The Snapdragons Teaching Philosophy
Key person approach
Starting nursery is an exciting time for children and their families, but it can be nerve-wracking too. Children’s first years are completely centred around their parents and families and the relationships they build can impact them forever. That’s why every child is assigned a key person when starting nursery and the child joins their practitioner’s ‘key family’. Your key person is the familiar face for you and your child at nursery.
The key person approach allows practitioners to create a special bond with your child, enabling a positive relationship to be built. With strong attachments to support your child’s wellbeing, they can then feel happy and confident and able to leave you, full of excitement and positive emotions and ready to engage in their learning.
It is important to us that every child has a buddy key family so that they can always feel safe and secure at nursery. And over time your child will develop new relationships and begin to form attachments with some of our other amazing practitioners too.
Parents as Partners
Children and families are at the heart of everything we do and we believe in forming strong partnerships with our families. Parents are their child’s primary educators and are highly experienced in the care that their child requires. A parent’s knowledge of their own child and the things that make them unique help us to do the best for each child.
We plan in the moment with the children, because children’s interests and motivations are always developing. We will send out parent contribution forms periodically so that we can stay up to date on what’s most relevant and important in your child’s life at any time. We have regular parents’ evenings and encourage open conversation at handovers to make sure that the communication between you and your child’s key person is strong.
The EYFS states, “Good parenting and high-quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.” That’s why the partnership between nursery and home is so essential.
We value the individuality and diversity of our families and welcome any contributions from parents so that we can share, embrace and celebrate our rich community.
Teaching in the moment
Play is often free of adult intervention and a degree of learning happens quite naturally. Sensitive adults who have an understanding of the individual child can also play an important role, guiding and building upon the child’s current skills and knowledge within the process of their play.
Teaching at Snapdragons is not formal. It is centred around the child in response to their interests and developmental stage. Through careful observation and intervention, we can capture the ‘teachable moment’ and make a difference to the child’s progression at that very point when they are most motivated and involved. This moment may be during play, but could also occur through conversational interactions, or an adult led activity.
Teaching and planning in the moment is not new. It is exactly what responsive parents are doing with their children every day. Every time our practitioners are looking at and listening to our children they are assessing and planning how best to respond and teach, to meet the child’s next steps in the moment. The teaching is in the moment and is uniquely suited to the child, seizing the opportunity to extend their learning when they are already engaged, involved and motivated.
Enabling & Authentic Environments
Our indoor and outdoor environments are designed to provide space for freedom through active play. They are equipped with accessible and open-ended resources that children can use freely to explore and develop their ideas independently.
We want our children to explore their world with curiosity and fascination, as inquisitive, active and independent learners who are exposed to opportunities for play and exploration that are rich in possibility.
Our children play with real resources; items that are authentic can inspire more imaginative play and encourage high levels of involvement from the children. The uniqueness and relative fragility of the resources demands more respect than plastic equivalents.
Our environments reflect all areas of learning that can be found in the EYFS, we make sure that many of our resources are continuously available to children so that they can use their environments to facilitate their own learning and interests.
Wellbeing and Theraplay
One of our main principles at Snapdragons is to help children to develop life skills. To be resilient, expressive, curious, demanding, compassionate, kind and to have fun. We want them to feel happy, confident and build the abilities to make relationships and form secure attachments.
At Snapdragons we use Sunshine Circles to help achieve this; supporting children to develop personally, socially and emotionally underpins and impacts everything else we do.
Sunshine Circles sessions are embedded in our practice and our wonderful practitioners receive tailored training to enable them to support their key children’s wellbeing. Through short games and the “check-in”, we make sure that our children are building all the skills they need to be ready to learn and to enjoy the next steps in their learning. The Sunshine Circles sessions tune in to all the basic needs of each individual child and allow us to build their self-esteem and celebrate what makes them unique.
The EYFS
The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets the standards for promoting the learning, development and safety of children from birth to five years in Ofsted registered settings.
