In our Rainbow Unit we have a lovely group of children between the ages of 6 months to 2 years. Our ratio in this unit is 1:3 and 1:4 dependant on age. We have 2 room leaders who manage the day to day running of this unit. All practitioners works together and will know all of the children and their individual needs. We have a key person system in place where all children are allocated a keyperson, who will build a relationship with the family and support them through the transition time into the setting. The key person role is fundamental to the wellbeing of the child and support for the family and is an integral part of nursery life.

Our opening hours are 8am to 6pm, we ask that children are in Nursery for the core part of the day between 10am and 4pm. Between 8am and 10am and 4pm and 6pm, we have communal times, where the children spend time together, mixing with other age groups. For siblings in the nursery, they can choose to spend as much time together as they wish.

We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage which sets out the guidelines for how we work as a childcare provider. The EYFS sets out how we work together to support each child’s learning and development. In terms of learning and development, there are 7 areas that we work within, these are split into Prime Areas for the under 3’s and Specific Areas (along with the Prime areas) for the over 3’s.

Our ethos is very much built around the emotional wellbeing of the child, developing this will develop the child holistically. Our environment is set up in such a way as to enable this, following the child’s interests, building on their self esteem and scaffolding on their learning. The curriculum we work with is based on ‘Planning in the moment’. Throughout the environment, all of the different areas are defined, planned and allow for open ended play which enables the child to use their interests to develop their learning. Our practitioners' role is to enable the child, develop their interests and incorporate learning into this.

Within the Rainbow Unit, we ask you to supply formula milk for your child, and we will provide cows milk, oat milk and soya milk as well as nappies. If your baby has a special toy or comfort item that they like to sleep with or to initially reassure them while separated from their parents, we encourage this to build the link between home and nursery. We have a daily structure but are more than happy to adapt this, to meet the needs of your child’s individual routine. We regard all the routine parts of the day with as much importance as the activities the children take part in. Routines are a lovely time for 1:1 interaction i.e. nappy changing times, chatting over meal times and even washing your hands are an important part of the child’s emotional development as well as building on their vocabulary.