An insight into nursery life over this month (August 2021)

As August comes to a close I thought I would share an insight into my working week as a nursery manager.  It has been a wonderful summer full of activities for our Rangers holiday club, it is always so lovely to see the children having so many wonderful adventures from building fires and cooking their lunch in the woods to kayaking on the pond and sports or baking activities.  Last week I enjoyed going with the Rangers to a local dairy farm who make Bassingthorpe Milk.  The children were given an informative and hands on tour around the farm and I think stroking the calves and finishing with a bottle of milkshake each were the highlights!

With mixed emotions we are saying goodbye to our Kindergarten children, as they have their last day with us and embark next week at ‘big’ school.  We are so proud of every child’s journey they have gone on and we know they are all resilient and confident children ready for this next step, we will miss them all though!

August has been a really busy month for a couple of other reasons, the changing Covid-19 guidance for settings has seen bubbles now pop and from September we are looking forward to our new ‘norm’.  We have had lots of deliberations over what we would like this to look like, with handovers at the start and end of the day with parents bringing the most debate.  We have ended up deciding to continue to do drop offs from the carpark as not having parents in the building has helped children settle so much quicker, than pre-pandemic when they came into the rooms.  In the afternoons we will be inviting parents into the building and collecting their child from the door to their child’s room as again not to disrupt children’s play and cause upset if parents in the room aren’t their parent.  We decided putting the children’s wellbeing first was priority and feel this is the best balance.  Parents will have opportunities to have a look around the rooms and garden at transitions, after each focus week feedback meeting and at parent partnbership events.

The final main area of my work this summer has been getting ready for the new Early Years Foundation Stage which is coming into practice from September.  My first thoughts in the summer term was a feeling of being overwhelmed by all the change this will bring and at the end of a challenging year balancing nursery with a pandemic, it all felt like one thing too much.  However, now we are nearing the end of August I am feeling excited about the new EYFS and everything it will bring.  I have worked closely with Zoe (Deputy Manager) and Totty (our Early Years Teacher) to reflect on all practices across the nursery.  We began by having a having a team meal in the garden one evening over the summer and brainstormed together what we aspire our children to learn in each room and how we support achieving these aspirations.  We have then created a clear curriculum poster and have delivered training to the whole team, creating a united approach and clear action plans.  More detail will be explained in September’s blog!

Kate Robinson (Nursery Manager)