Our day at The Croft begins at 7.30am when we welcome the children who join us for breakfast. By 8.30am all of our little Crofters will have arrived and we spend the first part of the morning finding our special friends, playing with a favoured toy or sharing a catch up with a special grown up.
At 9.00am we come together for our group activities, and we start with a session of dough disco. In this session the children manipulate playdough to their favourite music building the muscles in their hands, arms and shoulders and using cross body movements. Crossing the midline is vital to development especially in the skills that require using both sides of the body together, such as putting on shoes and socks, writing and cutting.
We follow this with our daily maths activities where we focus on all facets of number in a fun and playful way. Using our friendly aliens and numicon to help the children gain a deep understanding of numbers 1 to 10.
We follow this with an uninterrupted period of child led play which includes continuous access to our outdoor learning area. We are outside in all weathers so children are asked to leave full waterproofs, including wellington boots in the nursery each day.
Mid-morning we open our self-service snack area. The children are provided with a choice of two healthy fruit or vegetable options and are encouraged to serve themselves independently. Not only do they learn skills such as pouring drinks, they also learn about the importance of hygiene and gain responsibility for clearing up and recycling.
As the morning comes to an end we come together again for our daily dose of phonics. We start our phonics journey with lots of rhyming and alliteration games as well practicing to distinguish between different environmental sounds. Once the children are ready we will introduce our Phase 2 letter sounds.
At lunchtime, the children take the walk through the school to The Refectory where they are served a hot and nutritious meal.
During our afternoons, we not only revisit the work done in our morning sessions, but we make the most of our time playing and exploring the nursery together. We may also make the most of the school grounds by taking the children out for a welly walk where we explore the changing seasons utilising the vast, beautiful grounds we are fortunate to have here at Tranby.
By the end of their busy day, it is time for a quiet story or music session and we can relax and reflect upon our day before some of the children are collected at 15.30.
Our tea-time club starts at 15:30 where each day the children are treated to a different daily focus before sitting down with their friends for tea.