Sunbeams ~ 2 Year Nursery and 3 Year Nursery

Welcome to Treetops and Sunbeams Nurseries

We are very proud of our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Unit and the children who learn in it. 

Our aims are to:

• support children to make a planned, confident transition from home to school
• provide a happy, caring, safe and secure environment for learning
• plan learning experiences that meet the individual needs and interests of the children through a balanced provision of adult-led and child-initiated opportunities
• support children to become competent and confident learners so they are able to reach their full potential
• provide a broad and balanced high quality curriculum in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage guidance
• foster positive home school links with parents and other care providers.

We offer an ambitious and exciting curriculum ensuring high standards of early education and care. It underpins all future learning by supporting and fostering the children’s personal, social and emotional well-being. It encourages positive attitudes and dispositions towards learning and promotes learning through play as children work towards the Early Learning Goals. 

Assessment

Assessment plays an important part in helping to recognise progress, understand children's needs and enables us to plan activities and provide support. In Nursery and Reception most of our assessment is ongoing. Practitioners observe, assess, plan and move children's learning on 'In The Moment'. In addition, The Reception Baseline Assessment is completed in the 1st 6 weeks in which a child starts reception. In the final term, the Early Years Profile is completed. Each child's development is assessed against the Early Learning Goals.

What makes us special? 

The children made this short film to show you why they think Sunbeams is the best place to learn.

We are authors...

In Sunbeams, we want all our children to become confident and capable communicators.  Language allows us to communicate our feelings, thoughts and experiences.  We strive to enable our children to interact, discuss and communicate effectively.  We are passionate about, books, stories and reading!  All children in the EYFS at are encouraged to enjoy and share books with each other, individually and with adults.  We learn to tell stories and poems by heart.  Children are encouraged to imagine their own stories, with small world toys and puppets and adults scribe these stories, ready for them to be acted out in the 'Story Square'.  Children take part in Write Dance, Dough Disco & Finger Gym, to build strong hands and fingers for writing.  Alongside adult led writing sessions and daily phonics, we offer a wealth of real life opportunities for writing, indoors and out, so children quickly begin to see themselves as authors. 

We are athletes...

In Sunbeams, we work together to develop children who are healthy, happy and confident individuals. We develop our children’s physical health, emotional health and well-being, through a cross-curricular approach by integrating it into our day-to-day practice. We provide a safe, open environment so children feel secure enough to express themselves, their feelings, concerns and achievements. This encourages reflective  and resilient learners who are able to adapt and respond to challenges. In free-flow time, children have constant access to the outdoor environment and equipment. This gives children the time, opportunities and space to practise the skills set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework. Children are encouraged to take risks, be active and make healthy choices. Staff support children to develop their fine and gross motor control and co-ordination and demonstrate how to handle equipment and tools effectively in positive, relevant ways. The children have opportunities to ride bikes, climb, balance, move to music and develop basic ball skills daily.  We also make full use of our fantastic school field and our vast outdoor spaces. The snack bar is available for the children to enjoy a free healthy snack with milk - we even grow some of our own snacks! We love our daily mindfulness time (Relax Kids) and taking part in training sessions with specialist sport coaches, but our favourite activity, by far, is learning to swim in our very own pool!

We are mathematicians...

Maths is essential for everyday life. In Sunbeams, we are passionate about our children having a sound foundation in the fundamentals of mathematics and aim to foster a sense of pleasure and curiosity about maths through developing problem solving and reasoning skills. Our mastery approach means that children “understand” maths, rather than just rely on rote learning.

Through a combination of adult-led activities, concrete apparatus (things children can touch, hold and manipulate), visual apparatus (things they can see), and rich and varied opportunities in the environment, our children gain confidence as independent learners, learn to solve problems and deepen their learning.

We are artists...

Art is a highly valued subject in our school. We believe that all children are creative and that it is important to allow our young artists to express themselves. We provide opportunities to explore and experiment with a variety of different experiences and mediums and encourage children to independently choose their own tools and techniques.

The exploration and enjoyment of music is an important part of the teaching and learning in Sunbeams and singing is an essential part of our daily routine. Our young musicians have the opportunity to explore music-making and perform in our enabling environment. We enjoy composing and performing alongside visiting musicians, including Bath Philharmonia and Jamma De Samba and the highlight of our year is appearing in the Advent Concert at Bath Abbey.  

We are Scientists...

In Sunbeams, our young scientists have the opportunity to explore and Investigate the world around them.  The heart of our child-centred curriculum is children’s natural curiosity and desire to learn and the hands-on experiences our children have are purposeful and relevant. Wherever possible, we make use of the outside environment. Children help to tend to the garden and learn more about the plants and animals that live there. They love taking care of our resident Tortoise, Topsy and our friendly Guinea Pigs, Olga and Teddy .

We are engineers...

We value design and technology as an opportunity to inspire creativity and a chance for children to learn new skills from an early age. Using this creativity and imagination, children design and make products and solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts. Every child is trained to use tools to practise the skills of cutting, sawing, and  joining.  During our continuous provision there are varied opportunities for children to apply their knowledge and skills and our engineers can be found making a space ship from loose parts and blocks as well as using wet sand to create a cave for a lonely beast.

In the ever-developing technological world it is fair to say that computers are now an integral part of everyday life. Children have access to technology that helps engage and motivate them and our set of i-pads are very well used. Children learn to use technology effectively and safely, both online and off. 

Please check Class Dojo for other lovely examples of our learning, diary dates and exciting events as well as home-learning activities. Don't forget that you can post videos and photos of your child on their individual profiles - We love to see the fantastic learning that you are doing together at home.

Please let us know if you have any suggestions for this page and feel free to contact us for more information.