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The First Days
We want your child to feel happy and safe with us. To make sure that this is the case, the staff will work with you to decide on how to help your child settle into the setting; as we accept children from 2 years, we understand that some children will still be in nappies and will therefore support you in toilet training.
To ensure our setting is right for you and your child, we offer four free taster hours. This enables both parent and child to join in with the other children in the setting and gain an insight as to how Little Chestnuts run; this also allows time for your child to settle in, should you decide to take a placement at Little Chestnuts.
Whilst a uniform is not compulsory, we offer a Little Chestnuts t-shirt and bag upon joining us, as we believe that it helps children to learn to be part of a setting and assists in their transition to Primary School. (Additional items of uniform can be purchased through Little Chestnuts).
Learning Through Play
Play helps young children to learn and develop through doing and talking, which research has shown to be the means by which young children learn to think.
Our pre-school setting uses the Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage guidance to plan and provide a range of play activities, this helps children to make progress in each of the areas of learning and development.
Using a key worker system, we assess the children’s learning and development by observing them frequently. We use information from observations, as well as from photographs of the children, to document their progress.
We believe that parents know their child best and we ask them to contribute to assessment by sharing information about what their child likes to do at home and how they, as parents, are supporting development.
We make periodic assessment summaries of children’s achievement based on our on-going development records. These form part of children’s records of achievement. We undertake these assessment summaries at regular intervals, as well as times of transition, such as when a child moves into a different group or when they go on to school.