🌱 The Importance of Early Years

At Conkers Day Nursery, we place great value on the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) because we believe the early years are a critical time in every child’s development. Children learn and develop at a faster rate from birth to five years old than at any other stage of life, and their early experiences have a lasting impact on their future success and well-being.

Our dedicated staff are committed to delivering the highest quality care and education, ensuring every child gets a happy, confident start to school life and fostering a lifelong love of learning.

“All children deserve the care and support they need to have the best start in life. Children learn and develop at a faster rate from birth to five years old than at any other time in their lives. Their experiences in early years have a major impact on their future life chances. A secure, safe and happy childhood is important. Good parenting and high-quality early learning provide the foundation children need to fulfil their potential.”
(EYFS, page 7)

🤝 Working in Partnership with Parents

We work closely with parents and carers, gathering up-to-date information about children's interests, home learning, and family events. This partnership enables our keyworkers to plan quality learning experiences that are tailored to each child.

Our approach is centred on:

• Practitioner-led interactions
• A rich and stimulating environment
• Ongoing opportunities for exploration and discovery

📚 How We Support Children’s Learning

Our educational programme allows us to adapt:

• Learning environments
• Staff interactions and questioning
• Choice of resources

This helps us shape every child’s learning journey through a curriculum based on the ‘Birth to Five Matters’ guidance, supporting knowledge, skills, and behaviours for lifelong learning.

🧩 How We Deliver the Curriculum

We deliver our curriculum using a ‘Focus Week’ approach for each child.

During Focus Week:

• Keyworkers gather insights through their own observations, input from parents and carers, and the child’s voice.
• The learning environment and planned activities are adapted to reflect the child's interests and needs.
• Both indoor and outdoor experiences are enhanced to support personalised learning and development.

📝 How We Assess Learning

Assessment is an ongoing process at Conkers. During Focus Week:

• Keyworkers and staff collaborate to create a detailed learning journey observation, supported by a range of evidence.
• Observations are linked to Birth to Five Matters and the Characteristics of Effective Learning.
• This feeds into our nursery cohort planning and future learning goals for each child.

We also celebrate progress through personal ‘wow moments’, which are shared with parents and carers regularly.

🗓️ Termly Assessments

In addition to ongoing observations, we carry out termly assessments to:

• Track developmental progress
• Encourage two-way communication with parents
• Share further insight into the child’s development

👶 Two-Year Progress Checks

For all children attending before 36 months, we complete a Two-Year Progress Check, aiming to finish this before the child reaches 30 months. If a child joins later, the check will be completed before 36 months.

These checks are shared with parents and offer an opportunity to discuss development in detail with the child’s keyworker.

🎯 Planning Boards

We use working whiteboards in each room to support daily planning and reflection. Each board includes:

• Activities and experiences, linked to children’s interests and provocations
• The intent behind each experience (also detailed in the room setups)
• The current cohort displayed alongside the planning

At the end of each week:

• A photo of the board is taken
• The photo is printed and placed in the planning file
• It is accompanied by the Birth to Five Matters ranges relevant to that room

👩‍🏫 Staff Ratios

At Conkers, we ensure each child receives the attention and care they need with carefully considered staff-to-child ratios:

• Babies (3–24 months) – 1 adult for every 3 children
• Toddlers (2–3 years) – 1 adult for every 5 children
• Preschool (3+ years) – 1 adult for every 8 children

This allows our team to provide nurturing, personalised support at every stage of your child’s early years journey.