A little reminder to all the parents who are at home with their children of the importance of letting your children play!
This is a difficult time for everyone, and just like us adults, children will be struggling to adapt to the changes in their life. They are used to the routine of going to nursery, seeing friends and practitioners who take care and nurture their development.
So instead of worrying about what you are going to teach them everyday, instead, let them play!
Let them choose what they want to do, join in and be imaginative, get physical outdoors in the garden or even in the house, get messy and worry about cleaning up later, and most importantly enjoy this time with your children so they can enjoy it. We are all adapting to this, children included.

In a world where technology is taking over our lives, talking to our children has never been so important.

Communication and Language is a Prime Area within the Early Years Foundation Stage. It starts from when a child is born with the first aspects looking at babies responding to sounds, their own name and by making noises such as crying or babbling. From the moment they are born the way in which we give children our attention helps their skills to develop.
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A note to say:

A huge thanks to all our wonderful parents who entrust us with your most prized possessions on a daily basis. It is such a joy to watch your special little people grow, and to be the people who help them to develop.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

‘A learning journey is a collection of pieces of information that, when connected together, creates a picture of a particular child’

We have begun displaying learning journeys at all our nurseries to document the learning taking place. These have been completed with groups of children, or individually dependant on the child’s interests.
They can be displayed as creatively as possible!

The above picture is from our Sunbeams at Little Achievers Nursery in the Park. They kept their display in a natural theme in keeping with our Reggio inspired nurseries. Included is lots of photos of the children with links to the characteristics of effective learning.

Below you can see the starting point of our learning journey from Little Achievers Day Nursery. Speech bubbles display the children’s voices and arrows show the way the activity expanded linked to areas of learning.

Above is an example of an individual learning journey display from Little Achievers Forest School Nursery. This shows the individuality of the child with learning and development that is personal to them.

Below shows another idea of individual learning journeys from Little Achievers Urban Forest School. Each child has there own box with their work displayed and their own photos. As an added extra their learning is documented in personalised books that have been made by their key person.

Some fabulous ideas from our teams to document some amazing learning opportunities that we offer.
They promote pride in the children, as well as giving excellent opportunities for children to discuss themselves and what they have done promoting links to their own learning.

Keep your eyes peeled in our settings for your child’s learning journey!

This week at Little Achievers the children are taking part in Ready, Steady, Listen. This is in partnership with Usborne Books.

The aim is to allow children to develop a passion of reading and listening for pleasure.

So this week the children will be sponsored to listen for an amount of time per day with their parent, an adult or older child. Usborne books will then offer up to 60% of the money raised in free books to our nurseries.

What is listening?
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As technology increases, children seem to be spending less and less time outdoors and more time spent inside on tablets and games consoles.
This has been recognised and so the Forest School Approach has become more and more popular.

Rosy Apple Childcare has two Forest School Nurseries:
Little Achievers Urban Forest School, Preston, PR1 3QU
Little Achievers Forest School Nursery, Blackburn, BB1 9DQ

All children whilst in the Owls room at Little Achievers are able to access Forest School sessions. We transport children from our nurseries to our Forest School settings and sessions are led by our qualified Forest School Leaders.

What is a Forest School?
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The Early Years Foundation Stage states that:
‘Providers must provide access to an outdoor play area or, if that is not possible, ensure that outdoor activities are planned and taken on a daily basis (unless circumstances make this inappropriate, for example unsafe weather conditions).’

At all our Little Achievers Nurseries we ensure that children have continuous provision both indoors and outdoors – this means that they have access to both environments and are able to choose where they play. It is important to remember not all children learn in the same way and in the same environment.

There are huge benefits to the outdoors and that’s why a bit of rain doesn’t stop us from letting children access it. Possibilities are endless with no restraints on the space children can be creative and the noise they make. It enables them to be ‘free’. Physical development is enhanced along with sensory experiences. Children can create, problem solve, communicate and imagine.
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