OFSTED

Ofsted awarded Woodlands Nursery-  Outstanding in December 2018

 

Click here to read the report- OFSTED Report 2018 

 

"Teaching is outstanding. Qualified staff have expert knowledge of children's individual needs. They provide them with superb opportunities to develop their skills and interests. Children learn through play and are extremely eager to interact with staff and peers"

 

"Staff keep meticulous risk assessments of the premises, garden and outings to keep children safe. They inspirationally support children in developing safety awareness."

 

 "Staff challenge children's skills. For example, they engage them in a highly entertaining 'Christmas hunt'. Children learn exceptional skills as they work together to follow clues in order to find presents hidden in the garden. Staff are highly confident in promoting children's language. They provide impeccable support for those learning English."

 

 

"Staff create a loving environment for children. The key-person system is highly effective, and staff build impressive partnerships with parents. Children are happy and extremely comfortable at the nursery. They form strong bonds with staff and peers. Parents highly praise staff's dedication towards children, who show excellent social skills and flourish." 

 

 

                      Our Curriculum

Our Woodlands Animals

 

These are our woodlands animals, when our children leave nursery to go to school these

are the skills we would like them to achieve:

 

Communicative Owl - 'We are confident talkers with a wide vocabulary and have a love of books'

Curious Fox - 'We play and explore new experiences and show interests in the world around us'

Independent Badger - 'We can things by ourselves and look after our bodies'

Resilient Hedgehog - 'We are problem solvers and keep trying!'

Friendly Squirrel - 'We make meaningful relationships with the adults and children. We can understand and regulate our emotions'

OPAL

Find out about our, Observation of Play And Learning (OPAL) assessment tool!

Opal; A precious stone whose colour changes depending on you view point. A gem that comes in many shimmering colours!

OPAL puts the child at the centre and more emphasis on the practical side of staff being present in supporting children's learning. OPAL ensures that our time is mainly spent with the children, getting to know them, creating bonds, playing and interacting.

We also know the value, importance and benefits of parent partnerships. We understand that as parents you know your child best. The OPAL system ensures that parents are part of the process throughout, working in close collaboration with staff about your child’s learning.

So how OPAL works;
Milestones – what the children are assessed against
Opal works on the basis of having very simple, six-monthly child developmental milestones, which we use to monitor children’s development. These milestones reflect what we believe a ‘typical’ child, should be able to achieve, alongside OPAL we use the EYFS and each child has a WELLCOMM speech and language assessment.


Spotlights – assessment document
The observations and assessments that we make are called ‘spotlights’. We observe children’s innovation, their creativity, their ideas, their intents and feelings. The insight that we gain enables us to discuss, reflect and plan our environment to support and shape future learning. 
The ‘spotlights’ are spread out, making it fairer for the child, as they are being assessed against the age-related milestones, not a best fit judgement in a wide age-band. We want to shift the focus to the child, not the assessment. The assessment is a quick look at whether a child is meeting their age related milestones and if not, having discussions, thinking about why and planning what to do. When children are meeting milestones, we can think about their individual development holistically, thinking about what we can do to inspire and challenge them further.


Involving parents
When it is time for your child to have their spotlight you will receive a message via Blossom (App system) from your child’s key worker. This message will invite you to participate in your child’s spotlight, gaining your point of view. As we know all parents have different commitments, free time, schedules so we give you 3 different options to choose which is best for you; a ‘parent’s evening’ style meeting, where you can meet in person, have a chat to the key worker and discuss your child’s development, you can schedule a phone conversation, or you can write your response via private message on Blossom.


Review
We review a ‘spotlight’ two months later as the final part of the cycle. At this time, we reflect on the child’s progress so far and what we have achieved. Have the learning opportunities and experiences planned taken place? Have they had a positive impact? This again gives us the opportunity to think, to review, to tell the child’s story.


In summary what to expect;

  • A Starting Point or 2 Year Assessment with a WELLCOMM assessment a few weeks after your child starts.
  •  2 Spotlight and WELLCOMM assessments a year – Parent Comment
  • To be updated when the spotlights have been reviewed
Our Curriculum
Please click the PDF to view our curriculum
Our Curriculum.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [100.2 KB]
Woodlands Opal Milestones
Please click the link to view the milestones we use to support our children's learning and their next steps
Woodlands Opal Milestones.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [5.7 MB]
The EYFS
This is a parent guide to the EYFS, we follow this alongside the OPAL milestones
The EYFS parent guide.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [6.0 MB]
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