Author: Kelly Anne Haubrick

The Daily Mile

The 10^th-16^th of May is Mental Health Awareness Week, as promoted by the Mental Health Foundation (a registered charity). Please see link below

Mental Health Awareness Week 2021

As the focus is on “Nature” and we place a great importance on being outdoors, we wanted to share on our blog, the “Daily Mile” initiative, one that is very important to us at Stornoway Childcare Centre.

“The Daily Mile is a fully-inclusive, free and simple initiative which improves the physical and mental health and wellbeing of children.” – The Daily Mile Foundation (2021).

At the Centre, we have been participating in the “Daily Mile” initiative for several years now where the children go for walks within our local community and they get a Daily Mile sticker for their great efforts. We initially signed up online, through the Daily Mile Foundation (a registered charity). Please see link below

The Daily Mile | UK

The Scottish Government promotes this initiative by encouraging schools, nurseries and families themselves to join in, in order to “help Scotland become the first Daily Mile Nation” – The Scottish Government (2017). Please see link below

Scotland: a Daily Mile Nation – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

There are a great deal of benefits for the children in our early years setting through getting out for these walks. These benefits include: developing physical strength, gross motor skills and coordination; promoting good health and wellbeing; building confidence and self-esteem; encouraging a sense of wonder in the world around them; developing knowledge of the local community; improving outcomes for all children; and encouraging the development of a sense of personal achievement.

Our Little Explorers (0-2 year olds) are beginning to experience walking outdoors (where age appropriate) with the “Daily Toddle”. Our Little Ramblers (2 year olds) and Little Adventurers (2-3 year olds) are achieving their “Daily Mile” target and sometimes surpassing it! This is a huge achievement for these young children to be proud of and hopefully it is something that will develop and grow with them, as they do.

All children and families are able to participate in this initiative and we encourage our parents to take the step and join the challenge too! We will be looking into a Home Link Activity moving forward in order to create a joint vision with children, parents and families.

 

Our “Virtual Nature School” Blog

Some of our staff have been participating in a training course over a recent 6 week period, a Virtual Nature School, run by the Living Classrooms Team and led by Dr. Claire Warden. Here are some snippets of the activities we have developed within our setting as part of our self-reflection from the course. Please keep an eye on this blog for further excerpts from our Virtual Nature School assessments.

Looking Up

“As we were focusing on clouds, we decided to do a sensory activity for the Little Ramblers group (2 year olds). We took the shaving foam outside to represent the clouds that we had spotted as we looked up (when we lay on the mats in our previous activity). We began our activity huddled around the wooden spool in our outdoor suits anticipating the shaving foam spraying from the canister. One child clapped their hands with excitement and the children wasted no time in enveloping their hands in the foam. The adult used descriptive words when talking to the children, repeating them frequently to encourage new language. They then began transporting the foam around the garden. Another child discovered a chalk board and used their hands to make swirly patterns on it with the foam, they repeated this action a few times running back and fore to collect more handfuls of foam. The same child then looked down at their hands and said ‘mess’ then pressed their hand onto the ground and looked up at the adult in delight when they realised their hand made a perfectly formed handprint, they then ran around making handprints on various other surfaces in the garden.”

Looking Down

“For this week’s area of exploration, ‘Looking Down’, the Little Adventurers (2-3 year olds) donned their outdoor suits, coats and wellington boots for a walk. Some found their own clothes independently and others found them with some prompting. The children are developing skills and independence for getting dressed themselves so we give the children varying degrees of support depending on what is required, as well as lots of encouragement. So once everyone was wrapped up and cosy (with bobban hats too!), we set off for a walk in our local community. There were some children asleep snug as a bug inside cosytoes in the double buggies and we had some very helpful children who volunteered to help “push” the prams. It was a day of interesting Scottish weather, with a mix of hailstone showers, rain showers and the sun shining so brightly in between fluffy white clouds and dark grey ominous looking ones. The ground was very wet so the wellies were a good choice! When asking the children to look down and gently prompting with a question, not all the children chose to voice their thoughts but they all looked down to the ground and listened intently, looking while we walked as well as stopping to look down. Some children made vocalisations and there were words such as ‘shadow’, ‘roads’, and ‘puddles’ mentioned by one child. ‘A big puddle!’ was exclaimed at the sight of one, and when asked what could be seen in the puddle?, a child answered ‘stones’. When asked what can you do in a puddle?, a child answered, ’splash in it’… and with only a very little amount of encouragement needed, the children did exactly that. Lots of jumping and splashing and big smiles too. When we returned back to nursery, one of the children very contentedly said, ‘that was a nice walk’.”

Where to find us

The Childcare Centre is attached to Stornoway Primary School and can be accessed from Jamieson Drive. With Covid-19 restrictions in place, access to each nursery room is via the garden.

Who to contact

To contact the Manager: 01851 822887
To contact Early Years office staff: 01851 822655
For general day to day running: contact Nursery Key Workers within your child’s playroom

All nursery key workers are required to register with the Scottish Social Services Council. This regulatory body ensures that staff have appropriate qualifications for their role and continue to update their knowledge and skills. All staff are required to go through an enhanced Disclosure Scotland check or more recently through the ‘Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme’ (PVG)

Manager: 
Fiona Macleod

Play Leader:
Charlotte Rowe

Little Explorers Nursery Key Workers:
Kay Pidcock
Anne Morrison
Dolly Macdonald
Sophie Janet Maclean

Little Ramblers Nursery Key Workers:
Karen Wright
Chrisma Macmillan
Margaret A Macleod
Coleen Macleod

Little Adventurers Nursery Key Workers
Frances Morrison
Kelly Anne Haubrick
Iona Macleod

We operate an open door policy and parents are welcome to call in any time. There may be occasions when we are unable to speak to you immediately. Should this occur, we would encourage you to either wait until we are free or schedule a mutually agreeable time.

We would like to extend a welcome to all. We hope that the children and families who join us will enjoy the time spent here with us and trust that you will find the information on this website interesting and helpful.

The Nursery provides childcare spaces for children from the age of three months to three years and is registered with The Care Inspectorate Scotland, under the Regulation of Care Scotland Act 2002 and meets the National Health and Social Care Standards. The Care Inspectorate inspects the premises on average every 2 years. The Nursery is subject to SCSWIS inspection. The reports are available from the centre or on the following website: http://www.thecareinspectorate.com