3 – 5 Yrs
Children enter the preschool room at approximately 3 years of age dependant on their development. All children continue to follow the EYFS curriculum, covering all 7 areas of learning. The 3 prime areas – Communication and Language, Physical Development and Personal, Social & Emotional Development as well as the specific areas Literacy, Maths, Understanding of the World and Expressive Arts & Design. Our preschool room is designed to allow our children to access resources freely in all areas including our role play area, messy play area, construction area, mark making & writing areas, maths zone, cosy book corner and our curiosity area.
At Junior’s we support your child’s development in the 7 areas by planning unique learning opportunities for each child, we call these Next Steps. These Next Steps form part of the planning for each individual child’s learning whilst they are at Junior’s. Whilst learning through play and having fun, there is a more structured routine in our pre-school room with a balance of child initiated learning and adult initiated learning; with children working in groups and becoming accustomed to focused learning activities (e.g. Phonics) in preparation for school. Our preschoolers are encouraged to become more independent, inquisitive and have a love for learning. Being outdoors is a large part of nursery life and pre-schoolers spend as much time in the fresh air as they can manage. Free flow access is available during the day giving the children the choice of indoor or outdoor play.
Children enjoy healthy meals and these times are social events. Children are encouraged to serve themselves and learn the importance of eating balanced meals. All children in the nursery have use of our four amazing garden areas; an all-weather “Den”, a sensory garden to dig and plant in, a large artificial grass area with tyre bank and huge sand pit, plus a purpose built separate decked area. In Pre-school we love to get out and about and enjoy our visits to the nearby orchard and taking part in forest school activities.
Staff ratios in this room are 1:8.
Typical Day
08:00
Arrival
08:15
Breakfast
08:30
Circle time
08:45
Plan, do, review
10:00
Snack
10:30
Outdoor learning
11:45
Adult initiated learning
12:00
Lunch
13:00
Child initiated learning
14:30
Circle time
15:00
Outdoor learning
16:15
Tea
16:45
Adult initiated learning
18:30
Collection
Sample Menu
Nursery Manager
Stephanie Allen joined Junior’s Day Nursery in January 2012. During her long career at Junior’s Stephanie has worked her way up from Nursery Practitioner, to Room Leader, to Deputy Manager and now Nursery Manager since January 2020. Stephanie holds a paediatric first aid qualification, is Designated Safeguarding Lead and is a SENCo at Junior’s Day Nursery Cranbrook.
