West Barns Nursery

Dark wood

The children watched as 7 modular units arrived separately on large trucks before being lifted into place by a crane. Using the floor plans the children were able to identify each of the arriving units.

The home corner is the heart of the nursery and provides opportunities for role play and real life experiences where the children can make links with home.

Our art area provides an open-ended space for creativity

Beside our large gather space you will find this small reading nook which allows opportunities to explore books and share stories with others.

We continue to encourage free flow between the indoor and outdoor learning environments. To support this there is a wellie stand by the garden access door where the children's footwear is accessible.

Through play the children developed their own building site. The children constructed safety fences and ensured they had all safety wear before planning their build.

As we transition into our new setting we wanted to take the opportunity to share and reflect on the children's learning experiences. Children's wellbeing and smooth transitions have remained paramount throughout this planning process. Staff have delivered learning opportunities to ensure a sense of security, belonging and a sense of respect to each and every child throughout every stage of the move.

The children's first visit into the outdoor play space presented an opportunity to talk about what resources we would need, what areas we wanted to create and what areas of provision are important to each of our learners.

As part of our transition plans the children created a new self registration tags for morning drop offs. Each child created their own log slice that will hang on to the register as they arrive to class. #belonging #secure #importanceoftransition

From previous observations of children's play we hoped to be able to create a new play space identified for small world and support children in developing their imaginative play with small world resources.

After early discussions with children it was clear that our Learning Journals were to be placed beside a window so that children are able to share their achievements and learning. This request was fundamental within our room layout plans.

"Our nursery is going to be so much more bigger" "I am so excited" "Can we go today?"

The week before the move we visited the indoor and outdoor provision. How are we feeling now?

The numeracy area provides opportunities to explore and manipulate number through play using a variety of resources.

The children have a variety of ICT resources to allow them to explore technologies throughout their play; microscopes to look closely at our mini beasts; recordable microphones allow the children to share their learning and talking spots allow staff to capture the children achievements and celebrate success.

The children enjoyed a last snack in the open space where our new unit will be placed.

We are delighted to be at the stage to share this story with you all! We continue to develop our setting and strive to create an environment full of opportunities to explore, enquire and develop creativity through our play.

Celebrating our last day with party games and dancing!

Using visual supports the children had the opportunity to place furniture into the new play space and opportunity to discuss what areas of provision were most important for them 

To develop a sense of belonging within our new setting we hoped to gain inspiration for a display from our local community.

Fencing was put into place and there was lots of environmental print for us to explore. We recognised the safety equipment required on the site. We also recognised that the red signs told us there was a 'danger'

Following observations of the drainage system going into place, the children got hard at work digging their own large hole to allow them to "fit pipes".

Loose parts is at the centre of our practice and the children's learning. We have been able to create a large outdoor space with a variety of loose parts materials offering the children opportunities to be creative and develop problem solving skills whilst developing their complex thinking skills in developing their own play spaces.

Through discussions with the children we have created a large digging area where we can incorporate trucks, cars and natural materials.  

Together times and snack times spent in our new play space provided opportunities to continue to visit and enhance transition supports.

On return from our walk, the children got to work! We began to create our own bridge to nowhere. After creating models with blocks we began to create the bridge from paper, and tape.

We moved over our peg names and decided where we would like to be placed. Knowing where our belongings are going to go is hugely important in supporting our transitions.

Inspired by the work of the crane, the children created their very own out of loose parts materials. The children demonstrated critical thinking as they decided what materials to select while developing team building skills in constructing their idea.

With thanks to our local community we started to receive deliveries of tyres to begin to establish our garden provision.

In our Literacy area we can create and inspire, explore pre-writing skills and mark making. The children have the opportunity to explore a variety of materials to develop their fine motor skills.

As an extension of the literacy area we have created a phonics area which allows the children to make use of natural materials to explore letter sounds and how these work together.

We are looking forward to sharing time together, developing friendships and learning through play in our new setting! West Barns Nursery: where play is what we do best! Discovery, enquiry, creativity.

After discussions with the children the Early Years team spent time beginning to plan the outdoor space making sure to incorporate all of the children's ideas.

Supporting our large loose parts area within the outdoor provision we have created an indoor construction area providing spaces for the children to discover, create and extend block play concepts. This area has been planned carefully to have small loose part materials available to continue to extend the children's creations, also the small world provision has been placed next to this area allowing the children to transport the resources to extend their play.

Our Snack area creates a social space where children can relax and enjoy exploring foods alongside friends. The children can come for snack throughout the morning session rather than at specific times to ensure that their play is not interrupted.

After observing the construction worker connecting pipes into the unit the children made use of loose parts materials to create their own drainage system. The children connected pipes from one side to the other allowing the water flow from the connecting hose pipe. We used real life experiences to support and extend our learning.

We placed our own photos onto the belonging display. Each child decided where they would like to be on the bridge, from 'jumping in the water' to 'climbing up the steps'

It's moving day!! The removal teams have arrived...

Our display spaces demonstrate links to our community alongside supporting children's transitions in ensuring belonging and ownership within their new setting.

The packing begins! The children took part in every aspect of the move which ensured that they were involved and respected throughout providing a smooth transition between settings.

Children's wellbeing and involvement throughout the transition has been paramount. We talked about our feelings prior to the move and took part in discussions of what the move would look like.

Our new water play furniture will allow for a variety of water play experiences providing a depth to learning concepts.

The children designed their own garden layout

We took part in harvesting some willow from the school woodland. The children will take part in planting the willow to create an arch into the sensory garden.

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