About The Next Generation
The Nursery was formally a Primary school that has been refurbished with young children in mind. There are 4 rooms, each suitably equipped to help your child make the transition from baby, to toddler, and infant. There is a Pre-School room where your child will be prepared for their future school life and finally a ’Schoolies’ Club room where school children come to us before and after school and in the school holidays. All facilities are on one floor.
The Next Generation has been open since 1994 and in 2005 was awarded the National Day Nursery Association ‘Quality counts’ kite mark. This is a quality award recognised by the Government for Investors in Children (IIC). In addition to this Nursery achieved the highest grading in all of OFSTED’s 14 standards. Please feel free to view our report which is available at www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports
The Next Generation has been created with the aim to provide individual care for each child in a safe, stimulating, homely and happy environment. We recognise the need to encourage your child to develop, to achieve their full potential, and give them the best start preparing them for school and future life.
We follow the government Surestart ‘Birth to three matters’ framework, which is a package that helps us support children in their earliest years. It is not a curriculum, merely a tool to aid observation, development and learning. From the age of 3 children are classed as being in the Foundation stage of learning and will be working towards the ‘Early Learning Goals’ using the Stepping Stones to chart progress. From September 2008 we will be following the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) published by the Department for Education and Skills.
We have an extensive outdoor play area consisting of 5 separately enclosed areas with both hard and soft surfaces to maximise opportunities for outdoor play. There are large fixed play equipment, seating and a large range of portable outdoor play equipment available, all to encourage healthy, physical play in a safe environment. All of our staff are qualified to national standards or above. All hold Child & Infant first aid and basic food hygiene certificates, also 2 staff have full first aid certificates. All of our staff hold enhanced police clearance disclosures. Our staff are all carefully chosen and they will encourage the physical, social, emotional and intellectual growth and development of your child. In addition to our staff we employ and train modern apprentices. We promote healthy eating and exploit the use of 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Your child will receive a breakfast snack, a two course cooked lunch, prepared by our cook and afternoon tea. Please click on the ‘Healthy eating & sample menu icon for further details.
To continually promote a healthy lifestyle we have signed up to the 'stop the rot'. Stop the rot is a campaign created by a dentist Graham Wilding BDS and is supported by Professor Lord Robert Winston. It encourages nurseries and parents to help prevent tooth decay. More information is available on the website www.stop-the-rot.co.uk.
In July 2007 we were awarded the 'Smile for Health Award' in recognition of the high standard achieved in promoting healthy eating and good oral health within the Early Years Setting.
We operate a Keyworker system which basically means that your child will be allocated a member of staff on starting at nursery. This doesn’t mean that they cannot spend time with the others – it simply means that this person will be responsible for changing / feeding and charting their developmental progress. This way the key worker gets to know your child and what is their ‘norm’.
We are open from 7.30am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday for 51 weeks of the year and offer a wide range of full and part time places.