Welcome to Koala Bears

 In our Koala Bears room, the day’s activities are planned around the daily routine to ensure a feeling of consistency and security for your child, yet allowing room for both spontaneous and planned activities with your child. 

 Your child has access to all areas of the room. There is a quieter area which includes cushions, baskets and blankets for your child to lie in and relax, support rings, books for one to one reading time and group story sessions with accessories such as puppets, and sensory toys. This area is a comfortable area for babies and younger children to play in and to just have a rest. 

The boxes of different toys are placed here for playing with throughout the day and the contents are changed regularly. The basket of toys have items which have endless of exploring and sensory experiences which will enhance and encourage all areas of development with support from our fabulous staff.   

 We have a 'Floor time' included in our daily routine for that all-important eye contact and bonding at the children's level. We do a variety of activities such as tummy time, mark making on the floor, baby yoga and much more. 

We have a wonderful hard floor accompanied by lovely rugs to make this room more home from home and it is brilliant for when we want to get messy with our many messy play activities; It is important to us that the babies get to experience messy play and other forms of exploratory play at Sandy Bears. This may include painting pine cones, gloop mark making on mirrors, stirring and scooping baked beans, searching for objects in soil or playing in shredded paper and much more!  

Included throughout the setting are many natural and loose parts resources for our little ones to play with, even within the Koala room.  

 Your child will be able to play outside every day.   The outdoor area is a great, safe and secure space for the babies in which your child will get to experience every day. 

 We deem fresh air to be a vital ingredient for a happy, healthy child. If the weather is too cold for the babies to sit and play outside, they will be able to go on walks around the Cholmondeley grounds in our buggies to ensure that they receive ample fresh air. We ask that you provide appropriate clothing and footwear depending on the time of year including sun-cream and hats in the hotter weather and coats, hats, a scarf and wellies/thick socks for the colder months. 

 At Sandy Bears, we are very proud to be inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach.  We feel it is very important for this Reggio Emilia Approach to be experienced in all ages throughout our Nursery. 

"The Reggio Emilia Approach is an innovative and inspiring approach to early childhood education" This approach helps children to be strong, capable, and resilient and also teaches them how to think and how to use their imagination. The curiosity behind this approach to learning drives your child's interest and helps them understand the world around them. This Reggio-inspired approach has learning opportunities and benefits all across the EYFS framework. 

 At Sandy Bear’s we believe that singing is an important first step to talking and communicating. Every day your child will be involved in a singing/music making session, there are a number of different musical instruments/ resources that your children can explore on their own and these are often used in our musical sessions too. Makaton is introduced as early as possible to the children to aid their communication. We include Makaton throughout the day including in songs and story times. If you wish to learn more about this form of communication please ask a member of staff.  

Water is always available to drink throughout the day – either in bottles or in beakers according to your baby’s developmental stage and formula or breast milk can be kept here for when your baby requires it.

Milk is given as per your wishes, we ask you to provide the bottles for this which are clearly labelled with your child's name, amount required and at what times. We will freshly prepare the bottles at times wished by yourself. Made-up bottles are kept for no longer than 2 hours and after this time they will be rinsed and put in your child’s bag ready to go home.

 Babies have the opportunity to sleep whenever they need to. There is a cot available, cosy baskets with blankets and cushions and we also have a pushchair that can be used to encourage sleep if this is something you would prefer. Their individual home routine will be followed. Each child has their own clean sheets that are laundered on site and placed on their labelled shelf ready for there next use. 

 Your child’s nappy will be changed every 2 hours at specific times throughout the day and also as and when required. 

 If your child needs to take any medication during their time with us, we are able to administer this in accordance with 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 the prescription label must state the name of your child, date etc. For teething problems (under one year) we ask that you bring your own bottle of Calpol labelled with your child’s name and sign a medication form stating when and what dose is required. This will be returned to you at the end of the day. 

From time to time your child might hurt themselves. Any minor bumps or scrapes will be recorded on an accident report form on the Famly app. We will call or leave a message on your answer phone with any minor head bump. More serious accidents will be treated in accordance with our nursery policy and you will be informed immediately. 

 At the end of the day you will be given a verbal handover from your key worker or another member of staff who has spent time with your child that day. Please feel free to leave time to spend some time exploring the room before you go home if you wish. After an exchange of information, you will be able to collect your child’s belongings before heading home after a busy, fun-filled day at Sandy Bears!