Are you looking for unique childcare in a small and friendly setting where childhood isn’t rushed? If so, come and meet our team of dedicated and professional staff who treat children as individuals and create an environment where they flourish and develop at their own speed.
About us!
• Privately owned by Councillor Joy Francis and opened in September 2000.
• We have an Ofsted rating of ‘Good’ (2017), a Food Hygiene rating of 5 (2017), we are breastfeeding friendly and have recently gained the ‘Maths Champions’ award from the NDNA.
• Managed by an experienced and innovative childcare practitioner with over 12 years’ experience in Early Years.
• Tortoise Nursery is an adapted building on the Morris Care Home site and has disabled access.
What makes us unique?
• The nursery is divided between only 2 age appropriate well-resourced rooms that promote a family feeling
• We visit our elderly friends at Morris Care regularly to support children’s development and give back to our community.
• As often as possible, we walk down into Wellington, visit the market, donate to the charity shops or visit local attractions
• At least once a term we aim to take all children to the local library to foster a love of books.
• We enjoy using recycled open ended resources to foster children’s creativity and critical thinking skills
• We do ‘In the moment planning’ for all of our activities; this means we only do what the children enjoy and use their interests to extend and develop their learning.
• The staff have a limited amount of paperwork to complete monthly, so this ensures the children receive 99.9% of our time!
Baby and Toddler room
• Registered for up to 12 children at any one time
• Age range: 3 months – 26/30 months
• Adult to child ratio 1 : 3 (under 24 months) or Adult to child ratio 1 : 4 (over 24 months)
• Staff trained and experienced in working with 2-year-old children and babies.
• Children learn from each other through interactive, heuristic, sensory activities; indoor and outdoor.
• Routines and activities are all based around children’s interests, schemas (behaviours!) and individual needs where required.
Preschool
• Registered for up to 24 children at any one time
• Age range: 30 months – 60 months
• Adult to child ratio 1 : 4 (under 36 months) or Adult to child ratio 1 : 8 (over 36 months)
• Experienced staff. Our school leavers group leader has a foundation degree.
• Children have access to Shropshire Tutor sessions for Math development or Letters and Sounds *Small extra fee applies
• Children have access to a Music Minors class *Small extra fee applies
• Activities are based on children’s interests and our innovative style of ‘teaching’ provides children with the skills they need to feel ready for school.
• Authentic resources provide a magical experience in our ‘real-life’ home corner…. say ‘yes please’ to a cup of tea served from a real teapot in a china teacup!
• Outdoor learning, building independence and social skills are paramount to our Preschool ethos.
Outdoor Learning
‘There is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing’
Our outdoor area is safe and secure; it offers a large mud kitchen, mark making materials and a ‘Reading house’. Tyres, crates, planks and materials allow children’s imagination to go ‘wild’ and allow children to develop their risk-taking skills. Experienced practitioner’s support outdoor learning by providing exciting and challenging opportunities to keep them healthy and build understanding of the importance of exercise. There is also a music area, water and sand opportunities, small world area, and space. Whenever possible, staff use the local green space and park to encourage climbing and gross motor skills. We also have access to a small area to provide a ‘Forest School’ experience weekly where children become one with nature!
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
The EYFS is the curriculum and statutory framework our practice is moulded by. Every member of staff uses the ‘Early learning outcomes’ to provide tailored development support through activities and their relationships. You will see how the EYFS themes fit into our policies and procedures and how our planning structure and daily practices reflect the themes to meet government strategies in line with OFSTED.
Learning and development
• We are committed to the principles of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
• The EYFS is central to our provision allowing children to learn through play, experience and opportunity both indoors and outdoors
• We believe that play strengthens all development and learning of young children
• Our environment supports every child’s learning through planned experiences and activities that are challenging but achievable
• It is through this approach we believe that children develop intellectually, creatively, physically, socially and emotionally.
• Each child will have ‘next steps’ in varied areas dependent on their individual needs. We work together with our families to ensure these are accurate and amended accordingly when progress has been recorded.
Our team
• We are a small, friendly and vibrant team with 5 out of 7 of us having over 4 years of service to the setting!
• All staff are qualified in Early Years from level 3 – 5 and are committed to the continuous development of our skills and training
• All staff have a first aid certificate, food hygiene and have undergone full DBS checks.
• Staff are trained in a variety of complementary areas i.e. Forest school, physical education, special educational needs, safer sleeping, nutrition, team leading, management and customer service.
• We are passionate about children’s care, learning and development and use several theories to inspire our nurturing techniques to support the childhood of our unique little people.
• We are led by an inspirational manager who believes in maintaining a forward-thinking approach, using reflective practice and using the children’s development, contentment and feedback as ‘targets’.
• Having a small team ensures all children build relationships with every member- this enables a smooth transition within the setting and our staff consistency aids the settling in period.
• We prioritise staff interactions and child -initiated learning over paperwork; this is evident through our innovative and inspiring process to documenting children’s progress and development.
• We only plan activities based on children’s interests, their behaviours and parent/carer advice…. we plan in the moment which means anything can happen as the children are engaged in open ended opportunities with only their own objectives in mind!
Check out our wonderful array of photos and feel free to message for any further information or to book in to come and see us!
