Drop off
We aim to make your mornings as easy as possible. A typical day starts with drop-off, where a member of our friendly front-of-house team will welcome you. Once inside the nursery, your child's key person will greet you at the door to their dedicated area.
We value close links with parents and encourage you to talk to staff at drop-off about anything important. You may just want to let us know how your child is and what they’ve been doing at home. Your child will then either have breakfast or settle down to play with a member of staff and friends, while you head off to work.
Child-led play
We advocate the benefits of child-led play, which enables children to choose and guide their own learning. Our carefully planned environment provides an array of learning resources to capture each child’s attention and inspire their imagination. Child-led play is carefully supported by adults who can scaffold learning opportunities and use the interests of each child to plan for future learning and development.
Our dedicated sensory room allows children to explore their senses and feel relaxed, calm and secure. Meanwhile, our cosy library and reading nook aim to help children develop a love for books and reading.
Mealtimes
Our in-house chef prepares healthy, nutritious meals and snacks for children to enjoy using quality ingredients. We have three set mealtimes where the children eat with the staff. Breakfast is served until 9.00am, lunch is servced at 11.30am for our younger children and midday for the older ones. Dinner is served at 4.00pm. Fruit and water are available throughout the day.
We enjoy meals together in our dining area and promote independence by encouraging the children to lay the table, serve themselves and help clear up. Snacks are available mid-morning and mid-afternoon and are served as a rolling snack so that the children's play is not disturbed until they are ready to eat.
Meal times are a social occasion where children and staff enjoy eating together. Staff are available to help the children develop their independence with self serving and use the time to promote conversations around healthy eating.
Adult-led learning
Every day our qualified Early Years experts lead small groups or one-to-one sessions that have been inspired by the children's interests. These sessions aim to promote learning linked to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum. Through our partnerships with outside specialist providers, children can also learn languages such as Spanish and Mandarin and enjoy Mini Yoga, mindfulness, Forest School, cooking and coding for pre-schoolers.
Our inquiry-based curriculum helps children to extend their knowledge of the world around them. Our dedicated educators use the interests of the children to develop project work so that the children can learn through awe and wonder about the world around them. We love involving parents in our learning and will share insights and updates with you through our Famly app.
Outdoor learning
Outdoor learning and play are essential to child development, which is why at Wood Wharf Kindergarten, all children spend time outside every day. Our safe and secure outdoor area is designed to spark children’s creativity and encourage physical development, with activities such as climbing, balancing, riding, playing ball games and completing obstacle courses.
The outdoor area also includes a vegetable patch where children can learn about growing their own food and caring for the environment. We also learn outside the nursery with Forest School-inspired learning experiences providing regular access to the outdoors and greenery - we even organise trips to the local farm!
Sleep and rest
It's important for everyone to get a good night's rest but even more important for young children. That’s why our nursery has plenty of cosy spaces for sleep and rest - including a dedicated baby sleep circle with gentle music and soft mats.
We aim to follow your child’s home sleep routine as much as possible when they first join us, then continue to work with you to find a sleep schedule that’s right for them as they grow. When they’re ready, they’ll drop to one nap in the day, which is usually best timed to happen after lunch. Children who no longer need to sleep during the day may still want to rest and are able to do so by snuggling down in our cosy nooks with pillows and throws to help them get comfy.
Pick-up
At home time, you are encouraged to come in and chat with our staff and find out all about your child’s day.
Pick-up time is also an ideal chance to discuss any questions you have about your child’s care, education and development with our expert team. If you would like a longer meeting, our Manager's door is always open.