- Home
- Phases
- Early Years Foundation Stage
- Nursery
Nursery
What happens in Nursery?
Our Nursery provides a warm, nurturing and stimulating environment where children are encouraged to explore, play and develop their independence. Through a careful balance of child-initiated play and thoughtfully planned experiences, we support each child to grow in confidence, build friendships and develop key skills across all areas of learning.
We know that every child is unique, and we take the time to get to know your child as an individual, their interests, strengths and next steps. Our experienced and caring team, including teachers and Leaders of Learning, work closely together to interact with and support your child throughout the day, ensuring they feel safe, valued and inspired to learn.
Children enjoy rich learning experiences both indoors and outdoors, and we place equal importance on both environments. Our outdoor space is used daily, allowing children to be active, curious and engaged in their learning. We are also very fortunate to have regular access to our Forest School, where children can explore nature, take risks safely and develop confidence, resilience and a love of the outdoors.
Across all areas of Nursery life, we place a strong emphasis on developing children’s independence, communication skills and emotional awareness. We support children to express themselves, manage their feelings and begin to understand others, helping them to become confident, capable and thoughtful learners.
We value strong communication with parents and carers and believe that working together provides the very best start for your child. By building positive partnerships, we ensure that every child is supported to thrive and make the most of their Nursery experience.
Our Early Years environment is carefully designed to be calm, engaging and purposeful, providing children with a safe space where they feel confident to explore, create and take risks in their learning.
The classroom and outdoor areas are arranged into a range of well-resourced learning spaces, including opportunities for construction, role play, creative arts, mark-making, small world play and investigation. These areas are thoughtfully planned to support all areas of the Early Years curriculum while encouraging independence and curiosity.
Children have continuous access to both indoor and outdoor provision, allowing them to move freely between spaces, revisit learning and follow their interests. Adults carefully support and extend learning within the environment, helping children to deepen their understanding and develop new skills.
Our aim is to create an environment that is not only inspiring, but also familiar and predictable, so that children feel secure, settled and ready to learn.
Our Nursery curriculum is designed to develop the whole child, recognising that learning at this stage is broad, interconnected and rooted in each child’s unique development. Guided by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework, we ensure that all areas of learning are carefully planned for in a way that is purposeful, engaging and developmentally appropriate.
We do not follow set schemes. Instead, our curriculum is thoughtfully designed to provide meaningful, transferable learning experiences that prepare children for a wide range of Reception settings. Our focus is on building strong foundations, ensuring that the skills children develop are relevant and adaptable, wherever their learning journey continues.
Learning is delivered through high-quality continuous provision, enhanced to reflect children’s interests and next steps. Alongside this, children take part in short, developmentally appropriate adult-led group sessions, which support the teaching of key skills and knowledge.
Every aspect of our curriculum is carefully considered to ensure it meets the needs of all learners and supports their continued growth and development.
Curriculum and Knowledge Maps
Our Nursery curriculum is underpinned by a carefully planned curriculum map, which outlines the key areas of learning and experiences across the year. This ensures progression, coverage and a clear structure to support all children’s development over time.
Alongside this, we use knowledge maps to highlight the key skills and learning for each half term. These are designed to give parents a clear overview of what children will be learning and how this builds over time.
Trips and visits
We provide a wide range of enriching experiences throughout the year, both within Nursery and beyond. These opportunities help to bring learning to life, spark curiosity and broaden children’s understanding of the world around them.
Examples of experiences include:
- Visits from ‘people who help us’, such as community professionals
- A trip to the local post box to send a letter
- Visits to Barnes allotments to observe seasonal changes
- A train journey to build real-life experiences
- A visit from a farm, allowing children to meet and learn about animals
We also welcome a variety of visitors into Nursery, often inspired by the interests and curiosities of the cohort. We value our strong links with our parent community and love working together to create meaningful and memorable experiences for the children.
Parent volunteering opportunities
We value working closely with our parent community and believe that strong partnerships enrich children’s experiences in Nursery. We offer a range of volunteering opportunities throughout the year, allowing parents and carers to get involved in Nursery life.
These opportunities may include:
- Supporting staff and children on trips
- Helping to sort and organise resources and books in Nursery
- Leading parent cooking sessions
- Visiting as a parent reader to share a love of reading
We warmly welcome parent involvement and appreciate the time and support our families give to enhance the children’s learning and experiences.
