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Old Basing Village Nursery School
Owlets, Little Owls and Fledglings
Old Basing Village Nursery School offers early years care and education for children aged 1-4 on a term-time basis across 39 weeks. EYE Government funding is offered across 38 weeks of the year according to the standard offer.
Owlets
Transition from Nestlings to Owlets & Little Owls takes the form of regular stay-and-play sessions within the Little Owls Room (for new starters and Nestlings) as well as the opportunity to join the older children for story time before lunchtime.
We group our Owlets and Little Owls together in their play and exploration space in the main hall so that as they grow more curious and aware of their environment our staff are able to lead and guide them in a more developmentally appropriate way for their needs. Children can begin their nursery journey directly at the village hall (space permitting) during the half-term, before their second birthday.
Little Owls
At times our Little Owls are grouped independently of the Owlets in order to explore different areas of learning or to undertake a new experience. As the academic year passes, our Little Owls naturally engage in more whole group sessions such as story time and mindfulness and move from playing alongside others to playing together.
For all of children transition from Owlets to Little Owls and Little Owls to Fledglings takes place in September in alignment with the academic year.
Our Owlets & Little Owls Room has the following areas:
1
Creative
2
Cosy Corner
3
Snack Corner
4
Small World & Awe and Wonder
5
Role Play and Imaginative
6
Malleable and Sensory
7
Physical
Discovery, creativity, and hands-on exploration
The rooms and garden have been designed to evolve easily in order to meet the emerging needs of all of the children in this phase.
It is during their time as Owlets and Little Owls that littles ones grow increasingly confident with the expectations placed upon them and explore the environment with confidence and ease. The familiar set up each morning offers reassurance to the children who can find their favourite resources quickly. Storage is open and shelving is carefully prepped so that equipment is visible. Open, portable baskets and zoning help children to navigate their environment and initiate play.
We encourage children to actively transport items between areas when immersed in play and return items to where they belong when they have finished playing with them - therefore instilling pride in their environment as well as a sense of ownership and responsibility.
Shelving is carefully positioned to prevent children from walking through construction areas; this means that children can build freely and organise resources without fear of them being knocked over.
At snack time and during art activities, our practitioners spend time modelling and supporting little ones to pour out and measure quantities and to clean up after themselves when there is a spillage-this isn't always effective but it offers yet another learning opportunity within the nursery school day!
Fledglings
Our Fledglings are our pre-schoolers. Children become Fledglings for their final year of nursery school. Our Fledglings group is our largest grouping and we absolutely love seeing Fledglings on their journey to 'school readiness' during their final few terms with us.
For Fledglings, the nursery school routine is simple - allowing them as much independence in their learning as possible.. Each day children come in and hand up their coats and bags before swapping wellington boots for slippers, popping their water bottle on the trolley and washing their hands. It is then the opportunity for free-play as children explore their dedicated space. Fledglings access the early years foundation stage curriculum through predominantly child-initiated play and move freely between zones.
Engagement is key and our practitioners spend time watching children play before interacting - considering how learning could be broadened or enhanced and what opportunities there might be expand imaginative play in order to support children in their development of mathematics, literacy or knowledge and understanding of the world for example. If noise levels rise or children begin to run around, our team take a step back and question what tweaks need to be made to the environment in order to improve interest levels.
As in our younger age groups, we take snapshots of learning within our Fledglings group. These snapshots enable us to work much closely with individual children (alongside the wider group), to home in on their individual interests and learning and development goals and to fully support children on moving their learning forwards 'in the moment'. It is often as part of a snapshot that you will see our children transforming the home corner into something new like a florist or a doctors surgery, tuff trays morph into different learning provocations in order for our team to encourage and introduce new vocabulary or provide children with the opportunity to refine or develop a skill or to reinforce learning in a new context.
Whenever possible, Fledglings choose to play outside in the nursery garden or playground area. Our wonderful natural garden mimics the indoor learning zones and also offers children the opportunity to make mud pies, snuggle up in the shade with a book or to climb trees and build. Our den building area extends beyond the garden and our team use this woodland space to construct shelters for themselves.
Fledglings enjoy a range of enrichment opportunities throughout their week and we ensure that free-flow, child-initiated learning is high on the agenda,
