Our Nursery

The traditional nursery set up:

• Baby Room - 0 to 1 years old
• Toddler Room - 1 to 2 years old
• Pre-school Room - 2-4 years old

Little Sunflowers is made up of one big FAMILY settling for children of all ages.

Why break the mould you ask!?

No room change - No big upheaval to a different room especially after parents and our team have worked hard to ensure a child is fully comfortable in their surroundings.

No new members of staff -  The staff, like the surroundings are a constant. One well established team for you and your child to get to know and build a bond with, one key worker to work with you to ensure your child reaches their full potential.

Siblings can be together - Helping to maintain a sibling relationship

No more pressure on toileting -  Children are ready to make the transition out of nappies at their own pace. So out Little Sunflowers can make that step when they are ready and not becuase they have to, to be able to move to another room.

Small numbers - our large rooms are registered to hold just 15 children. Giving the children the space to grow and learn.

Childminder approach but in a nursery environment 

Affectionate relationships can form across the age bands, often consolidated by play. Over-threes are fantastic at playing the repetitive 'do it again' games that are perfect for the learning of very young children. Toddlers often love to share a book with an older child, in turn,four year olds show pride in being the ones who knows the story and so can 'read' it to the little one.

The babies and toddlers learn from the older children we can teach younger children about saying please and thank you and how to use a knife and fork but seeing children do it is a priceless learning tool. Children then get a boost to their confidence with the realisation that they have learned so much in contrast with others.

Research in early years has demonstrated that children of all ages can benefit from a mixed age group environment, providing younger children with the facility to encourage their social and cognitive development and older children with the opportunity to practice prosocial, self-regulatary and leadership skills. Children have access to a larger variety of activities and experiences, providing them with a rich, social enviironment which facilitates a family atmosphere within the nursery.

Partnership with Parents

At Little Sunflowers we do not use any communication apps. We believe in the art of conversation, yes it may be old-fashioned, but we love being able to have a conversation at pickup and drop off. To be able to provide a full handover to talk to you about what your child has been getting up to, how well they have eaten, if they had a nap etc 

Our profiles are also paper based, our time is better spent being present with the children rather than on apps.With parents input we can work together to celebrate those milestones and be able to provide what your Sunflower needs to make progress.

We are here to celebrate every milestone with you! Every child is unique and we want to nurture their individuality.

A newsletter is sent each month via email to keep you updated on the goings on and for any dates in your diary.

Planning and Curriculum

We utilise the EYFS to plan and provide a range of play activities which help children to progress in each of the areas of learning and development listed below:

Prime Areas:

Physical Development
Personal, Social and Emotional Development 
Communication and Language

Specific Areas:

Mathematics
Literacy
Understanding the World
Expressive arts and design

Our planning is completed in three ways:

Long term: using our base theme for the month, our team plan set activities each day that focus on an area of learning and development. This gives keyworkers the chance to plan activities that aid specific areas of development that they have identified need to be worked on.

Short term planning: Alongside our base theme for the month, this planning allows us to incorporate smaller themes, religious festivals or themed days. For example - World Book Day. 

Uninitiated planning: Takes place throughout the day to support childrens. If we notice that session, children are taking an interest in dinosaurs, we can plan activities using the dinosaurs. If we feel that children are working through some big emotions that day we can plan an activity or set out resources that will aid sunflowers to work through this development stage.

Food & Nutrition

All our food is homemade!

Little Sunflowers offer a nutrionally balanced seasonal 4 week menu that is changes every six months, that is cooked fresh each day. We  are able to adjust each dish individually to ensure that all dietary requirements are catered for. We do not offer alternative meals, we simply adjust each dish to suit individual needs. 

All our fruit, vegtables and eggs are delivered fresh every Tuesday from Old Covent Garden market, 

Little Sunflowers serves three meals per day and two snacks times. Our snacks times are pieces of fruit, each room has a fully stocked fruit cabinet where children can pick whatever fruit takes their fancy!

Water is available for children throughout the day, with milk available at snack times.

To celebrate different festivals or events throughout the year we plan themed days to allow the children to explore the traditions of different religions and cultures. Parents are always given prior notification of these changes to our menu.