Emily Shapland
Nursery Manager
Little Learners & Big Explorers
Lisa Leeds
Deputy Nursery Manager
Big Explorers
Nay Bond
Little Learners
Leonie Parsons
Little Learners
Rachel Taylor
Little Learners & Big Explorers
Ann Bressington
Big Explorers
Our curriculum is led by our children’s enquiring minds, termly topics can change and evolve at pace as imagination and ideas flow, questions are asked and problems are solved.
If you are a new parent just about to embark on the journey of looking for a Nursery then I’m sure you will have many questions, thoughts and emotions about this massive step you are about to take. We can book you and your family in to look around at a time that suits you and would always advise that you visit a few different settings to get the feel for the one that you will suit your needs the best.
At Gulval Nursery want your child to feel happy and safe with us. All children are very different, the staff will work with you to decide on the best ways we can help your child to settle in, we always book in a home visit with you prior to your child starting so we can meet your child and yourselves in an environment where they are relaxed and more confident. When your child joins us they will have a key person who will keep in touch regularly about your child’s development.
Key Information
At Gulval Little Learners we support children on their learning journey from the age of 2.
Funded sessions are from 8:50am – 2:50pm additional sessions are charged at £8 per hour.
Clothing
We provide protective clothing for the children when they play with messy activities, but cannot guarantee that paint glue etc will not get on their clothes, so please don’t send your children to Nursery in their best clothing.
Footwear
We request that your child wears closed toed good fitting shoes to enable them to run and climb safely. Flipflops and sandals can be dangerous in a pre-school environment and we would not recommend that your child wears them.
What you will need to provide:
- Please provide an empty named drinks cup to stay at Nursery.
- A supply of nappies, wipes and full sets of spare clothes in a named bag. (this can be stored on your child’s peg)
- Suitable clothing for the weather. A spare named coat can be stored on their peg.
- During the winter each child should always have 3-5 sets of mittens/gloves and hat
- During the summer months a sun hat will be provided. We do go outside every day.
- We ask you to ensure that your child has a first layer of suncream on before they arrive and then we will top up during the day, You only need to provide suncream if your child is sensitive to a specific brand.
Lunch and snacks
- Snack and consumables contribution is payable each term and is currently £16 towards the cost of snacks and cookery activities.
- There is a £4 contribution towards suncreams and wet wipes which is payable via Parent Pay each term.
- Children attending from 11:50 will need a named packed lunch box or to have order a school meal via Parent Pay. Your child may be eligible for a free school meal. Application forms are available from the School Office page.
- Staff and children have lunch together. We are a healthy early years setting and promote nutritious packed lunches, please could your child’s lunch have a piece of fruit or cut up vegetables each day. Sugary snacks and packets of processed foods should be limited or avoided where possible.
- We provide all drinks and snacks through out the day, so your child will not need additional drinks, smoothies in their lunch boxes.
- We are able to accommodate special diets and will provide vegetarian or vegan options if requested. We can provide specialist medical diets for allergies such as gluten or dairy if a medical dietry request form is completed.
We have 2 rooms in our Nursery, these have an adjoining door and we provide many group activities that join both groups together.
Little Learners
This is our 2-3yr old room where children are often experiencing their first steps from home, they are supported together with yourselves and staff to gain confidence to leave parents and explore many new activities, they begin to develop friendships with their peers and start to learn those tricky new skills like using the toilet and taking turns together.
Big Explorers
This is our Pre-school room for our 3/4yrs olds during their time in this room, children are growing in confidence developing their independence and being supported to build their resilience, understanding their own emotions and the feelings of others. All though this is largely a free flow environment, staff plan in the moment so engage children’s interests in a topic as soon as they occur.
Children will naturally transition from Little Learners into the Big Explorers and this will be discussed with you at their reviews. You will receive a Tapestry link soon after your child starts attending, this will be your online Learning Journey which your key person will use to update you on your child’s time in Nursery. It is helpful for you to download the app so that you can use its functions easily. We ask that you regularly check in, comment and add home experiences to their journey to ensure we keep updated here with any new interests and achievements.
