MINNIE ME NURSERY
Qualified, caring, fun staff will ensure your little ones get the best possible start on their learning journey, allowing them to make friends, have fun and spend time playing and learning.
We also offer a breakfast club facility for children attending Fairfield Infant and Nursery school. Drop your little one with us from 7.30 am and a qualified member of staff will walk them to school after they have had toast and a drink and a chance to wake up.
Pre-school places for 3 months – 5 year olds, we can help you to apply for 15 hour 2 year old funding or to apply for the extended free 30 hour funding for 3-4 year olds.
Our Curriculum
Minnie Me Pre School strives to provide the highest level of care, learning and development. We believe our curriculum is effective and meets the needs of all our children. This starts by working in close partnership with parents to build on their children’s strengths and creating a welcoming stimulating environment.
We always nurture and support all children’s progression with an inclusive and holistic approach to child development. Our curriculum consists of everything we want the children to experience, learn and be able to do. Our intention is for our curriculum to be ambitious and inclusive, educating all children in knowledge, skills and understanding. Minnie Me Pre School provides a safe, caring environment which enables our children to be inquisitive, curious, and independent learners.
We feel that children learn by observing the people around them and develop their attitudes from their social environment. We understand that a child’s early experiences form the foundation upon which their future attitudes are formed. Our Fundamental British Values play an important role here too. These important, universal, core values are not only vital for preparing our children for life in modern Britain but are also integral to equality, diversity, and inclusion.
We are proud of the trusting relationships our parents have with us we value prior learning and work together with parents to ensure every child progresses. Through this partnership we endeavour to enhance the skills they need for future success, enabling them to fulfil their potential. We promote these partnerships through open discussions, and we use the Tapestry learning journal to share experiences from home and in the setting, we also have a private Facebook page where we can share information, photos and parents can contribute, ask others for advice and contact us. During the settling in process, we share information with parents such as “All About Me” this is so we can work together and form secure attachments with our families. These contributions are sought, valued, and highly respected.
Intent
We are passionate about creating opportunities for the children to communicate more easily through developing language and communication skills from birth. Communicating is how we get to know about each other and developing strong communication and language skills from a young age is an essential foundation. The development of these skills is paramount to promote self-esteem, independence, and confidence and in turn helps
friendships flourish which are incredibly important for children. The staff within the nursery environment communicate with all the children effectively, we scaffold and model language through nursery rhymes, storytime, dialogue, constant narrative and modelling
affective communication.
We form strong relationships with our children. At Minnie Me Pre School we consider it important for all adults working with children to understand what attachment is and know how to help parents and carers become attuned to their child’s needs. We allow our children time to build a safe, settled and secure bond with staff. We want all our children to feel, happy, safe, secure and valued so we ensure that there is space to cuddle, be calm and comforted, this is at the core of our ethos,
It is our intention that the children experience the areas of learning (EYFS Curriculum) which are centred around the three prime areas:
• Communication and Language
• Physical development
• Personal, Social and Emotional development.
We then support children’s experiences within the four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied. These are:
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design
We use the Department of Education’s Development Matters curriculum guidance to form the basis of our planning and assessments, but also give regard to the Early Years Alliance document “Birth to five matters” to extend those milestones and development guidelines. Our intent is that when children leave us they will be ready to start school, strong independent learners.
Implementation
The way we achieve a broad and balanced curriculum is through in the moment planning, alongside a more structured planning to ensure all opportunities are recognised, implemented and celebrated. We feel privileged to have time to play with the children in our setting and this leads to high levels of engagement and learning. Children demonstrate high levels of interest and involvement, persevering, and showing a ‘can do’ attitude whilst creativity, critical thinking, and motivation for all is evident in the constant thrum of activity. For the practitioners, planning, preparation, and assessment is a celebration of children’s learning, inputting the children’s ‘wow!’ moments, contributed by all the staff, is a delight and leads naturally to knowing what’s next. Practitioners can scaffold and enhance each child’s individual needs in a way that is nourishing for them and us.
At Minnie Me Pre School we have an outdoor learning environment which provides space for the children to be active, develop co-ordination, control and movement, our outdoor environment provides a unique chance for sustained shared thinking and extended periods of play. Being in the outdoor environment is both positive from a health perspective but also for connecting children with the environment.
We are situated in an area of ‘High deprivation’ and appreciate that children who have lived through different experiences can begin to grow stronger when they experience high quality early education and care.
Each room from our youngest children to our pre-school children, uses the curriculum guidance to ensure a flow of development. We can therefore support smooth transitions as children progress through the setting. All staff understand child development and value working collaboratively with each other, this ensures consistent expectations allowing each child to progress no matter where their starting point is. All practitioners have a
consistent approach to behaviour management, we work hard to create clear boundaries and have high expectation. However, we still value each child as an individual and help children to live and learn alongside others catering for individual needs.
