The Willows Day Nursery ensures that each child is nurtured and encouraged throughout their stay in nursery. All play rooms are large, bright and airy. All children are individual and learn according to their abilities and pace. Transition to more challenging rooms is based on their current developmental assessment and in-depth conversation with parents and guardians.

Room	Age Group	Adult-Child Ratio
Mango Room	Babies (0-2’s)	1 adult per 3 children
Cherries Room	Toddlers (2’s)	1 adult per 5 children
Pre School	Pre-school (3-5’s)	1 adult per 8 children

Mango Room – 0 to 2 years – 15 Babies

Activities in the Baby Room are based upon a child’s first experience of the world with all manner of sensory equipment to stimulate and encourage development. We encourage Heuristic Play, which exposes babies to different natural textures and materials. Planning in the Baby and Toddler rooms focuses on the Prime Areas of learning which children begin to develop quickly in response to relationships and experiences, and run through and support learning in all other areas. The prime areas continue to be fundamental throughout the EYFS in Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Communication and Language, and Physical Development. The Baby Room has a designated sleep and eating area and each is provided with a separate Milk Kitchen and Nappy Changing area.

Funding

From September 2024, working parents of children from 9 months old will be able to register to access 15 hours of government-funded childcare a week. If eligible, you will receive the 15 hours for 38 weeks of the year, from the start of each term. Funding is able to be stretched over 51 weeks but will then reduce the amount of free hours you receive per week. Please see the link to apply for this funding. Also, please see the information to help pay for childcare.

It is possible to combine this funding with extra attendance in line with other nursery sessions.

From September 2025, this funding will become 30 hours for working parents.

Cherries Room – 2 to 3 years – 23 Toddlers

By this age, children are getting more independent and we encourage development with carefully designed activities, which is largely developed through play. Planning in the Baby and Toddler rooms focuses on the Prime Areas of learning which children begin to develop quickly in response to relationships and experiences, and run through and support learning in all other areas. The prime areas continue to be fundamental throughout the EYFS in Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Communication and Language, and Physical Development. Again, the Toddler Room has a designated sleep area. It has a separate nappy change area and toilets as well for toilet training and making children more independent.

Funding

From April 2024, working parents of children from 2 years old will be able to register to access 15 hours of government-funded childcare a week. If eligible, you will receive the 15 hours for 38 weeks of the year, from the start of each term. Funding is able to be stretched over 51 weeks but will then reduce the amount of free hours you receive per week. Please see the link to apply for this funding. Also, please see the information to help pay for childcare.

If you are a non-working family, you may also be eligible for funding for your 2-year-old. Please log on to this link to check and apply for funding.

It is possible to combine this funding with extra attendance in line with other nursery sessions.

From September 2025, this funding will become 30 hours for working parents.

Pre School – 3 to 5 years – 40 Preschool

Pre-School activities are planned around the individual child based on The Characteristics of Effective Learning and the prime and specific Areas of Learning and Development, which are all interconnected. Learning is encouraged through play and covers the seven areas:

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• The Specific areas include essential skills and knowledge for children to participate successfully in society.
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

Children at The Willows Day Nursery are provided with a varied and exciting programme, introducing new skills and ensuring that each child thoroughly enjoys learning with our qualified teaching staff. Learning also takes place outside of the Nursery. Children can enjoy a wide variety of trips and outings to the theatre, libraries, and other places of interest, in which parents are also encouraged to join.

The staff provide continual assessment with written reports for each child and maintain regular liaison with parents. All children at The Willows Day Nursery are taught the value of friendship, honesty, fairness, and respect for others. Staff promote an equal opportunities policy for all children, and we celebrate festivals and traditions from many different cultures.

We pride ourselves on ensuring that all our children are well prepared to make a smooth and easy transition to school.

Funding

All children aged 3 – 4 years old will be able to access the 15 hours universal funding. There is no code required in this case. For working parents, children may be eligible for extended 15 hours funding, to make it a total of 30 hours. This funding can be used for a total of 38 weeks or extended.

Parents will need to apply for the extended funding and must renew this funding every 3 months. If eligible, you will receive the 30 hours for 38 weeks of the year, from the start of each term. Funding is able to be stretched over 51 weeks but will then reduce the amount of free hours you receive per week. Please see the link to apply for this funding. Also, please see the information to help pay for childcare.

It is possible to combine this funding with extra attendance in line with other nursery sessions.