The Garden at Kingswood

...confidence to explore, play and discover.

LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS IN THE GARDEN

In September there were some changes in The Garden. Our Pre-School children moved into their new classrooms in High Vinnalls allowing us to move our youngest children in the Nursery into two separate rooms. The Hedgehogs room is now for babies aged 9 months to 18 months and the Squirrels is a space for babies aged 18 months to 27 months.

The physical environment that children spend time in can have an enormous impact on their emotional wellbeing. Our rooms in The Garden are spacious, welcoming and warm, with windows that allow children to see out into the garden area and to the trees and countryside beyond. Natural light, high ceilings and wood in the rooms add to the sense of calm.

Nurturing a child’s emotional relationships is very much at the heart of what we do in The Garden. By Hedgehogs only having our younger Babies, we can ensure that their emotional, physical and developmental needs are met more easily.

Developing secure, empathic and nurturing relationships with their key person is essential. We know, as practitioners, that nurturing emotional relationships are the foundations of the majority of a child’s intellectual development, including creative and abstract thinking skills. Once those supportive, warm relationships are in place, the babies have the confidence to explore, play and discover.

Dividing the rooms has enabled staff to respond readily to the developmental needs of the children. They can also challenge the children and enhance their learning experiences in an age-appropriate way.

In Hedgehogs, the babies love to engage in sensory play, activities that stimulate children’s senses such as sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. Exploring sensory materials develops their sense of touch. This, in turn, lays the foundation for learning other skills, such as recognising objects by touch and using fine and gross motor skills. These skills can be developed and refined through scooping, moulding, splashing and shaping objects.

All children benefit from sensory experiences....

All children benefit from sensory experiences, with our young babies enjoying messy play in trays or baskets on the floor, whereas our older babies in Squirrels might sit or stand at a table to explore activities.

The Hedgehogs have enjoyed playing outside in their garden by exploring, crawling and climbing. The mud kitchen, the sand pit and small climbing frame are particularly popular. In Squirrels, the older babies have loved some new and challenging experiences that would not have been possible before the baby rooms separated. Forest School is now enjoyed each week, with the children donning their waterproofs and wellies to visit The Secret Garden and yurt. Excursions to the cow field and walks in our beautiful school grounds are also a regular occurrence for the older babies.

Looking back over the last year, it is wonderful to see that the children are benefiting immensely from the changes that have been implemented in The Garden. Both the Hedgehogs’ and Squirrels’ rooms are full of happy, content babies who are confident, nurtured and who are being provided with the foundations that will stand them in good stead as they continue their learning journey into Pre-School and beyond.