The management team have many years’ experience working with the EYFS, and this knowledge is used to ensure each staff member understands their children’s needs and can respond appropriately. We currently have an effective programme of continued professional development. It closely considers the context and performance of the setting and feeds into our setting development plan. We support and encourage reflective practice
throughout the nursery and actively work alongside staff encouraging and creating an effective team. We have regular supervisions, peer observations, staff meetings and rigorous staff training. Effective professional development improves the quality of interactions between children and practitioners. We use our planning, assessments, observations, and discussions to inform next steps and
intents for each room.
At Minnie Me Pre School we ensure that every child at the setting is included. Every child is unique and will develop at their own pace, so it’s not about treating all children in the same way but treating each child fairly and paying attention to their individual interests and needs. We have a range of additional interventions and support for children who may not be reaching their potential or are showing a greater depth of understanding and need further challenges. Where children are not experiencing success, they may have barriers to their learning. These barriers might be short term, or they may indicate a longer special educational need and/or disability. In these instances, more assessment will be needed to try and get to know the child better and focus on their needs. We work collaboratively with the Derbyshire Specialist Teaching team when extra support is needed, using the Early Years SEND Toolkit and Celebratory Checkpoints to access early interventions and support. We also use Every Child a Talker monitoring tool and implement individual plans for children needing extra support and will refer to Speech and Language support if
required. We ensure the needs of individual children are met through grouping our children flexibly
throughout the nursery, our rooms are not solely designated by age, more centered around each child’s individual needs and stage of development.
Impact
We truly believe that the hard work we do in early years education is vital in creating the foundations for future success and understand the value of working together, in the best interests of the child. The skills and competencies the children learn in the early years setting will help them tackle the new challenges they may face in the next phase of their education and our ultimate aim is to help to create confident, resilient, and capable learners who are secure, happy and eager to continue their learning journey. We believe that the whole family feels supported and valued, we offer advice, signposting and support to the parents and carers of our children as parent’s are the children’s first and key educators, we understand this and strive to support parents to feel valued.
Testimonials
“I couldn’t recommend Minnie Me’s highly enough to anyone, from the lovely staff, the development of my son to the understanding and support to myself and our personal circumstances. It really is a fantastic nursery and I’m incredibly grateful to them for all they do.”
C.J. March 2022
“Minnie Me has done a wonderful job of creating a welcoming atmosphere for my child. Key workers are always genuinely excited to see my child, which puts my mind at ease when dropping her off. Everyone at Minnie Me has made us feel a sense of belonging. Thanks for all that you do.”
A.W. March 2022
“Minnie Me have been fantastic support for me and my children, I have been using their service for 5 years and thanks to the amazing girls at Minnie Me they have had the best start in their education. Minnie Me’s is both educationally and emotionally outstanding, overall a fantastic place to shape the futures of little stars.”
H.H 2022
“Minnie Me are accommodating and supportive, having recently moved to the area, they have gone above and beyond to be flexible and understanding.”
V.B. 2022
“The team at Minnie Me are like an extended family, they welcome the parents as well as the children. Communication to parent’s is great. Minnie Me’s is absolutely fantastic.”
S.O. April 2022
“My son was welcomed in to the Minnie Me family from day one, he is so happy everyday and loves telling me all the different things he has done in the day. I can’t thank them enough for supporting me when I have to do long hours at work, it’s comforting to know that your child is happy. Thank you Minnie Me.”
K.T. 2022
MINNIE ME NURSERY
Qualifield, caring, fun staff will ensure your little ones get the best possible start on their learning journey, allowing them to make friends, have fun and spend time playing and learning.
We also offer a breakfast club facility for children attending Fairfield Infant and Nursery school. Drop your little one with us from 7.30 am and a qualified member of staff will walk them to school after they have had toast and a drink and a chance to wake up.
Pre-school places for 3 months – 5 year olds, we can help you to apply for 15 hour 2 year old funding or to apply for the extended free 30 hour funding for 3-4 year olds.
Our Curriculum
Minnie Me Pre School strives to provide the highest level of care, learning and development. We believe our curriculum is effective and meets the needs of all our children. This starts by working in close partnership with parents to build on their children’s strengths and creating a welcoming stimulating environment. We always nurture and support all children’s progression with an inclusive and holistic approach to child
development. Our curriculum consists of everything we want the children to experience, learn and be able to do. Our intention is for our curriculum to be ambitious and inclusive, educating all children in knowledge, skills and understanding.
Minnie Me Pre School provides a safe, caring environment which enables our children to be inquisitive, curious, and independent learners. We feel that children learn by observing the people around them and develop their attitudes from their social environment. We understand that a child’s early experiences form the foundation upon which their future attitudes are formed. Our Fundamental British Values play an important role here too. These important, universal, core values are not only vital for preparing our children for life in modern Britain but are also integral to equality, diversity, and inclusion.
We are proud of the trusting relationships our parents have with us we value prior learning and work together with parents to ensure every child progresses. Through this partnership we endeavour to enhance the skills they need for future success, enabling them to fulfil their potential. We promote these partnerships through open discussions, and we use the Tapestry learning journal to share experiences from home and in the setting, we also have a private Facebook page where we can share information, photos and parents can contribute, ask others for advice and contact us. During the settling in process, we share information with parents such as “All About Me” this is so we can work together and form secure attachments with our families. These contributions are sought, valued, and highly respected.
