• Session times and our nursery day

Welcome to Rainbow Nursery

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In Rainbow Nursery we take children from the age of 3 years old. We are a teacher-led nursery with fully qualified staff who have years of experience in teaching 3-5year olds. Parents put their children in our care feeling that they will be comfortable, happy, confident and relaxed, knowing that they are in a secure, loving and exciting learning environment. We are part of a popular community primary school and our Nursery children get to know the staff and are an important part of whole school life. When they are ready to start Reception, they find the transition to 'big school' much easier having built good friendships along the way. We provide the opportunities for each child to fulfil their potential by developing self-confidence, so that they are happy with themselves and with each other and by giving them a wealth of new experiences. 

What and how do our children learn?

Our children learn through a wide range of play opportunities as well as directed activities and games with adults that enable them to be the best that they can be. The children share ideas about what they would like to do and learn about, and we make sure this is included in their day to day experiences. Scroll down to the bottom to see some of this week's activities.

We follow the 'Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum' which includes 7 areas of learning and you can read more details about it here:  EYFS Parents Guide

 Between the ages of 3-4 years our main focus for our learners development is :

Communication and Language (Listening, understanding & speaking.)

Personal, Social & Emotional (Self-confidence, managing feelings and behaviour & making relationships)

Physical – (Moving, health, fine motor skills/self-care)

These 'Prime areas' are those most essential for your child’s healthy development and future learning.

As children grow, the prime areas will help them to further develop their skills in 4 'Specific areas'. These are:

• Literacy (Reading - enjoying stories and rhymes and writing - learning to mark make) 

 
• Mathematics (Learning about numbers and understanding their value, exploring shapes and measures)

  
• Understanding the world ( Learning about people and how we are similar and different, learning about nature and the world around us)

• Expressive arts and design (creative activities, art, drawing, making, dancing, music and pretend play)

The 7 areas are used to plan the learning for our Nursery children ensuring they receive a broad and balanced curriculum. The professionals teaching and supporting your child will make sure that the activities are suited to your child’s unique needs. Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring. Being active, being creative and critical thinking takes place both indoors and outside. Teachers plan from the children’s interests whilst ensuring a full coverage of the above areas of learning. The opportunites we provide are very visual and practical, and so are very supportive to children developing their communication and language skills as well as to our children who speak English as an additional language. 

Our children love to learn and it shows in everything that they do.  Our curriculum is made up of small group adult led learning alongside  engaging experiences that promote independent learning. In Nursery we begin learning about phonics using 'Letters and Sounds'. We make sure they have experienced a wide range of opportunities to develop vital pre-reading and sound descrimination skills through games and play activities ready to join Reception and continue their reading journey.

Rainbow nursery provides the opportunities for each child to fulfil their potential by developing self-confidence, so that they are happy with themselves and with each other, and by giving them care, love and a world of new experiences. We focus on supporting our children to develop a 'growth mindset' which ensures that they can develop the skills and confidence to overcome any obstacles.

One of the key things that we learn about and celebrate is the diversity of our community and the different cultures and religions of our families. We especially focus on helping our children to understand that we are all different but all very special and unique. We encourage our children to share their home experiences and celebrations and to show respect to differences between ourselves and our families. The Christian family at Chester Blue Coat welcomes and values all.

If you want to find out about session times and a typical day in nursery please click on 'Session times and our nursery day' at the top of this page.

We work in partnership with our families

We recognise parents are every child's first and most important teachers, so when children join us we talk to families to find out all about their little one's needs, likes, dislikes and celebrate the things they have learnt so far. Once settled with us, we share what each child has been doing in the following ways:

• Regularly talking to parents informally at the end of a session to share great learning.
• Inviting families to attend ‘Stay and Play’ sessions so they can come in and join in with activities, see what we are learning and how they may support at home.
• At the end of every term we send home a selection of photographs and observations so they have a record of their child’s learning and can celebrate with their little one the fun things they have been doing with their nursery friends.
• Sharing photographs of nursery activities and learning on our school twitter page - @ChesterBlueCoat #CBCNursery
• Talking to families if we have any worries about a little one's learning or behaviour so we can support them in the best way possible.
• Talking to families to share celebrations or aspects of significant progress or achievement.
• Regular communication through our ‘School Spider’ app to share school newsletters, special events, information and to celebrate great things your little one has done if we weren't able to talk to you in person.

