WE ARE NOW OPEN 30 HOURS PER WEEK, MONDAY TO FRIDAY, 9AM TO 3PM FOR CHILDREN AGED 3 YEARS PLUS
WE ACCEPT CHILDCARE VOUCHERS
Sunbeams Nursery is a purpose built nursery in our Early Years area at Rockland Primary school. We have a fully qualified Nursery Lead who works alongside our Early Years Lead to provide an exceptional early years experience for our children.
Sunbeams Nursery is a very special place. Children are very happy here, make fantastic progress from their individual starting points and are the centre of everything we do!
We are a small team of very dedicated professionals who want to provide the highest quality of holistic education for each unique child within our setting. In Early Years, we use the Curiosity Approach as an informed approach to inspire awe and wonder about learning, and motivate children to explore and discover the world around them which will in turn provide those imperative foundational skills to build future learning upon.
Our use of the Curiosity Approach is theory based practice, incorporating teachings by theorists such as Maria Montessori, Steiner and Te Whakira. The children are given many opportunities to engage in purposeful, authentic experiences through play - to explore, create and imagine, and make links across their learning to ultimately make fantastic progress, be confident in themselves and engage with a well rounded curriculum of opportunity, discovery, awe and wonder!
We use authentic resources to use the learning environment as ‘the third teacher’ to give children the opportunity to use authentic learning resources within their play. We believe the use of the Curiosity Approach allows children to become masters of their own learning - learning through authenticity and thinking deeply. The environment is calm and neutral, and filled with wondrous artefacts and resources from the world. What is particularly special, and our unique selling point, is that this approach is continued through the whole of our EYFS and into Year 1 - demonstrating our strong understanding that by respecting high quality, holistic, immersive early childhood learning experiences, we will better the outcomes for each child, as an individual in our society. Further into Year 2 to Year 6, we continue to inspire awe and wonder through purposeful learning, and engaging with a varied and rich menu of personal development opportunities.
Some examples of the types of resources we use are;
-Ceramic tea cups and tea pots to give opportunity to learn and handle the ceramic material, learn about weight, learn about the cause and effect sequence if something is something, and of course how to handle these resources with respect and care.
-Thought provoking Curiosity Cubes with artefacts to handle to help answer a question- often derived from a child’s interest
- ‘Loose part’ resources such as recycled tubes and blocks, large crates and pipes for outdoor creative construction and many open ended opportunities for children to develop their creativity and imaginative skills within their play.
- Dressing in real adult clothes/ shoes. In a world where children are often told to not touch, and do not have items within their reach, this approach gives children those all important experiences of life. They can dress in real adult clothes, multicultural dresses, clippy, cloppy shoes, work books etc… to help them experience and learn about the world around them.
- Exploring a variety of wondrous books to develop a child’s interest in something and help move their learning forwards- instilling a sense of excitement and pleasure in reading to find out about the world around them.
Bookable sessions are:
Monday: 09:00 - 12:00 and 12:00 - 15:00
Tuesday: 09:00 - 12:00 and 12:00 - 15:00
Wednesday: 09:00 - 12:00 and 12:00 - 15:00
Thursday: 09:00 - 12:00 and 12:00 - 15:00
Friday: 09:00 - 12:00 and 12:00 - 15:00
Children are eligible for funding for 5 sessions (a morning or an afternoon) and are likely to be eligible for the full week. However, if you do need to pay for a session they are £6 per hour. If children are staying for the afternoon sessions they will need to bring a packed lunch.
Children that attend our nursery are offered a guaranteed place at either Rockland St Mary or Surlingham Primary School.
Visits are very welcome! Please contact the office if you would like a tour of the nursery with the Head Teacher.
