Mealtimes
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All food will be freshly cooked at nursery. Menus have been carefully planned to meet the nutritional requirements of children and guidance from the Children's Food Trust has guided menu planning. Menus will be published in due course.
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Mealtimes are an important time of day for children. Within the baby room the mealtime routine will be dictated by the individual needs of the babies themselves. Some babies may be fed in highchairs whilst others may sit at a table to eat. Some babies may still be bottle fed or feeding mothers may choose to come in to nursery to breast feed.
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Within the toddler room children will eat in their key groups with their key practitioners, the same applies with children in preschool.
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Preschool children will be expected to serve themselves from choices made available on their tables. Staff will support children to make healthy choices, e.g., to choose a balanced meal consisting of carbohydrates, protein and vegetables. Children in the preschool will eat from china plates and drink from glasses at all mealtimes, unless a risk assessments informs us otherwise. Toddlers and babies will use plastic plates and beakers.
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Ofsted registered full day care nursery
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Observation, Assessment and Planning
Practitioners plan weekly for adult-led activities. Their planning is informed by the observations and assessments they make on their key children and the input they receive from parents to ensure that children's needs and interests are met. This planning strategy is referred to as the 'observation, assessment and planning cycle' (OAP) which forms the basis of all planning carried out by early years practitioners who work in settings which claim funding for children. A 'Curriculum Map' has been written for the preschool children which can be viewed below. This map provides a rough guide as to activities and themes which are used to inform planning. The map is by no means set in stone, it's simply a guide to support planning.
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Practitioners may also carry out 'in the moment planning' to capture an interest. This type of planning is spontaneous and it allows practitioners and children to develop ideas, situations and scenarios that arise during play in order to sustain thought and to deepen knowledge, understanding and skills.
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Parents have the opportunity to add their own observations to their children's records in order that individual records reflect the rich and diverse setting and home learning opportunities children experience as part of their development. We use a platform called 'Tapestry' to record observations and to monitor progress.
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Planning is posted on planning boards in each room in order that parents may be informed about the daily activities their children will experience.
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The learning environment is also be planned to meet children's needs and interests, e.g., setting up interesting and meaningful interest areas to support learning and development.