Jack and Jill Nursery, Corfe Mullen
Well-established day nursery for children from 3 months.
Pre-school Room
(in the Big Hall)
At Jack and Jill Nursery the pre-school room has been designed to cater for children from 3 years to pre-school age. This is the time when your child will be developing their independence, self-esteem, self-confidence and resilience, ready for the challenge of moving to primary school.
Our dedicated practitioners use “planning in the moment” to ensure that each child reaches their individual potential this will be based around the children’s interests and their next steps in development. It also includes the world around them such as the seasons, the weather or life cycle.
The café style snack table encourages the children to try a selection of different food types, to build an understanding of a healthy and balanced diet. The children can serve themselves with an adult available to help if needed. They can sit at the table with their friends to socialise whilst they eat. This is the same at lunchtime when all the children sit down together to eat.
Positive encouragement and leading by example will help your child develop their confidence and their social skills (such as good manners, focussed listening, good sharing, talking through problems, settling down to “work,” participating without calling-out and treating peers with respect). Good social skills are really important at this age and will help your child build solid friendships at school and help them learn and listen in lesson time!
The pre-school room has a wide variety of activity areas, providing learning in all the areas of development within the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum, which the children can access independently or with an adult. The children are encouraged to think for themselves and make their own choices. Within the routine and boundaries of the setting, the children have free flow access to the outdoors and the curriculum is taken outside to support those children who learn better in this environment.
In their final few months at nursery, we introduce a wide-range of activities to help our pre-school children prepare for “big school.” These activities include PE lessons, getting changed in and out of uniform, vocabulary for school, school “essentials”, increased literacy and numeracy activities and lots of school role plays.
Pre-school facilities
Our fabulous main hall offers several different learning zones/activity areas. Many activities are also available outside in the playground and most activities are interconnected to give a fluid, all-encompassing learning experience. The pre-school children have their own “big garden” (sometimes shared with the younger children), their own toilets (with full support from staff if needed) and their own entrance.
The “big garden” has lots of different areas including a planting and digging area, water-play station, story corner, mud kitchen, construction corner and a multi-purpose den (which might be a shop in the morning, a café at lunchtime and a house in the afternoon!).
Pre-school activities / zones in the “Big Hall” and the “Big Garden”
Our fabulous main hall offers several different learning zones/activity areas. Many activities are also available outside in the playground and most activities are interconnected to give a fluid, all-encompassing learning experience.
| Story corner | Daily story to be read, acted and enjoyed in groups, in pairs, with staff or just enjoy some quiet time to browse and dream! |
| Sensory | Explore the senses of sight, touch, hearing, and taste. |
| Nature and exploration | Discover the natural world through books, the nature table, nursery collections, interactive activities. |
| Construction | We have lots of construction activities for learning and fun including: Duplo, Lego, Stickle Bricks, Big Blocks, Wooden Blocks, Junk Modelling, etc. |
| Small World | Farm and animals, Dolls House, Train set, Cars and Garage, Pirates Ships and much more! Lots of fun on a small scale. |
| Home corner | Be a grown-up for the day! Lots of interesting things to try from cooking to cleaning. |
| Role Play and dressing up | Lots of role-play activities (with excellent props and dressing-up clothes) such as: Vet, Doctor, Dentist, Shopping, Big School, History, Fairytales, Around the World, Travel, Family, etc. |
| Music and movement | Instruments and other things for making music and space for moving, dancing and generally having a jiggle and enjoying songs and rhymes too. |
| Arts and Crafts and Messy Play | Lots of fun, wet, messy and creative activities including: messy play, water, sand and dough activities, lots of creative arts and crafts and of course drawing, printing, painting, sticking, stamping, threading and tracing! Aprons are provided. Many of these activities take place outside when possible! |
Mixed age learning
For most sessions, the children are based in the baby unit, toddler room or pre-school room according to their age. For some sessions and some activities, the children may be mixed together with older or younger children. For example, the babies and younger toddlers might play together in the “baby garden” while the older toddlers might be outside with the pre-school children in the “big garden”. Children may also be mixed for some group activities and if they arrive early or stay for the late session. Mixing the children ensures that all the children know each other and all the staff know all the children. Mixing children in this way also helps encourage social interaction, gives the younger children confidence (and a chance to learn from the older children) and gives the older children a great opportunity to demonstrate their skills and knowledge to the “little ones!”
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