Cosy Areas
Early years offers a unique experience for our children and this is something we, at Fareacres are proud of. Children will have the opportunity to engage in the environment provided. This environment offers lots of learning prompts, resources and experiences that encourage development. One important aspect of our Fareacres environment is the cosy areas. Each room has a designated area specifically for the children to have time to rest, relax, recharge and have quiet mindful time, a space for reflection and an area to watch the busy world of Fareacres and make sense of the surroundings. This time is essential for learning and development, and to ensure a child’s wellbeing is of a high level. Theorists have declared that only when a human’s basic needs are met, which includes rest, security, and warmth, will they then be able to move forward with learning and development and reach their full potential. Our cosy areas seek to ensure that this happens.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum requires us to provide children with ‘A secure, safe and happy childhood’ and the cosy area is the perfect space for this to be promoted. The cosy area is an ideal space to also develop learning in a variety of areas, which range from Communication and language to personal, social and emotional development. The children access the area independently, and will use the space in whatever way they choose. In the child’s mind, the cosy area is transformed into a space they feel most comfortable in, or simply somewhere to rest when the bustle of the day becomes too much.
Clever Cats
Crawling Caterpillar
Stingrays
Sharks
Rainbow Fish
Star Fish
Learning Sacks
Working in partnership with parents is a crucial part of the Fareacres learning community. A way in which we try to bridge the link between home and nursery is to send home ‘Learning sacks’ or books from our ‘Book club’. These learning sacks are given by a child’s key person, and each will provide the child with a different experience at home. There is a wide catalogue of learning sacks available, and these have been developed by staff, some of which have been the idea of parents. These sacks can be given to help children meet their next steps, such as the ‘Dress-a-Pillar’ sack for a child with a next step based around dressing themselves, or they can be given to help children with other life experiences, such as transition into school, or a new baby coming into the family.
The learning sacks and books from the Fareacres book club also give parents the chance to engage with their children and enjoy the experience together. Research is constantly proving that the benefits of parents reading to their children can be far reaching and long lasting. Reading to your child for just 10 minutes a day can give support for their present and future learning.
We do ask parents to fill out a feedback form with each sack or book, to let us know of their experience and where we can improve in the future. Here are a few examples of the feedback:
- ‘It is very good for the child and it encourages the parents to read for them’ – Alicia’s parent
- ‘Loved measuring various things. Very interesting to explain the concept’ – Asmi’s parent
- ‘Rahib enjoyed ten in the bed sack. He recalled all the numbers. He liked the story book. Thanks a lot’ – Rahib’s parent
If you would like to request a learning sack or a book club book, then please speak to your child’s key person and they will be happy to help you.
Metal Mike
Dear Zoo
Owl Babies
Sensory Bag
Weekly Experiences
In South Woodford, Rainbow fish have used fruit and vegetables to enhance their painting experience. They used a variety of fruit and vegetables to provide a more sensory way to create pictures and explore the texture of the paint. This also encouraged the children to interact within a small group, thus developing their personal, social and emotional skills.
Vegetable Painting
Vegetable Painting
In the Sharks room they are playing a variety of board games with the children to encourage their listening skills and help promote group participation. This also supports children to take turns with their peers.
Board Games
In Gants Hill children have been exploring and creating using a variety of resources. Children have used resources from our construction area to create their own models and pictures. The construction resources are an ideal way that children develop their fine motor skills and hand to eye co-ordination. It is these skills that will help to develop the muscles and dexterity needed for writing.
Interstar Bricks
Lego
Painting with leaves is an activity that took place this week. In this activity the children explored colours and discovered what happened when they mixed the colours together. Some children showed an interest and described the texture of the leaves and paint.
Painting with Leaves
Painting with leaves
Fareacres Staff Annual Awards 2017
To celebrate this year’s achievements management decided on a new annual initiative ‘Fareacres Staff Annual Awards’ one member of staff will win 'Employee of the Year' across both setting and in consultation with nursery managers they choose individual practitioners from each setting under the categories of 'Most Improved Practitioner' and 'Contribution to Children’s Experiences'.
Employee of the Year: Archana Loganathan
Archana Loganathan
Employee’s Employee of the Year: Farhat Rana (GH) Kerry Dobson (SW)
Farhat Rana
Kerry Dobson
Most Improved: Saima Ali (GH) Kerry Dobson (SW)
Saima Ali
Kerry Dobson
Contribution to Children’s Experiences: Archana Loganathan (GH) Kelly Preston (SW)
Archana Loganathan
Kelly Preston
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the Fareacres team for their hard work this year.
Top 5 Children’s Quotes of the week
- “Monkey is coming to eat all her food” – Rahib
- “I have a new baby sister called Rosa and she cries a lot and a real lot” – Eve
- “Well done Hannah” – Tawanda
- “It’s steaming like mummy’s chi. We drink chi at home” – Reva
- “Daddy, Daddy” - Sam
Activity of the week
The winner this week is Sarah Jayne Wells (SW). Sarah has created an activity to assist a child with their self-care. It is often assumed that children are able to take care of things such as blowing their noses; however this is not always the case. Sarah has planned a specific time where she will make sure children will go through a process to understand how to blow their noses. This skill is so important for them, particularly during the cold and flu season. This also ties in nicely with the use of our nose blowing stations.
Quote of the Week:
‘When educating the minds of our youth, we must not forget to educate their hearts’
- Dalai Lama
Thank you for taking a glimpse into our Fareacres Learning Community
Until next time...
