Secret Garden Pre-School & Nursery
What we offer & about us
History
Secret Garden has been an established day nursery in Congresbury for over 30 years. In this time I am proud to be the third owner. When I was carrying out my training in early years this was the first place I carried out work experience so has always been significant to me.
Our premises is a converted barn still holding many strong characteristics. The first floor is our Baby Barn where we care for Babies from 6 months of age. The ground floor, we care for children from 2 years of age over 3 rooms, Fledglings and School Barn. We have a access from the main room into the garden to allow free flow and children choosing their preferred environment in School Barn.
At the main entrance to the nursery we have a large decked area for the children to access all year round. We also have another garden at the rear which is used during small group times.
All of our meals are prepared and cooked on site by our cook Liz.
We pride ourselves with the homely environment and our personalised service. We have a wide range of resources and provide lots of learning experiences for children in our tailor made spaces.
Learning
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to 5 years old. All schools and Ofsted-registered early years providers must follow the EYFS, including childminders, preschools, nurseries and school reception classes.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a play-based curriculum for children from birth to five years, which allows children to explore and learn in an environment that is secure and safe, yet challenging.
There are 7 different areas of learning and development in the EYFS, 3 of are which Prime areas:
Communication and language development.
Physical development.
Personal, social, and emotional development.
And 4 that area specific:
Literacy development.
Mathematics.
Understanding the world.
Expressive arts and design.
Throughout our day at Secret Garden our routines and planning cover all the areas of the EYFS. Please see our School Barn & Baby Barn sections for more details.
Tapestry
Tapestry is a secure online Learning Journal that allows us to record photos, observations and comments of the children’s learning. This will build up a record of your child’s learning experiences during their time with us.
It is a easy-to-use online learning journal. Tapestry helps educators and parents to record, track and celebrate children's progress in early years education settings.
At Secret Garden we set up parents, carers and family members with accounts. These can be accessed online or via a free app. This can be used to upload photo's and text celebrating children's achievements and learning. This is a good opportunity to share home learning and experiences. All users can also access and see photo's and observations from the nursery day.
As a nursery we also upload stories, recordings and things to do with children for home learning and activities.
What we offer...….....
Parents Evenings
Throughout the year we hold parents evenings. These are 3 times a year falling in each term, Spring, Summer and Autumn. Appointments are available with key persons on assigned evening. We can also make arrangements to suit families with day time appointments also. This gives you an opportunity to share you child's learning at nursery, discuss any points and talk about next steps for your child's learning with us. Nibbles and drinks area provided.
Trips & Visits
Throughout the year we try to plan as many trips out as possible. We use Congresbury Community Travel, Bluey mini bus. This is a free service that relies on donations. We do ask for small donations from parents which we pass on to help with the running of the mini bus. We do not keep any of the donations ourselves. We visit local library's, school to watch Christmas productions and many other places within our local community.
We also like to arrange guest to visit the nursery, this can be authors of books, animal experiences, emergency service providers, visits of farmers and anything else following our children's interests.
Photo Days
During the year we have 2 photo days held at the nursery. We use Concept Photography which are a local company which have been used for many years. We welcome individual photos, siblings, family photos and also on some occasions we also have family pets! We will keep you notified of the dates of these. We try to hold these sessions during half terms for older siblings to join. Photo proofs are sent out by Secret Garden with purchasing options.
Stay & Play Sessions
Throughout the year we have stay and play sessions for families which attend Secret Garden. This gives parents and carers the opportunity to come in to nursery and see what we do and what their children do whilst with us. The children enjoy showing adults what they get up to and where all those messy clothes come from! This is also an opportunity for parents and carers to talk to staff members and explore new ideas with play and learning.
Parties & Celebrations
We hold a school leavers picnic each year before the children leave to start school. We also invite back families of children who left the past year to join us. This is held in the garden (weather permitting) or nursery. We ask parents to bring a plate of food and enjoy an afternoon of play and saying hello's and good byes. This is when we give our certificates to our school leavers.
In the lead up to Christmas we hold a party for the children, this is held on the weekend and all children are invited. We have an entertainer, food & a visit from the North Pole with a gift for each child!
