Blueprints (12- 24mth)

For a gentle start to learning (for the 12- 24mth age group)

Kenilworth Nursery School are delighted to announce a new provision, Blueprints, that will open this Autumn, extending our age range so that we may begin to offer our amazing blend of care and education to children from 12 months of age. It will run each morning between 9:00am and 1pm and Parents can contact Emily our office manager to express their interest in a place. It is term time only as we build this new provision.

We know that “Effective early years provision pays as much attention to children’s care as it does to play and learning as these are intertwined and impact equally on children’s development and overall well-being.” (Birth to five matters)

With this in mind, we have carefully planned a ‘gentle start’ for your child’s educational pathway into our Nursery School based on early care in a learning environment.

The Nursery School Headteacher, Rachel Gillett, is working closely with Rachel Benson as the Blueprints lead to plan an approach based on our understanding that “Babies and young children first come to understand themselves through their bodies and understand much of what others think of them and how much they are loved and valued through touch and physical interactions. Non-verbal communications are internalised into children’s developing sense of self and shape their behaviours, actions and attitudes towards others” (Birth to five matters)

Blueprints will follow a respectful caregiving approach in which the practitioner recognises “the child as a free and equal human being, with whom they are working in co-operative partnership. The adult does everything with the child rather than to the child, so care events become co-operative dialogues in which the child feels competent, recognised and valued as an individual” and to achieve that the practitioners will be highly trained to pay attention to their body language, voice, tone and gesture remembering the messages that these will convey to the child. (Birth to five matters)

A gentle start in the learning journey is achieved by:

• paying attention to body language, voice tone, touch and gesture, remembering the messages that each of these will convey to the child and how they will make the child feel
• giving full attention to the child, observing and responding to all their communications and following their cues
• slowing down: if care is going to be truly participatory and respectful, it needs to be unhurried
• inviting and suggesting: offering explanations and reassurance; being patient and giving the child time to respond and participate
• adapting your approach, actions and gestures according to the individual child’s responses, needs and preferences
• encouraging co-operation and participation through inviting the child to take part, asking permission and letting them know what is intended before taking action, creating opportunities for the child to do things for themselves, giving the child manageable choice and allowing for autonomy of movement. (Birth to five matters)

All of this needs to happen in an appropriately planned environment with both indoor and outdoor component and with a team who have a strong approach to collaborative working with Parents. We very much look forward to developing this special new provision and opening our doors to children form the age of 12months for the first time.

Contact Emily our office manager to express your interest in a place.