Topsham House Day Nursery
Nursery Rooms
All of our rooms are named after different characters from the beloved childrens show Winnie the Pooh, Click on an icon to find out more.
Piglet and Eeyore's Room (Under 2's)
Tigger's Room (2's to 3's)
Pooh's Room (3's)
Owl's Room (Pre-School)
Childrens Club (4's-11's)
Piglet's and Eeyore's Room
(Under 2's)
Our Under 2's area consists of two rooms offering a safe, stimulating and caring environment. Piglet's room cares for our younger babies under the age of 15 months. It has a play area, feeding area, self-contained kitchen and a sleep area.
Our older babies, up to two years old are cared for in Eeyore's Room. In this room the children gain confidence, and develop their social and physical skills, in this short space of time before moving on to Tigger's Room.
Both rooms cater for up to 6 children with two members of staff, and we aim to work closely with parents to follow the home routines of each baby, including feeding habits and sleep patterns. A large part of their day will be spent interacting with the nursery staff.
Activities for these younger children are based around sensory experiences such as water, sand and ice play. Language development is encouraged through story and song time. The rooms are equipped with stimulating toys and sensory equipment to encourage development.
A daily diary is provided at the end of each day with all the relevant information for parents, such as sleep times, nappy changes and feeds.
When children move up from Eeyore's Room there is a transition period which includes a hand-over procedure between the Key persons and the children being introduced to Tigger's by spending time in their new room. The system of providing information to parents is different in Tigger's because the children have usually established a routine of eating, drinking, toileting and sleeping already and parents are more interested in what activities they have been doing during the day. We therefore provide a weekly diary and we display the timetables on the notice board instead.
Tigger's Room
(2's to 3's)
Tigger's Room accommodates our two and rising 3 year olds. Three members of staff care for up to 12 children in a large room. For these children the day becomes more structured, and more organised adult-led activities, combine with free play time to ensure that the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum, and developmental goals are met.
A wide variety of fun activities are carried out daily, which are designed to develop all aspects of the children's development, encourage imagination, creativity and an enquiring mind. Tigger's Room has separate areas for messy play, quiet activities, floor play and imaginative play. The role play area is changed regularly to provide a range of settings such as a shop, plane, hospital, post office, home, pirate ship etc. The children continue to develop their knowledge of shape, colour, number and phonic letter sounds and their vocabulary is extended to enable simple conversations about their environment, family, friends and activities.
We work closely with parents to help the children master toilet training and personal hygiene such as the washing hands and brushing teeth after lunch and tea.
Many children still want to have an afternoon nap in this group and we provide all of the facilities that they will need. The activities are designed to help children to develop their social skills such as independence and co-operation, also language and intellectual skills.
We provide a specialist music and movement programme, Kimbles, which encourages children to find different ways to enjoy movement to keep fit and healthy, explore musical sounds through voice and instrument playing and allows children to discover the endless range of world music.
When children move up from Tigger's Room there is a transition period which includes a hand-over procedure between the Key persons and the children being introduced to Pooh's by spending time in their new room. The system of providing information to parents is different in Pooh's. The children's language skills are now adequate for them to talk about the activities they have taken part in during the day. Weekly diaries can be provided if requested by a parent and we display the timetables on the notice board instead.
Pooh's Room
Children will enter the Pooh's room either on joining the nursery or having moved up from Tigger's, in which case there will be a transitional phase. Pooh's room caters for up to 16 children from approx. 2 ½ years, and is led by an Early Years Teacher.
The large group room is fully equipped for all of their activities and has different areas for different types of play. The children are exposed to activities through structured and free play which is balanced with quieter periods of the day such as story time and small group table top activities. Through the thoughtfully planned curriculum and taking children's interests into account, children are stimulated into wanting to learn and thus become well prepared in all the basic skills.
Pooh's room has a computer and ipads to support children's development in ICT, and the children have daily access to our large adventure garden.
We provide a specialist music and movement programme, Kimbles, which encourages children to find different ways to enjoy movement to keep fit and healthy, explore musical sounds through voice and instrument playing and allows children to discover the endless range of world music.
Owl's Room
The Preschool room is led by an Early Years Teacher as we prepare for the important transition to school. We cater for up to 20 children each session, in a room with free flow access into our large adventure garden.
The pre-school room is divided into well-defined learning areas, each equipped with resources that focus on a particular area of learning. These include emergent writing, mathematics, reading, information technology, role play, construction and many other activities.
Through the thoughtfully planned curriculum and taking children's interests into account, children are stimulated into wanting to learn and thus become well prepared in all the basic skills. Owl's room has a computer and ipads to support children's development in ICT.
We incorporate the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) into our daily activities and introduce our children to literacy and numeracy, whilst encouraging them to be confident and independent explorers.
Our aim is to help each of our children to achieve the best that they can in all areas of their development. When our children leave Topsham House to start school they have the confidence to know that if they treat others with respect, try their best and ask for help when it's needed, they can achieve anything.
Topsham House works closely with local schools, preparing the children for their transition to school. This includes visits by the children to school during the Summer Term before they start, and visits from reception teachers to the nursery.
The Early Years Foundation Stage framework is used to plan for children's individual development and next steps. All children have a Learning Journal detailing this with lots of lovely photographs showing your child enjoying their time at nursery.
Children's Club
Topsham House have provided a Children's Club since 2000. Before and after school care, and a Holiday Club are available for 4 to 11 year olds.
Children's Club opens at 7.45am Monday to Friday, Children are offered breakfast consisting of a choice of toast, and cereals. We then escort children to Desford Primary School and Staff wait with all children until they are seen safely into the building.
After school children are collected from Desford and Thornton Schools and brought back to Topsham House, using our 9 seater minibus, for tea, and a wide range of activities, crafts, games and planned events.
As the children have spent all day at school, we like to ensure their time is relaxed and enjoyable. The children have access to books, toys, a computer, Wii, musical instruments and dressing up toys. The room has immediate access to the outdoor area with a purpose designed playground. Outdoor play equipment is provided, including bats, balls, skipping ropes, balancing equipment and roller skates.
During school holidays the Children's Club is open 7.45am to 6pm for full day care, with the option of a shorter day starting at 9am and finishing at 4pm.
The day is organised to provide structured activities, crafts, games and trips and planned events. There is plenty of opportunity for free play fun, and we include the children's ideas and suggestions in planning the day's activities.
We visit local facilities; parks and library frequently and our 9 seater mini bus allows us take the children on trips to a wide variety of venues such as Conkers, The Space Centre, Cadbury World and Bosworth Battlefield.
(Under 2's)
