Pre-school / Childcare Centre in Croydon, South London

Purley Nursery School and Children’s Centre, London:
Purley Nursery School and Children´s Centre in Croydon in London, has a fine tradition of nursery education spanning fifty years. Purley Nursery School and Children’s Centre offers integrated Education and Care places for 3 and 4 year olds and a range of provision to support families within the Community. We are open 7.45 a.m. – 6.00 p.m. across 49 weeks of the year. We have a highly qualified multi-professional team of Early Years teachers and Early Years Educators. While your child is with us, she/he learns to be an independent, happy and confident person. Staff carefully plan activities across the whole environment that support all six areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). We believe that children learn by ‘doing’ supported by discussion with an interested adult.

We believe that children learn best when involved in play activities inside and outside. Children in our Centre are free to choose to play indoors or outside during most of the day. Staff carefully plan activities across the whole environment that support all 6 areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS): Creative; Physical; Communication, Language and Literacy; Mathematical; Personal, Social and Emotional; Knowledge and Understanding of the World.

Creative Development:
This is a crucial area as it enables children to make connections between one area of learning and another. Children use their senses to explore and make sense of the world around them. Through a range of creative activities, young children 're-create' their experiences, communicate their ideas and feelings to others, and also think and imagine. We provide opportunities for children to respond to music, movement/drama, painting, drawing, collage, model making, imaginative and role play.

A substantial area is devoted to the Creative Workshop where children can develop confidence in following through their own ideas through choosing from a wide selection of materials and resources. This area is available all of the time so that children can develop their ideas alongside learning and practicing skills.

Physical Development:
Young children are naturally very active and by providing a range of wheeled toys (bikes, scooters, haycarts), bats, balls etc and climbing and balancing equipment we encourage them to develop their gross motor skills which enable them to become more confident, agile and co-ordinated.

Fine motor control (fingers and hands) is developed through purposeful activities such as playing with playdough, clay, sand, water, operating the computer, cutting and sticking in creative workshop area, building with lego or completing puzzles. Children need well developed fine motor skills to control a pen/pencil when writing.

Problem Solving, Numeracy and Reasoning:
We believe it is important for children to see a purpose for learning new things and so we introduce and extend mathematical ideas into the full range of nursery activities both indoors or outside in the garden.

A range of resources are always available to children to support key mathematical skills, e.g. counting and number recog­nition; sorting and matching; shape recognition and understanding the properties of 2d and 3d objects. Building with blocks, construction sets or re-cycled materials introduces the children to the properties of shape and the vocabulary for describing 2D and 3D shape.

At story time we sing lots of number songs and rhymes to build up children's skills and knowledge. Cooking provides valuable experiences for counting out spoonfuls of ingredients or measuring amounts using the weighing scales. We use sand timers for turn taking on popular pieces of equipment to give children a sense of time.

Ro!e play e.g. post office, petrol station/garage provides a real-life context for children to use their developing mathematical skills and understanding. Various computer programs serve to reinforce their developing concepts and skills.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development:
We aim to help children to become confident, independent learners who are able to make their own choices and decisions and become increasingly autonomous and responsible. Staff place high priority on helping children to settle into nursery successfully, part from parents/carers happily and begin to form appropriate relationships with all the adults and children in the nursery.

Our school equipment and resources are organised and stored to make them accessible to the children so that they can then select whatever is the most appropriate for their needs. At the end of the session every child is encouraged to help tidy all the equipment away properly (both indoors and in the garden) and through this they develop a sense of responsibility and pride.

We provide a balance of opportunities for children to play alone or in groups, both with or without an adult. As the year progresses, staff ensure that children broaden their range of choices, encourage the development of concentration and perseverance, and help to establish the children's sense of themselves as successful learners.

Knowledge and Understanding of the World:
We plan and provide a range of experiences to support children develop the skills, knowledge and understanding which will help them to make sense of the world around them.

Children are encouraged to explore and investigate their surroundings; handle new materials; experiment; describe; compare; discuss; predict and share their thinking. Outside the children are learning about the needs of living things by planting and growing vegetables; pond dipping; going on mini-beast hunts and observing seasonal changes. We also incubate duck or chicken eggs and observe the metamorphosis of tadpoles to frogs and caterpillars to butterflies.

Our woodwork bench provides an opportunity for children to learn to use tools safely with by designing and making models using wood, nails or glue. Cooking is a regular activity and provides a focus for children to observe changes which take place when ingredients are mixed together, heated or cooled. We use this as an opportunity to reinforce hygiene and safety and raise the children's awareness of healthy foods and eating.

Small groups children are sometimes taken out on visits - maybe the library, Post Office or shops to re-enforce a particular theme or interest. Features along the way are pointed out and photos taken which the children then place in sequence as they recall the journey to make a ‘map’. We take all the children to the farm each year during the Summer Term. Technology such as computers, digital microscope, CD players, cameras, are in regular use and the children soon develop skills in operating them.