Welcome to Saughall Forest Pre-School

 At Sandy Bears forest school we see the advantages of children learning outside of the stereotypical set up of a ‘classroom’ and believe that children thrive in the outdoors.  

There are numerous benefits of introducing children to forest school, which include physical, emotional, life skills and much more! Forest school encourages physical development, overall fitness, strength, fine and gross motor skills. We allow children to take risks, balancing and climbing, use tools such as hammers and carving tools which also builds self esteem and hand eye coordination.  

We improve children’s problem solving skills, understanding their environment and how to take care of it which develops their respect for nature. Being outdoors enables children to learn in the fresh air, with no structural boundaries, which is great for their mental health and promotes their overall wellbeing.  

 At Sandy Bears we follow the EYFS which is a curriculum for the Early Years. We follow our own curriculum which has been tailored to our children’s needs and our Forest School ethos. 

We base our activities on individual interests, along with adults introducing new topics and learning opportunities such as bringing in animals, unusual items from home and offering experiences that they may not have encountered before. This is great for accessing new knowledge of the world around them and potentially developing new interests for the children. We celebrate diversity and all cultures and this is shown in the activities we provide.  

We teach the children about our environment and the world we live in including the local community, Saughall village and the nearby woods.   

 Children enjoy exploring the environment outdoors where we have a mud kitchen, balancing and climbing equipment, planting in our vegetable patch and tuff trays encouraging sensory play. 

As well as providing continuous provision, we also introduce new opportunities and learning and of course basing activities on children’s interests. We offer learning indoors in our pack away setting and both areas are fully secure and supervised.   

 We deem fresh air as a vital ingredient for a happy, healthy child which supports their overall wellbeing. Sandy Bears Forest School is based in the great outdoors, we are lucky to have many outside areas such as the large, secure forest school garden, and two secure outdoor play areas. We ask that you provide weather appropriate clothing for your child as we explore the outdoors in all weathers.   

 We believe that singing is vital to communication at a very young age. We sing to the children every day, we use props and stories to enhance children’s vocabulary and engage the children to extend their imagination. At Sandy Bears we see the importance of all forms of communication, this is not just to help support individual children, but to make the setting inclusive and enable communication between all children.  

We support speech through a language programme of Makaton, which is symbols signs and speech, which children with limited speech are able to communicate. We say the word along with the sign in the ‘spoken word order’ which is different from British Sign Language. The use of signs and symbols provides visual cues which enables understanding.  

Children have the opportunity to sleep if needed, we actively encourage outside sleeping and offer a secure, sheltered area. Children sleep in Sleep Pods and each child has their own clean sheets which are laundered at least weekly. We do ask that you provide extra warm clothing for the colder months so they are lovely and cosy. 

You will be asked to provide nappies for your child and they will be changed every two hours and also when required.  

 At Sandy Bears we have a healthy eating policy, we encourage parents to bring in packed lunches with nutritious and healthy food for their child. We are a NUT free setting and have strict policies and risk assessments supporting children’s allergy and dietry requirements.

From time to time we explore different foods through activities and baking. We will carefully check the healthiest option, for example, for Valentine’s day we used dark chocolate with no added ‘nasties’ for our hearty treats. We will speak to parent’s about the ingredients we use and have a list of these available.  

 We have milk delivered weekly, we have chosen an organic milk company which use suppliers which are Bovaer- free. We also offer alternative milks such as Oat milk for those children with allergies or at parent’s request. 

At Sandy Bears children bring in their own water bottles from home, when this needs refilling we use water from our Klar filtered water jug, which enables a seven stage filtration system to turn tap water into great tasting mineral water.   

 If your child needs to take any medication during their time with us, we are able to administer this in accordance to our nursery policies. We will require you to sign a medication form authorising us to do so. All medication must be in its original container and prescription label must state the name of your child, date and dose/ method of administration.  

From time to time your child might hurt themselves. These accidents are documented by our Famly App, where it requires acknowledgment from you. Any bumps to your child’s head or facial injuries, we will contact you via phone call to discuss nature of accident. Any injuries from home will also be documented.  

 At Sandy Bears we use the Famly App. This app allows up to date information on your child’s day, you will get notifications about meals and the amount of food they have eaten, any nappies or toilet trips or accidents (if potty training) It will also allow you to see photos, videos and amazing activities that your child has participated in each day.  

We are able to track your child’s development are share any milestones with you, you are able to add observations and message any queries to your child’s key worker or management team.