Lewis is in our toddler room. This attractive picture shows how he has been given the opportnity to experiement with colour and design. He selected his own materials and laid out his picture and it is proudly displayed on the wall for friends and visitors to enjoy.

Patti used a simple tool, a glue spreader, to create her picture. Manipulating objects is a key skill for toddlers to learn.

Amelie is developing a whole range of different skills at this age. Activities like sticking are excellent for practising manual dexterity.

A wonderful smell of Chinese cooking wafted through the air at Rum Tum Tugger’s Nursery in Harlow as the children celebrated Chinese New Year. There were things to smell and taste, a chance to try chop sticks and a variety of art and craft projects to do.

Our toddler group made chinese lanterns. At this stage of development, children are becoming aware of shapes and patterns which is part of the EYFS area of learning for Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy.

They made cards showing Cherry Blossom using pink fingerprints. Children at this age enjoy making marks and looking at each others projects. This is a very early stage in the development of writing skills.

The wall display is made up of a variety of pictures coloured by the toddlers. It’s important for children to begin to talk about the special times in other peoples lives, like celebrations in other cultures.

Change in Policy on Moving Up

At present, children move on to their next rooms in their birth month. Whilst this seems the most obvious way to undertake this exercise, it presents certain draw backs. Firstly, from a business point of view, there are constant changes in our admission sheets and invoicing. Secondly, from a child’s perspective, this can mean that they makes this transition without the emotional anchor of a friend. Thirdly, each month there are children needing additional adult support as the transition takes place.

Jil and I have been in discussion with the room leaders about ways to improve these crucial stages of nursery development. The suggestion has been made that children should move up as a group with those children whose birthdays fall within the same academic term. This is best explained in the table below.

In making this change, we have improved on the transition experience for the child by allowing them the increased emotional security of being with their friends. It enables easier administration of admissions and is a more effective use of human resources. It does pose one problem whereby, some parents/carers may feel that their child is ready to move on but is being held back by waiting for the next block transition. Jil and I have always promoted the individuality of our service and this still remains crucial to the way children develop at Rum Tum Tugger’s. As a result, if a child’s developmental needs were no longer being met, then they would move on accordingly.

Fees would still change with birth month and funding would still work in line with our existing policy.

Nursery will be open again tomorrow. Conditions are predicted to still be very icy so please drive carefully and take care crossing the car park to the entrance.

Hayley x