Nursery Session 1: 7:00 AM – 13:00 PM
Nursery Session 2: 8:00 AM – 13:00 PM
Afternoon Club Option 1: 13:00 – 14:00 PM
Afternoon Club Option 2: 13:00 – 15:30 PM
Afternoon Club Option 3: 13:00 – 18:00 PM
In addition, we will be offering Winter, Spring and Summer Holiday Terms during the school holidays. Please see our Nursery Term Dates for further details.
At The Wonder Years Nursery we promote a natural and stimulating environment both indoors and outdoors, to allow children the time to explore the world around them at their own pace. Our curriculum is based on the British Early Years Foundation Stage (“EYFS”) programme and is underpinned by the UK Government’s Early Learning Goals and Birth to Three Matters but also aims to include best practices from other well-established Early Years methods. Ours is a creative, thematic and play-centred approach as we believe that by unlocking a child’s creative potential, learning is maximised through a sensory, visual, auditory and kinetic experience.
According to the guidance set forth in the EYFS Programme, there are certain ‘stepping stones’ that show the knowledge, skills, understanding and attitudes that children need to learn during the foundation stage in order to achieve certain early learning goals. Our curriculum and programme of activities are based around these ‘stepping stones’ and designed to help maximise a child’s progress to these early learning goals. We aim to achieve a sensible balance between free play and structured learning by offering a wide range of supervised activities designed to develop language skills, promote independence and develop confidence. Further, the curriculum and activities are planned, delivered and evaluated to ensure that the children receive broad-based learning experiences to help them prepare for the transition from nursery to primary school.
The Wonder Years Nursery offers a wide range of After School Activities as part of our enrichment program. The children can take part in various fun and interactive sports activities.
The Wonder Years Nursery now offers Music and Movement classes. All children within our care have the opportunity to attend fun and interactive music and movement classes once a week.
The Wonder Years Nursery now offers specialist language classes as a part of our curriculum. children from the age of 20 months to 4 years will receive Arabic classes once a week.
The Wonder Years Nursery now offers specialist language classes as a part of our curriculum. Children from 20 months to 4 years have the opportunity to attend fun and interactive French classes once a week.
Children are placed in classes according to both age and developmental ability. The age of three is considered developmentally, particularly significant, so our programme is structured accordingly.
For children aged 18 months to 3 years, there is a strong emphasis on learning through interaction with others and exploring the world around them. Learning through play is a fundamental principle and all activities are designed with this in mind. The importance of play and active exploratory learning at this age cannot be emphasised enough. Well-planned play, both indoors and outdoors, is the key to children’s enjoyment and learning. Through play, in a secure environment, with effective adult support, children can:
We divide children into the following age groups:
Babies 6 Months to 12 Months
Toddlers 12 Months to 18 Months
Children 18 Months to 2 Years – Movers, Shakers and Players: At this age, children begin to show an increasing independence and obvious pleasure in moving, communicating and learning through play. Our classrooms for children this age have a maximum of 12 children with 1 teacher and 2 assistants per class. Our classrooms are specially designed and equipped to offer the ideal, welcoming ‘home to nursery’ transition and cater specifically to children’s developmental needs according to their age, in terms of decoration, resources, toys and educational materials, furniture and furnishings, etc. Our programme is based on the UK Birth to 3 Matters for Early Years and includes activities such as arts and crafts, heuristic play, music and movement, exploratory areas, messy play, sensory development and plenty of opportunity for free play both indoors and outside.
Children 2 to 3 Years – Walkers, Talkers and Pretenders: At this age children display a greater competence at moving, talking and pretending. They also show increased confidence in themselves and their skills in developing relationships. Our classrooms for children of this age will have 12- 15 children every day, with 1 teacher and 1-2 assistants, as required. The rooms are divided into different areas. One area will include all their messy activities: arts and crafts, sand and water play, play dough and other sensory exploration activities. The other areas typically include a role–play area, construction area, book corner or quiet corner. By setting the rooms up in this way our aim is for the children’s development to take place without too many overly formal activities. The children here are able to explore and learn throughout their day at their own pace and without too much pressure. They will be given access to a section of garden area attached to the classroom which provides an outdoor extension to their indoor activities.
Children 3 to 4 Years – Experimenters, Players and Questioners: At this age, children deepen their understanding by playing, talking, observing, planning, questioning, experimenting, testing, repeating, reflecting and responding to adults and to each other. In our pre-school rooms we cater for up to 15 children aged between 3 and 4+. The rooms are divided into specific areas of learning and play, and many of the activities are geared towards the children’s ongoing needs once they go onto school, in particular the requirements of the British EYFS, which benchmarks our nursery programme. Children are given access into the garden which provides them with an outdoor extension to their indoor activities. At this age there is a degree of free flow to the day’s structure, where children are encouraged to select the activities in which they want to participate, overseen by key members of staff.
For children above the age of 3 years, we work within the guidelines of the British Foundation Stage curriculum. The curriculum is delivered through planned activities and enriched learning opportunities which cover the 6 main areas of learning as follows:
None of these areas of learning and development can be delivered in isolation from the others – they are all equally important and inter-dependent. The EYFS is an integral part of the care and learning framework of our nursery, supported by our belief in finding best practices wherever they are and building them into our curriculum and activities.