Book packs
Our book packs are our approach to home learning, designed to support and enrich children’s learning beyond the Nursery setting. From the second half term, children will begin to take home a book pack, which includes a carefully chosen story, a linked toy or resource, and an information sheet.
The aim of our book packs is to encourage a shared reading experience at home. We promote interactive reading, where children can talk about the story, act it out, retell it and explore the resources provided, rather than simply listening to the text.
These experiences help to develop language, imagination and understanding, while also creating valuable opportunities for quality time together. We believe that these shared moments help to foster a love of reading and support children’s learning in a meaningful and enjoyable way.
Forest School
Our Forest School sessions are a much-loved part of Nursery life, offering children a unique opportunity to explore, take risks and learn in an outdoor environment. Our Forest School area is located at the bottom of our Nursery (still on site), providing a safe and familiar space for children to enjoy outdoor learning.
When do children attend?
Children take part in Forest School every other afternoon. On Tuesdays, children whose families have chosen and paid for this option will attend our cooking sessions instead.
What are the benefits of Forest School?
Forest School provides rich opportunities for children to:
- Build confidence and independence
- Develop physical strength, coordination and resilience
- Improve communication and teamwork skills
- Explore nature and develop a sense of curiosity and wonder
- Engage in open-ended, imaginative play
What does a session look like?
Children walk down to our Forest School area, where we begin by coming together to sing songs and share a short introduction. A main activity is planned, such as:
- Bug hunts
- Whittling wood
- Using hand drills
- Creating nature portraits
- Building fairy houses
Children are always given the choice to take part in the adult-led activity or explore independently. Free play is a big part of Forest School and often includes rich sensory experiences, such as muddy play, digging and exploring natural materials.
Clothing and independence
We provide a full Forest School kit for every child, including:
- Waterproof coats and trousers
- Fleeces
- Wellies and welly socks
Children are supported to dress and undress independently, learning important skills such as putting on coats, pulling sleeves the right way, managing zips and packing their kit away. Over time, they become increasingly confident managing these independently.
Nursery Handbook
The purpose of the Nursery Handbook is to provide parents with clear, essential information to help prepare their child for a confident and successful start in our Nursery. This document contains all the information parents need to know at the beginning of their child’s Nursery journey.
Here you will find information on:
• How best to prepare your child for the transition into our Nursery
• Details about the Nursery Day
• Nursery uniform recommendations
• And much more useful information
Autumn Curriculum Evening
Our Autumn Curriculum Evening provides parents with a detailed overview of what we teach in Nursery, offering a deeper insight into our curriculum and approach to learning. During this session, we explore how children learn through play, provision and adult-led teaching, and how our carefully planned curriculum supports their development across all areas of the EYFS.
We also explain how our curriculum map and knowledge maps are used to ensure clear progression over time, helping parents to understand what their child will learn and why. This gives parents a valuable opportunity to see how learning is structured, how skills are developed and how these foundations prepare children for their next stage.
The evening also supports parents in understanding how they can reinforce learning at home, through simple, practical ways that align with what children are experiencing in Nursery. It is an important opportunity to build strong partnerships between home and school, ensuring every child is fully supported in their learning journey.
LINK SLIDES SAVED HERE: \\BARNESFP01\TeacherShared\02 Phases (EYFS, KS1, LKS2, UKS2)\01 Early Years Foundation Stage\#Nursery\2 Planning overview for the year YN\2 Curriculum Evenings and Parent Workshops\1 Autumn Curriculum Evening
Nursery in Action Videos
Our Nursery in Action videos provide parents with a clear and accessible insight into different areas of our curriculum. These short videos are designed to help families understand what learning looks like in our Nursery and the thinking behind our approach.
Each video explains:
- What we teach in Nursery and why it is important
- How we teach this through our provision and adult-led experiences
- How parents can support their child’s learning at home in simple, practical ways
These videos offer a valuable opportunity for parents to see our curriculum in action, helping to build confidence and strengthen the partnership between home and Nursery. They are uploaded to Tapestry (our online learning journal) in the Spring term, allowing parents to access and revisit them at any time.