Our Ethos
At Songbirds we pride our settings on strong family ethos, a home-from-home feel. It’s something we believe to be at the heart of Songbirds and vital to our nurseries.
We try our best to create a setting in which our team know that they are valued and supported, and not just there to do a ‘job’. A healthy, happy team creates a healthy, happy nursery environment and a positive
friendly atmosphere for the children to flourish in.
Our ethos is that children’s early years are the most important years of their lives. Here at Songbirds, we strive to provide high quality childcare and education for all children that is appropriate to their individual needs. This is provided for in a positive, respectful, relaxed, and homely environment, by supportive adults sensitive to the individual needs of the child and their family. The learning environment is fundamental in providing the children with a sense of security, belonging and effective learning.
Supporting and meeting the needs of both children and their families is paramount at Songbirds and working in partnership with parents to ensure all children’s development and educational needs are consistently met.
The heart of Songbirds
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Home from home environment
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Valued and supported team
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High quality childcare and education for all
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Sense of security and belonging
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Working in partnership with parents and families
Our Curriculum
At Songbirds we intend for our children to become curious thinkers and learners who are eager to explore the environments around them. High quality teaching, learning and interactions are implemented by highly skilled practitioners sparking awe and wonder, in order to support children’s individual learning and development.
We believe every child deserves to communicate and be listened to when sharing their thoughts, ideas and opinions. We acknowledge that language is the foundation for children’s thinking and learning and our highly skilled practitioners will model language and add new vocabulary to extend children’s communication skills.
At Songbirds we recognise children’s experiences at home and build on this through wider community visits, whilst allowing children to build resilience, ambition and integrity. We endeavor to give the children the cultural capital they need to become confident and develop their experiences. Here at Songbirds extra curricular activities and experiences are provided through outer agencies to further enhance learning opportunities.
The heart of our Curriculum
Our Intent
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Communication and language and 5 core books
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Curious thinkers and learners
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High quality teaching and highly skilled practitioners
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Wider Community visits
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Extra Curricular activities and experiences
We have taken the best parts of our favorite pedagogies and philosophies and created our own curriculum and teaching style. The curriculum intends to put the child at the centre of their own development and education.
The weekly activities our staff provide are child centered and free flowing, meaning they can venture off in any direction dependent on the child’s interest or how they take in the information. From this the practitioners get involved to provide further learning opportunities as and when needed.
We intend to cover all 7 areas of learning through various topics, these are not set month by month but decided through inspired activities. During these topics practitioners will ensure children have the opportunities to develop within all 7 areas of the Development Matters.
What we aim to cover
This list is not exhaustive of the topics we cover over an academic year, the child led approach that we follow allows us to promote children’s current interests and we then provide learning opportunities around that.
We often celebrate special days such as World Book Day, Chinese New Year as key
events alongside our learning opportunities.
These are just some of the topics that we provide in order to support children’s interests to ensure we are covering all areas of development. This is differentiated amongst the age groups and can be visited as and when needed throughout the academic year.
Seasons - Animals - Harvesting - Space - Recycling - Health and hygiene - Life cycles - Communities
Weather - Dinosaurs and fossils - Early writing skills - The body - Mini-beasts - School readiness - Phonics Technology - Transport - Mindfulness - Yoga/Meditation - Outings - Life skills - Signing - Movement through music
Ofsted
Staff offer a homely environment with a strong family feel. Children arrive excited, happy and settle quickly. They benefit from the calm, nurturing atmosphere and respond well to caring and sensitive interactions from their key person. This contributes well to children's emotional security and well-being.
