Category: Stornoway Childcare Centre

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

Please click on the link to view the suggested PDF files that provide further information with regards to Early Learning and Childcare.

“Play is the highest level of child development. It is the spontaneous expression of thought and feeling -an expression which his inner life requires… it promotes enjoyment, satisfaction, serenity, and constitutes the source of all that can benefit the child… At his stage, play is never trivial; it is serious and deeply significant” (Froebel in Lilley 1976).

Froebelian Approach

Over the last 12 months, we have been developing “Froebelian” approaches across the centre. Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) was a German Educator, an early pioneer of early childhood education and care, and founder of the first “Kindergarten” (now commonly referred to as Nursery Garden). Froebel viewed play and rich, first-hand experiences as being central to children’s learning and development arguing that young children “learn best through self-activity, talk and play” (Tovey, 2017).

Benefits of Play

There are a vast amount of benefits to play and exploration. It is highly documented just how important it is to the growth, development and overall well-being of all children. That is why it is of great importance to us to ensure that we offer the greatest opportunities for children to engage in play.

The Environment

We provide a stimulating environment with a variety of activities and resources available to children to ensure that they are getting the best out of their early learning and childcare experience.

Loose Parts Play

These are materials which have no directions or instructions, allowing children to test out their own ideas, giving them control over their own self-directed activity. Loose parts play inspires curiosity and creativity, providing a wealth of opportunities for children to use their own imaginations.

Block Play

Blocks are another open-ended resource which provide children the freedom to explore.  It is accessible to children of all ages and stages of development. Playing with blocks in the early years enables children to develop skills that support later learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Early Cooking Skills

The process of cooking offers a wealth of learning opportunities for children.  With guided support, they are learning about tools and utensils, weight and measure. Using  the sequencing recipe books supports their early literacy skills. Children are developing their fine motor skills as they work through the stages of the baking process. This experience is also providing children with skills they will use throughout life.

 

Sensory Play

There are many options for sensory play where children can use their senses to explore. We carry through a range of arts and crafts activities such as painting, gluing and drawing, as well as sensory play and exploration with pasta, rice, oats, gloop, playdough, water, sand, etc. With indoor planting of tomatoes and herbs, we use tools as well as our hands, our sense of smell and taste.

 

What to Wear

Learning can be messy… Sometimes children will get paint, glitter, water, mud, etc on their clothes so plenty of spare changes are advisable.

“All the best apparatus is in the garden. The two year old works hard. He and she have so much to learn. It is hard to stop him” (Macmillan, 1923).

Benefits to Outdoor Play

We know being outdoors is beneficial to everyone’s general wellbeing. For children, their capacity to learn and develop is greatly enhanced. Their confidence increases as does their concentration, listening and language skills and attention to tasks. Like Froebel, we believe children should have direct, everyday experiences outdoors, in places they can play, explore and manage risk, make choices and develop their physical skills. Experiencing the natural environment also helps children appreciate its wonders and learn to care for and respect living things.

The Nursery Garden

We are our now settled in our new premises and we are very fortunate to have our own dedicated outdoor space that our playrooms open out directly into. We have a great focus on developing our outdoor space so we have lots of ideas and plans for exciting new projects ahead. At the moment, we enjoy using the tarmac for our wheeled toys, we have a climbing frame, and balance beams and a fantastic decking area for picnics and play. We encourage lots of free flow play with toys and activities that we use inside, taken outside, (and vice versa) e.g. sensory trays, small world toys, and block play. There is a mud kitchen being built for us at the moment and we can’t wait to add lots of other interesting and creative areas and resources. The children can also experience nature first-hand through the growing and caring for our flower pots and filling up our bird feeder.

Daily Toddle and the Daily Mile

Our daily toddle enables our youngest children to actively explore their wider community. It also helps to build their stamina and gives them an early understanding of safety rules. For our older children, we are taking part in the “Daily Mile” initiative where we aim to go for at least a one mile walk every day in our local community. This increases children’s capacity to learn and develop, increases confidence and builds stamina for longer walks and adventures.

Local Community

It is important to us to be involved with, and to participate in events within our local community. Previously, we were doing our snack shopping, visiting local shops, going to have a look around the Lewis Castle and museum, and also taking part in library “Bookbugs” and An Lanntair events. We participate in other local events, for example, the tree planting tribute for the 100th anniversary Iolaire memorial, as well as inter-generational activities at local care homes which recently included a ceilidh we were invited to.  We also take part in partnership activities with the nearby school, such as attending the recent 50th anniversary commemorative walk, and extending invitations to school pupils to perform Scottish music, dancing and singing for St Andrews and Robert Burns day. This has had to change in recent times but we have been visiting local areas outdoors, engaging in virtual activities,  and taking part in Home Link activities in order to remain connected to our families at home.  With the easing of restrictions we are looking forward to once again expanding our connections with the local community.

Adventures

Children also have the opportunity to explore their wider community and natural environment (including exploring the Castle grounds, beaches and natural streams) beyond our set base, increasing their opportunity to explore and manage risk, make choices and develop their physical skills. Wide open spaces encourage and inspire children to use whole body movements as they explore their wider environment. Our adventures foster children’s natural curiosity and often lead to “why” questions which supports their language development. Wherever we go, children are supported to assess, manage and take risks with guided support.

Children’s Interests

As in all areas of our planning, we take the children’s voice into account and follow children’s interests as much as possible. This is especially applicable for outdoor experiences and can change and develop from day to day/week to week. For example, experiences may include playing football down at the Bayhead pitch one week and the following week, we could be watching the construction works take place at the new marina or collecting stones from the beach.

What to Wear

We aim to be outdoors as much as possible, in all weathers, where it is safe and appropriate to do so. The nursery provides outdoor suits with a partially fleeced lining for children’s use, as well as high visibility vests which are used on outings along with reigns for your child’s safety. It is asked that parents provide a suitable outdoor jacket/coat and a warm inner layer (i.e. jumper, cardigan, fleece, etc) which can be used interchangeably dependent on weather. It is also asked that parents provide winter hats and suitable outdoor footwear, i.e. pair of wellington boots or waterproof boots. These items of clothing will ensure your child is able to comfortably enjoy the vast benefits of outdoor play and to explore the elements that come with different weathers. On the Summer days that we are lucky enough to enjoy some sunshine, we ask that suitable clothing, sunhats and sun cream are provided also.

Please click on the link to view the suggested websites that provide further information with regards to Early Learning and Childcare.