The EYFS specifies requirements for learning and development and for safeguarding children and promoting their welfare. The learning and development requirements cover:
the areas of learning and development which must shape activities and experiences (educational programmes) for children in all early years settings
the early learning goals that providers must help children work towards (the knowledge, skills and understanding children should have at the end of the academic year in which they turn five)
assessment arrangements for measuring progress (and requirements for reporting to parents and/or carers)
The safeguarding and welfare requirements cover the steps that providers must take to keep children safe and promote their welfare.
The EYFS lays down the legal requirements that early years childcare providers must meet, including:
learning and development requirements: specific areas of learning and development which should shape the activities and experiences offered
assessment requirements: how children’s progress is measured and feedback to parents or carers
safeguarding and welfare requirements: what we must do to keep children safe and promote their welfare
There are seven areas of learning and development that must shape educational programmes in early years settings. All areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected.
Three areas are particularly important for building a foundation for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, forming relationships and thriving. These are the prime areas:
communication and language
physical development
personal, social and emotional development
Providers must also support children in four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied. The specific areas are:
literacy
mathematics
understanding the world
expressive arts and design
The EYFS Framework also sets out the ‘Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning’:
In planning and guiding what children learn, practitioners must reflect on the different rates at which children are developing and adjust their practice appropriately.
Three characteristics of effective teaching and learning are:
playing and exploring - children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’
active learning - children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements
creating and thinking critically - children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things
Culture of Excellence
Snapdragons is led by highly qualified and experienced practitioners. We have teachers with background and experience that ranges from both Primary and Early Years Education. Our teams also benefit from the expertise of graduates with Early Years Degrees and Masters Degrees and from the world-renowned Norland College.
We believe that education and training is key to ensuring that all our practitioners gain the knowledge and skills that will provide high quality care and education for each child. We also use our group of nurseries to support each other in best practice, sharing our ideas and what works well for our children with each other in order to keep our culture of excellence consistent across all of our 10 nurseries.
Our Senior Team visits each nursery regularly to ensure that the standards are maintained. As part of the Senior Team we also have a Quality and Training Manager who monitors the quality of each nursery, ensures that our bespoke Snapdragons curriculum is followed and delivers regular training and CPD sessions to our practitioners.
We work in close partnership with external training organisations to provide thorough and successful apprenticeship programmes. Many of our apprentices have progressed through the company over the years and now hold senior level positions.
We support graduate apprentices to engage in further higher-level training such as Early Years Initial Teacher Training and PGCE with the Best Practice Network in Bristol and Bath Spa University and we support Newly Qualified Teacher Induction. We also host students from several local colleges, allowing us to support the development of the future early years workforce.
We are highly reflective as a nursery group and are always striving to be leaders in best practice for our children. We are very proud to have achieved many accreditations, including UNICEF Rights Respecting, Millie’s Mark, Curiosity Approach Accreditation and are members of the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) and Pickwick Teaching and Learning Academy. We work closely with other nurseries as well as the local authority. Our nursery owner is involved with the Ofsted Regional Network, Wiltshire and Bath reference groups and the Norland External Advisory Board. We also were happy to participate in the Ofsted trial of the new education inspection framework in 2019, which assisted Ofsted in trialling the new inspection format.
Equality, Diversity, Inclusion
All our children are respected and their individuality and potential recognised, valued and nurtured. Our attitudes, activities and resources allow children to develop in an environment free of prejudice and discrimination.
Appropriate opportunities will be given to children to explore, acknowledge and value similarities and differences between themselves and others.
This is achieved by making children feel valued and good about themselves and ensuring all children have equality of access to learning. We recognise different learning styles and ensure each child receives the widest possible opportunity to develop their skills and abilities.
We select resources that positively reflect the widest range of communities and avoid stereotypes or derogatory images as well as celebrating a wide range of festivals.
As a Rights Respecting nursery with a central code of kindness, it is important that the rights of all children and individuals connected with the nursery are respected and this includes the right to make decisions, to try things out, to make mistakes and to learn how to get on with one another.
Central to this is creating a culture of mutual respect and helping children to understand that discriminatory behaviour and remarks are hurtful and do not have a place in our nurseries.
