Drumfork Nursery is a purpose built nursery in Helensburgh. Within our setting we have three main 'Rooms':
All our rooms have free flow access to outside areas which just like our indoor areas are set up full of awe and wonder.
Many of our staff have Fire and Tools Skills training, which gives them the skills, expertise and confidence to offer children outdoor learning opportunities, such as helping to cook on an open fire, and working with real tools.
Every child is unique, and so is their learning journey! Staff create 'Provocations' daily to suit the needs and interests of each child. ‘Provocations’ unlike ‘Activities’ have numerous opportunities, the outcome is based on the child’s creativity and thinking!
We view children as active agents with the educators there to support, guide and provide opportunities for the children to learn and develop. Educating children through head, hands and heart, by providing an enabling and stimulating environment that encourages our children to explore new exciting things.
Staff care for and respect the nursery environment like we do our own homes and families. We model these behaviours for the children who enjoy copying us and learn so many new skills through doing so. For example, at the end of play, we always clean, dress and put our ‘babies’ to bed. Our practitioners are conscious of consistently being role models to the children in our care, preferring to teach through imitation and example, rather than instruction and direction.
The staff team spend a lot of time researching and setting up invitations to learn and play. Staff take great pleasure from providing truly magical learning opportunities and observing how children lead their play in their own individual ways. We focus on curiosity and discovery, allowing children to learn using all their senses. We plan in the moment, responding to children's interests through conversation which help to shape the projects children and adults engage in together.
We support children in child-led play, allowing them to choose their direction of play to suit their individual interests. We believe imagination is at the heart of learning. Practitioners as educators provide flexibility and freedom to transport, mix up and use schemas, whilst children learn through play. Our practitioners focus on responding to children's interests through conversations, which help to shape the projects they engage in together.
Our educators get to know our children’s interests, strengths and areas of development, and use this information to provide a range of invitations for children to play and learn. We aim to provide children with the opportunity to engage with concepts and foster skills for learning such as reasoning, creativity and problem solving. Children are also offered periods of free play, which provide an invaluable opportunity to focus on their individual needs.
All resources used within our setting are authentic and open-ended. We find these provide children with great excitement and curiosity, resulting in boundless learning and play opportunities for our children. For example, instead of using plastic cups and saucers that are unbreakable, we use porcelain or china. Children learn how to safely use these everyday, real-life objects through play.
