Our Core Vision ‘Inspiring Curiosity for Life.’
Our Ethos
Small World Nursery was started in August 1996 by King’s Church who own the nursery. We have always maintained a strong family ethos supporting families in the important task of raising their children and encouraging them to have a love of learning through exploration, fun and challenge in a safe place where all children are welcomed and valued and supported to achieve their best from their unique starting point.
We recognise that all of our children and their families are unique and treat each one equally with respect, celebrating our cultural diversity. This is reflected in the nursery curriculum and resources. As needed, we will give extra support to children and families whose first language is not English, whilst encouraging children to freely express themselves in their most familiar language. We aim to treat each person with equal concern, giving freedom of choice whilst offering access to and encouraging participation in every opportunity.
Children with special or additional needs are welcome and we will do all we can to fully include children with disabilities. Staff are trained and experienced in recognising children and families with additional needs and will offer both the child and family the support needed to access further support if required.
Our Values
The Image of the child
Small World Nursery values the child as central to their own learning, not simply an empty vessel waiting to be filled with knowledge. We recognise that all children have different experiences and our approach allows children to be curious, pursue their own interests and revisit and build upon ideas at their own pace.
100 languages of a child
Our approach starts from the premise that all children are individual and use many different ways, or learning languages, to express their wonderings, their creativity, their needs and their ideas. At Small World Nursery we respect the children’s voices as they guide their own learning.
An emergent curriculum
Small World Nursery is inspired by an eclectic mix of worldwide approaches, bringing aspects of Steiner, Montessori, Reggio and Te Whariki approaches to our nursery curriculum. As a Curiosity Approach accredited setting, we believe that learning begins with wonder, and authentic, meaningful and lifelong learning takes place when children feel empowered within their learning environment.
Our approach empowers children to develop a sense of ownership over the direction of their own learning from a young age. By doing so, we become fully aware of their natural interests and we enjoy the privilege of witnessing their developmental progress, over-all growth and personal strengths emerge.
Practitioners as partners
Practitioners are encouraged to observe children rather than to direct them. It is important that children are allowed to experiment in their own way, make mistakes and find new solutions. The main role of the practitioner is to listen and observe the children identifying opportunities for further exploration of the children’s interests. Then gently guide children towards areas of interest to them by providing invitations and provocations for learning, and this can only be done through careful observation carried out over time.
The role of the environment
Our ‘home from home’ environment is thoughtfully designed packed with authentic resources and loose parts to encourage curiosity, awe and wonder. It enables children to flow from one area to another which encourages open ended play and a sense of ownership and responsibility within the children.
The role of families
We recognise and respect parents as a child’s primary teacher and our practitioners are honoured and ideally placed to work collaboratively to establish ongoing involvement and communication as we work towards a common goal of enriching children’s early learning experiences.
We recognise the importance of connecting with the child through their parents and family support. This enables our practitioners to develop appropriate learning experiences and acknowledges the child’s home life and cultural background.
As a nursery, we continually strive to engage families in the nurturing of their child’s development by giving parents opportunities to be involved and a voice in the way our nursery develops.
Documentation
Practitioners, in addition to guiding children’s play are responsible for documenting the children’s learning within the nursery in their individual ‘Learning Journey’. Practitioners take photos and videos of the children to better understand the children and assist parents in becoming more aware of how their children are developing.
At the end of each term, the nursery practitioners gather together to discuss all of the children’s progress to ensure that all children are making progress and this is shared with parents via our Learning Journey system ‘Eylog’.
Whilst the children are in our toddler room, the practitioners will write a ‘Two Year Progress Summary’ that can be shared with the family’s health visitor at the Two Year Health Check.
When the children leave the nursery to go onto school, the key person will write a ‘Transition Summary’ that is shared with your child’s school to ensure that vital information is shared.