Our planning is individual and inclusive to children with learning difficulties and disabilities and that any special arrangements to aid inclusion are known to staff.
We ensure that children with English as a second language have full access to the curriculum and are encouraged in maintaining their own language. Where possible, Makaton signing and visual timetables will be used to support children.
Global Responsibility
Snapdragons is dedicated to limiting its impact on the environment so that the children they care for can inherit a clean, safe and viable world.
We will encourage the children to be aware of the environment and their place within it and we want children to develop a sense of curiosity, awe and wonder in relation to the natural world.
Environmental stations with displays, recycling bins and sharing libraries are used to promote environmental themes, news and issues and give positive and practical ideas to encourage participation from our children.
We teach children to respect, care for and enjoy the natural world and appreciate living things. Children experience growing and planting and we teach them the importance of not only growing for ourselves but also for the habitat and wildlife.
We teach children about where food comes from and adults are positive role models in appreciating the food we have and in reducing food waste as well as respecting the environment and living things.
Children are exposed to their local and wider community by taking the children on regular walks around the locality, where we can positively reflect on the diverse society that we live in. We encourage an appreciation of our locality and children will be encouraged not to drop litter and to use litter bins.
We have an embedded recycling approach and children will be made aware of the need to recycle materials and children will be made aware of the need to not waste our precious resources, especially food and water.
The Snapdragons Day
Dropping off
We know that mornings with young children can sometimes be a challenge and we do our best to make the transition from home to nursery each day smooth, positive and happy, so that you can leave with a spring in your step!
You’ll be met at the door by a member of your child’s key team and this is a chance to share important information and to discuss anything your child is enjoying or is interested in at home, so that we can build this into their nursery day.
We offer a breakfast of toast, cereal, fruit or healthy homemade muffins as children arrive, so you don’t have to worry if your morning has been one big rush, or even if your child got up so early they’re ready for a top up breakfast!
Child-led Learning
During their day, children are encouraged to follow their interests and explore our environments freely. Play is incredibly powerful for development and the “characteristics of effective learning” can be observed when children are fully emerged in their play, motivated by their interests. Every day children have access to an extensive range of painting, art and craft equipment, sensory play opportunities, water, sand and playdough. There are countless opportunities for imaginative play, from our authentic home corner environments, where children can make sense of the world by emulating familiar scenes, through to becoming architects and designers in our construction areas. The opportunities are open ended and endless!
Adult-led Learning
At Snapdragons we want every child to reach their full potential through a balance of free play and thoughtful teaching and learning experiences. We provoke learning and curiosity through invitations to play, where we arrange areas of the environment that stimulate our children to explore, investigate, question, examine, participate, touch, feel and manipulate through as much independent play as the materials can possibly allow.
We make sure children are ready for school by providing opportunities for learning key skills and knowledge appropriate for their stage of development. Within each daily routine we teach these skills through playful activities and games, stories and song, and through practical experiences such as mealtimes.
We know that the number of words babies, toddlers and young children experience has a powerful impact on their later achievement; we create language rich environments steeped in talk, story, rhyme and song in which our interactions provide the best possible start in life for every child. We follow the Department for Education’s Phase One Letters and Sounds programme which supports the Early Years Foundation Stage.
Outdoor Learning
Whatever the weather, we spend time in the morning and the afternoon in our outdoor environments. Being outside is important for children’s learning; they can run faster, jump higher and play as loudly as they like; they learn about the seasons and the weather by experiencing them physically, noticing how the weather changes, how their bodies feel outside in different temperatures, rather than looking from the window of a classroom.
Our outdoor environments have been designed with as much care as the indoor environments. They are equally important, but very different, working together to support our children’s wellbeing, health and development.
Please have a look at our Outdoor Learning page for more information.
Sunshine Circles
Developing life skills at Snapdragons means growing the capacity to be resilient, expressive, curious, demanding, compassionate, kind and to have fun. Our children should feel happy and confident and be able to form secure attachments.
