement is made with the manager.
Outings and Events
Every year we do the following:
Pre-school sports day in the park
Baby room picnic in the park
Saturday football sessions
Leavers trip to snakes and ladders
Hatching butterflies
Hatching Ducks
Zoolab visits
Stay and Plays for Parents
Christmas Concert/Party
Visit to local primary schools to watch Nativity plays
Planned Activities and Events/Festivals
We have built our own yearly planning pack with covers a range of themes, books,songs and activities. Each month this will be sent to parents along with our monthly newsletter so that you can see what your child will be doing at nursery. After each year we assess our planning and tweak it so there are always new ideas in there. We celelbrate all fesitvals and explore the different cultures and celebrations in our world.
Ealing Early Years Quality Partnership
We are members of this scheme that involves regular visits from Ealing EY team so that we can get valuable feedback, insights and an outside perspective into how we do things. They also provide training and managers briefings, and bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to our setting.
The Baby Room
Our Baby Room accommodates up to 10 babies aged 6mnths-2years. We always ensure we meet the legal staff:children ratio but thanks to high number of staff we frequently have a higher ratio of staff to children.
Our Baby Room has a separate cot/sleep room and another separate nappy-changing room. The kitchen is also adjoining where our lovely cook, Hetty, prepares fresh meals daily.
The room is light and airy and fully baby-proofed. We change the display boards according to the seasons or current events/special occasions. There is a wide variety of toys which are specific to the ages of the children in the Baby Room. We are led by the children in terms of activity planning and we take our cue from what they show interests in. This means that each child’s needs are met on an individual basis.
The Pre-school
Our Pre-school Room accommodates up to 24 children aged 2yrs-5yrs. As with the baby room, we always ensure that we meet the legal requirements for staff:children but we are lucky enough to have a high number of staff so frequently the staff:children ratio is higher.
Our Pre-school Room is split into 2 main playrooms and also separate access to the conservatory/’garden’ room. This allows us to use one of the areas as a quiet ‘rest’ room for the children who have an afternoon nap. There is also a bathroom area adjoining with child-sized toilets and sinks.
Both playrooms are comfortable and fully child-proofed. As with the Baby Room, we change the display boards according to the seasons or current topic. The play resources are available at all times to encourage a self-selection approach so the children can ‘learn through play’ and cover all seven areas of the Early Years Foundation Stages (EYFS).