Hi, My name is Miss Dickinson and I am the Deputy Head of Early Years at Crook Primary School and Nursery. Unfortunately, during these difficult times, we are unable to have anyone in to look around our Nursery as the safety of our staff and children is paramount, therefore, we have created a virtual tour of some of our rooms in Nursery for you to see with more information of what we offer. We are an educational nursery so we do have more of a formal structured approach to learning. However, we also know the importance of play for children’s learning so we have to ensure we get the balance just right! We believe it is vital for children in their early years to be provided with exciting, enriching, engaging, high quality experiences which they can talk, play and learn within.

What we offer

We offer 15 hours free childcare for children in the term in which they are 3 (Rising 3’s) and for 3 and 4 year olds. The sessions we offer are every morning 08.45am – 11.45am or every afternoon 12.30pm -3.30pm. We also offer 30 hours for children who are eligible and this is daily 9am – 3.00pm.

Key Person

Each child is assigned a key worker and a room where they will have a teaching activity as soon as they come in on a morning/afternoon and plenary/story at the end of every session. This is to help prepare them for school. This is also to allow for key workers to get to know your children best and this is your first port of call for communication if you need to.

Learning Journal and Assessment

Each child has a learning journal where all observations and learning are kept. This document grows throughout their time with us and shows how much your child has progressed and developed since starting with us. We encourage parents to become involved in their child’s learning journal by sharing experiences and observations with us. We assess the children daily by playing alongside or with them, adult directed activities and just by standing back and observing them. We take photographs, write post it notes as well as photocopy and annotate work and all of this provides a picture of where your child currently is as well as helping us to plan next steps of learning. We have parents evening twice a year and a yearly written report which is given in the Summer Term. Currently the parent’s evenings are taken place via telephone conversation and these are just conversations to discuss how they are progressing, what we are working on, social groups etc.   

A typical session in Nursey

Children are welcomed by their key worker at their designated door 

Register, visual timetable of what is happening within the session and a teaching input

Child initiated play in all areas of Nursery (snack time and adult directed input will also take place during this time)

Tidy up time 

Plenary/story time

Key worker hands children back to parents

This is our main Nursery. We set up different experiences weekly for the children to explore. We have opportunities for maths, writing, fine motor, role play, reading, construction, sand and allow children’s imaginations to run free. We also have toilets available in this part of nursery which children can freely visit and snack time also happens here.

This is our wonderful large outside area which is open daily whatever the weather. Children can freely access this anytime throughout the session and discover the amazing space. Outside we have a secret garden, music area, water play, construction, a large sandpit, mud kitchen and small world. We are very lucky to have such a great space which is safe and secure for children to explore.

This is our craft room where children can be creative with our paint, junk modelling, craft materials and water. We also store our waterproofs here so the children can put these on before they venture outdoors.

This is an example of one of our group rooms. This is where the children go first thing after leaving their parents on a morning and do their group routine and learning and it is where they go for plenary/story before home time. We ensure these rooms are bright, inviting and engaging and have some of the children’s photos or work on the wall so they feel comfortable and safe and it is also a talking point for them.

If you have any questions regarding our Nursery or you would like to put your child’s name down please don’t hesitate to contact me via telephone on 01388762400 option 1 or via email nursery@crookprimaryschool.org.uk