We use Sunshine Circles to help children to develop personally, socially and emotionally, underpinning everything we do. Sunshine Circles sessions are embedded in our practice and our wonderful practitioners receive tailored training to enable them to support their key children’s wellbeing. Through short games and the “check-in”, we make sure that our children are building all the skills they need to be ready to learn and to enjoy the next steps in their learning. The Sunshine Circles sessions tune in to all the basic needs of each individual child and allow us to build their self-esteem and celebrate what makes them unique.
Mealtimes
All our meals are homemade at the nursery by our wonderful nursery chefs. We have two main meals across the full nursery day where the children eat together with their key people as well as breakfast and an afternoon snack.
Our mealtimes are full of opportunity for learning for our children; we encourage independence but also support them in their needs and help them to fill their tummies.
We believe that the food we offer our children is incredibly important and it fuels their day. That’s why we use the best fresh, local, sustainably sourced raw ingredients and are proud to have been awarded the Food for Life Gold Served Here Award from the Soil Association since 2012.
More information about healthy eating and menus can be found here.
Sleep
A well-rested child will have more capacity to enjoy their nursery day and benefit from all the stimulating environments available to them. Sleep and rest are essential at nursery and our rooms are designed to convert easily into relaxing sleeping spaces with comfortable snooze mats or sleep coracles. We always follow the sleep routines of home, so, when you start with us, do be sure to tell us the details of how your child likes to settle to sleep.
Children who no longer need a day-time nap may still want to have a rest and each of our rooms have a “hygge” area, designed to feel cosy and comfortable for a break from the busy nursery day.
Picking Up
At the end of your child’s session, you are encouraged to chat with the key person and hear all about the child’s day. We will tell you which activities, resources and friends your child has enjoyed playing with, as well as all of the details of the day, such as how much they have eaten, or slept.
This is a great time to catch up with us about how your child is progressing or to ask any questions you might have. Our managers are around and available for a quick chat or to go through anything you would like to discuss.
Transitions
During your child’s time with us and, as they grow and develop, they will move through our nursery. We aim to make sure children are as secure as possible when transitioning to a new room and key family. Your child will have settling in sessions just like the ones when they first started. They are organised by your key person who will support your child in building a new relationship with their new key person during several settling in sessions. The amount and length of these are tailored to each child’s individual needs.
We want you to feel happy as parents about your child’s transition too. You’ll be invited to look around the new room and speak to the new key person. We’ll also send you some quick forms to complete to make sure we are up to date with all of your child’s needs.
When your child is ready and settled, they will move to their new room.
We also support children in the same way when they move on to school. We make strong relationships with the local schools, inviting teachers in to meet the children and observe them in the nursery setting as well as completing the transition paperwork schools require to support your child on their next big adventure!
The Snapdragons Approach
These six strands are the foundation of what makes up our Snappy Approach
Play is Paramount
Play is core to learning and the most powerful learning happens through play. We deliver our curriculum through play-based experiences where the environment and practitioners are skilled in ensuring the children have everything they need to be motivated and engaged in their play and learning.
Proficient Practitioners
Our robust induction and training programme covers everything that our practitioners need to be the best teachers for our Snappy children. We believe there is a direct link between the quality of education and training our team receives and the quality of education they provide.
Prestigious Pedagogy
We have developed our pedagogical programme using knowledge and experience gained during almost 25 years of providing care and education for children. The individual child is at the centre of our planning process. Planning is bespoke for each child and, through experience and influence from our philosophical foundations, we have developed a perfect holistic curriculum.
Families First
The families of our children are core to the care we provide. You, the parents and carers, are the child’s primary educators and with your input we can make sure that your child’s care is consistent. Our practitioners will walk with you on your child’s learning and development journey.
Environment as the Third Teacher
“What would it be like to be a child here?” is the question that leads the way in every decision we make and with every environment we create. We want our children to be exposed to the resources and equipment they need to learn, develop, be motivated and inspired. If they want to come to nursery and build a rocket to fly to the moon, our resources and their imaginations will launch them into space.
Our Philosophical Influencers
Reggio Emilia
Maria Montessori
Te Whāriki
The Curiosity Approach
Forest School
UNICEF Rights Respecting