To find out more about what we do in Nursery and Reception at Chester Blue Coat school please look at the following booklet by clicking the image below. It will give you information about what your little one will be experiencing in school and our role in supporting your child's development.

Be Ready, Be Safe and Be Kind
Our school has three simple rules: ‘Be Ready, Be Safe and Be Kind, generated through discussions with staff, pupils and parents and which are applicable to a wide variety of situations. These rules are explicitly taught and modelled by all members of our school community and that learning begins in our Nursery. By following these three rules we ensure all our children feel happy, safe and secure and are ready to have lots of fun learning.

What to do if you would like your child to join us in Rainbow nursery:

To apply for a place please contact the school office during term time on Tel: 01244 455275 or Email: admin@chesterbluecoatce.cheshire.sch.uk

We will do all we can to accomodate your session requirements. All children joining us will have an initial short visit, followed by morning or afternoon sessions as chosen by you. A gradual transition gives young children the best possible start so they feel happy and secure saying good bye at the door and coming in ready to join in the fun.

Families joining our school are entitled to 15 hours free care in our Nursery. You may choose 5 morning sessions, or 5 afternoon sessions or (once children are settled) you may choose 2 and a half days - it all depends on spaces available, how you feel your little one will cope, and your preferences. You may wish to have your child with us for longer periods. If you would like to apply for 30 hours free childcare funding follow this link to find out if you are eligible and what to do  :https://www.gov.uk/apply-30-hours-free-tax-free-childcare

In Rainbow nursery we will be:

Reading our Favourite 5 stories

Dear Families/Carers

This half term in Nursery, we continue to promote stories and share them whenever we can as they are such a powerful way to develop children’s language and vocabulary as well as to help them make sense of the world and people around them. We hope you have enjoyed sharing the bedtime stories at home and this will continue. We are already seeing the impact of these daily stories as many of our children are speaking a lot more in general and showing a real love of stories and books so thankyou for your support with this.

• Favourite 5: Our 5 stories that we will be sharing and reading frequently over the half term are:

We will be doing lots of activities linked to the stories eg 

We will support your little one to experience a wide range of activities that cover the whole of EYFS curriculum but listed below are some key features/events for this half term:

• New families: We will be welcoming in brand new children and their families over the next couple of weeks. We will be encouraging the children to look after their new friends and share toys and show the new children how to play. I’m sure new families would really appreciate a ‘hello’ as they wait in the morning.
• Maths Investigations will continue, starting with ‘Whats in the box?’. We will count upto 4 objects into a box put the lid on and then ask – how many inside? Then we add or take an object away and see if children can talk about what is different and the amount and count to check. In a couple of weeks we will be doing an investigation called ‘Owls packing list’ (helping owl to count the right number of things needed on his holiday list) and a final one called ‘The sock washing line’ (learning about long and short and sorting).
• In Phonics we will be making funny rhymes with our names, going on listening walks and playing instruments to follow a rhythm as well as many more games. At this age we continue to focus on listening and identifying sounds as once these skills are secure, then letters and the sounds they make will be much easier to learn and apply.
• Outdoor play: We have been lucky enough to have some new resources for outdoor play. We will continue to do lots of physical activities to increase strength, control and using equipment such as bats, balls, mini javelins and bikes. We will be going out in all weathers to explore our world so warm waterproof clothes always needed. If your little one comes to Nursery in a pram how about leaving a little earlier to help they get fit and strong by walking alongside you?
• Understanding the World: We will continue exploring how we are different and special but also how people are similar. We will look at Chinese New Year and join in some dances and making decorations as well as hearing how children celebrate.

Thankyou for your continued support. Here’s to another lovely half term of fun and learning!