Intent
We are passionate about creating opportunities for the children to communicate more easily through developing language and communication skills from birth. Communicating is how we get to know about each other and developing strong communication and language skills from a young age is an essential foundation. The development of these skills is paramount to promote self-esteem, independence, and confidence and in turn helps
friendships flourish which are incredibly important for children. The staff within the nursery environment communicate with all the children effectively, we scaffold and model language through nursery rhymes, storytime, dialogue, constant narrative and modelling
affective communication.
We form strong relationships with our children. At Minnie Me Pre School we consider it important for all adults working with children to understand what attachment is and know how to help parents and carers become attuned to their child’s needs. We allow our children time to build a safe, settled and secure bond with staff. We want all our children to feel, happy, safe, secure and valued so we ensure that there is space to cuddle, be calm and comforted, this is at the core of our ethos,
It is our intention that the children experience the areas of learning (EYFS Curriculum) which are centred around the three prime areas:
• Communication and Language
• Physical development
• Personal, Social and Emotional development.
We then support children’s experiences within the four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied. These are:
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design
We use the Department of Education’s Development Matters curriculum guidance to form the basis of our planning and assessments, but also give regard to the Early Years Alliance document “Birth to five matters” to extend those milestones and development guidelines. Our intent is that when children leave us they will be ready to start school, strong independent learners.
Implementation
The way we achieve a broad and balanced curriculum is through in the moment planning, alongside a more structured planning to ensure all opportunities are recognised, implemented and celebrated. We feel privileged to have time to play with the children in our setting and this leads to high levels of engagement and learning. Children demonstrate high levels of interest and involvement, persevering, and showing a ‘can do’ attitude whilst creativity, critical thinking, and motivation for all is evident in the constant thrum of activity. For the practitioners, planning, preparation, and assessment is a celebration of children’s learning, inputting the children’s ‘wow!’ moments, contributed by all the staff, is a delight and leads naturally to knowing what’s next. Practitioners can scaffold and enhance each child’s individual needs in a way that is nourishing for them and us.
At Minnie Me Pre School we have an outdoor learning environment which provides space for the children to be active, develop co-ordination, control and movement, our outdoor environment provides a unique chance for sustained shared thinking and extended periods of play. Being in the outdoor environment is both positive from a health perspective but also for connecting children with the environment.
We are situated in an area of ‘High deprivation’ and appreciate that children who have lived through different experiences can begin to grow stronger when they experience high quality early education and care.
Each room from our youngest children to our pre-school children, uses the curriculum guidance to ensure a flow of development. We can therefore support smooth transitions as children progress through the setting. All staff understand child development and value
working collaboratively with each other, this ensures consistent expectations allowing each child to progress no matter where their starting point is.
All practitioners have a consistent approach to behaviour management, we work hard to create clear boundaries and have high expectation. However, we still value each child as an individual and help children to live and learn alongside others catering for individual needs.
The management team have many years’ experience working with the EYFS, and this knowledge is used to ensure each staff member understands their children’s needs and can respond appropriately. We currently have an effective programme of continued professional development. It closely considers the context and performance of the setting and feeds into our setting development plan. We support and encourage reflective practise
throughout the nursery and actively work alongside staff encouraging and creating an effective team. We have regular supervisions, peer observations, staff meetings and rigorous staff training. Effective professional development improves the quality of interactions between children and practitioners. We use our planning, assessments, observations, and discussions to inform next steps and
intents for each room.
At Minnie Me Pre School we ensure that every child at the setting is included. Every child is unique and will develop at their own pace, so it’s not about treating all children in the same way but treating each child fairly and paying attention to their individual interests and needs. We have a range of additional interventions and support for children who may not be reaching their potential or are showing a greater depth of understanding and need further challenges. Where children are not experiencing success, they may have barriers to their learning. These barriers might be short term, or they may indicate a longer special educational need and/or disability. In these instances, more assessment will be needed to try and get to know the child better and focus on their needs. We work collaboratively with the Derbyshire Specialist Teaching team when extra support is needed, using the Early Years SEND Toolkit and Celebratory Checkpoints to access early interventions and support. We also use Every Child a Talker monitoring tool and implement individual plans for children needing extra support and will refer to Speech and Language support if
required.
We ensure the needs of individual children are met through grouping our children flexibly throughout the nursery, our rooms are not solely designated by age, more centred around each child’s individual needs and stage of development.
Impact
We truly believe that the hard work we do in early years education is vital in creating the foundations for future success and understand the value of working together, in the best interests of the child. The skills and competencies the children learn in the early years setting will help them tackle the new challenges they may face in the next phase of their education and our ultimate aim is to help to create confident, resilient, and capable
learners who are secure, happy and eager to continue their learning journey.
We believe that the whole family feels supported and valued, we offer advice, signposting and support to the parents and carers of our children as parent’s are the children’s first and key educators, we understand this and strive to support parents to feel valued.
