August 2014 Spotlight on Serendipity Nursery & Pre School

SPOTLIGHT ON

DAY NURSERY If your children could choose for themselves where to go, for daycare, what would be important to them?

Would it be to do with the level of training that their carers may have so as all daily routines and even emergencies could be dealt with not only efficiency but with care and love?

Would it be to do with individual attention and

lots of interactive play from their carers?

When we place our precious bundles into the arms of another person, often its with fear that no one else can do the job of caring for them with the same level of love and attention‌‌well worry

no more because Serendipitys Day Nurseries are the next best thing.

Started in 1998 the nurseries provide a solution to care that Kelly & Matt, the owners, discovered as a problem when their own children needed day care.

They wanted a high quality nursery at affordable prices.

Surely that couldn’t be that tall an order? Unable to find something for their own children, they started their own and have grown it to 4 nurseries across Balderton, Appleton Gate Newark, Bingham & Cotgrave.

Their aim from beginning to this present day has always been to provide premium childcare at affordable prices.

Their ethos and passion to put children first and ensure every child is given all the help necessary to reach their full potential has created a positive environment where children thrive.

Children are happy and stimulated through different learning opportunities on a daily basis.

The difference of the family run nurseries, is the attention to detail and the high level of care offered. The nurseries do lots of work within the community and also partnership work with parents. Each nursery can set goals with parents to ensure they all work towards the same targets. Every 6 months, parent questionnaires are sent out for feedback from parents to see how improvement can be made.

Committed to investing in their own staff, all staff attend the Serendipitys Training Programme and are required to do a minimum of 3 courses a year, to improve practice, everyone is able to attend training, Serendipity staff are highly qualified, ranging from the early years professionals, to some with qualified teacher status, this level of knowledge shows in the quality of care, and this is reflected by the low

level of staff turnover – in an industry where staff turnover is usually high. Staff follow a behaviour policy based on praising the good and ignoring the bad, this is also passed onto the parents so as all adults work together One of the staff is an ex Ofsted inspector, who works across the 4 nurseries & oversees the education provision to ensure education within the nursery environment is of the highest standard.

There is also a specialist childcare coordinator who works with them, with a high level of knowledge so the level of care is there every single day.

Feedback amongst staff across the nurseries is high so games and ideas are quickly shared between nurseries, and there are also systems for feeding back the information from training.

The day is a mix of child & adult led activities, with lots of outdoor as well as indoor experiences. Child led activities means staff have to be creative to work in the way that the children lead, so as a

game of dinosaurs may quickly develop into an educational and fun opportunity to go outside or make dinosaur sandwiches or do dinosaur puzzles, all led by the children to make it a fun learning opportunity. Games flow inside and outside as the children do what they want to do.

Examples of the morning routines are a “Wake & Shake” every morning often held in public places to encourage the community to join in. Then there’s the “Doughs Disco” - using dough to physically roll it, shape it, in time to the music.

Boys seem to like this far better than the Wake & Shake & it helps to develop muscle coordination and to learn to express themselves to the beat of music.

There is a commitment to teaching and familiarising the

children with the basics of life skills, from older children buttering their own toast at breakfast, to placing an ironing board in the nursery so the children see everyday items of furniture during the day as well as at home. Emphasis is placed on helping children to become school ready and to encouraging independence. Pre school children can start to help out with younger children at lunchtime.

Even at this age the importance of promoting healthy eating, fitness and exercise is apparent. A football coach comes in once a week in each nursery, to promote exercise! And on top of that there are even free French lessons!

The Nurseries are also very

keen on hosting local community fun days with other organisations to bring together all manner of things for the children to access. Beavers, Brownies etc so as the children can look forward to getting involved in other community clubs as they progress. Children go to visit the local Care home, to sing carols at Christmas and occasionally through out the year, other events are l Inter nursery family football day l Grandparents day l Dads day l Mothers day - Encourage dads to come in to make gifts with the children for mothers day l Free Family Fun Day – held every year for all the nursery parents and their children. l Charity fundraisers l Bingham nursery holds anti natal classes in the evening.

Maybe the best recommendations of all should come from parents themselves: Parent’s questionnaire 2014 ‘Your staff are a huge credit to you. I couldn’t be happier to drop my son off to such a wonderful place’ ‘I feel Serendipitys gave my son a great start in his Pre-School days which meant he was well prepared when he started school.

Thank you. We will always recommend this nursery to others’ ‘Me and my wife are very happy and grateful for all your support, help and hard work. We haven’t had any bad feelings having been with you nearly 2 years and I’m sure I can recommend you as a company and as a lovely team who support parents.’ ‘Oscar loves coming and is very happy at nursery. I have never felt so happy and reassured about leaving him as I have leaving him with the staff at Serendipitys.’ ‘I would recommend Serendipitys to friends (and have done).

It’s a great place where I know Lila is safe, happy and learning.’

Parent’s questionnaire 2013 ‘Overall a truly wonderful establishment in which children can learn and flourish safely and securely but fun.’ ‘Serendipitys is a fab nursery and I implicitly trust the staff. I have no worries or issues all thanks to the brilliant staff.’ ‘We wouldn’t have stayed with Serendipitys 6+ years if we weren’t happy’

So if you or anyone you know are looking for a nursery that is passionate about offering the highest standards of care and attention at an affordable price, please contact Anna, nursery manager at Newark, on 01636 613829.

Or you can pop along anytime!