Making up Stories
Last week it was National Story telling week, so our children had a go creating their own stories. Here are the stories from 2 of our pre-school children.
Taking Care of Mental Health
In today’s blog we are thinking and looking at the importance of taking care of our mental health and wellbeing. To say the last year has been difficult would be an understatement! It has been extremely challenging and may have taken a toll on our mental health and wellbeing.
At Inspirations we believe that the staff are the lifeblood of our nursery, and therefore supporting their mental health and wellbeing is a key priority. This was top of the agenda for our first staff meeting of the year.
As a setting we have introduced a new wellbeing policy and different initiatives (ie wellbeing basket, flowers and activities in the staff room, celebrating working anniversaries), to help staff to focus on their own wellbeing, while supporting them both professionally and personally. Staff also have full access to our EAP program (employee assistant program). The program offers a free 24hr confidential helpline to help with anything from stress and anxiety to gambling issues. If needed staff can be referred for 6 free counselling sessions. The program also offers many wellbeing services with its ‘My Healthy Advantage’ app where you can do things from mini health checks to tracking your sleep or mood. Family members can also access the program.
Promoting wellbeing among staff is not only humane and a good thing in itself but, also has a number of benefits for our setting, such as.
- Positive impact on children, including stronger relationships.
- Reduced absences
- Staff being able to manage their own stress better and to develop healthier coping strategies.
- Staff feeling valued, supported and invested in.
Supporting Mental Health in Early Years
The foundations for a child’s healthy emotional development are known to be laid down in their early years. At Inspirations we recognise the importance of positive early experiences for mental wellbeing. Feelings or attachment, security and positive stimulations within loving relationships (key person) help to strengthen a child’s development emotionally. This makes them more likely to thrive and become healthy adults.
We know at Inspirations that all adults who spend time with young children have a responsibility to help in their healthy mental development and wellbeing. This is just another reason why we make it a priority all staff are qualified to level 3 or above (or working toward).
Some of the ways we support our children’s wellbeing daily are, through stories, outdoor play, singing, music, drawing and crafts, use of emotional language, role play and general play.
In relation to children’s wellbeing, long term Forest School programs are found to have positive impacts on children’s physical and mental health, in addition to improving their social and cognitive competence. Being outside in a natural environment has been shown to relieve stress by reducing the levels of stress hormone, cortisol, in the brain. Children taking part in forest school sessions quickly show evidence of a greater emotional maturity.
Promoting wellbeing in children enhances their confidence and resilience. The promotion of social skills through group games and activities will enable our children to be confident communicators and develop positive friendships and relationships. Our forest school sessions also promote self-esteem and emotional intelligence by giving children ownership and control. Being outdoors in our beautiful natural environment is as beneficial to the staff as it is to our children.
Our setting is homely and cosey with lots of opportunity for conversations. Children are encouraged to choose what they do, with guided play (forest school, art studio). Children also have opportunity to take safe risks, building their confidence and resilience.
As a team we are constantly reflecting on our environment and daily routine, and how it best supports children’s emotions. We also recognise that family is the most important influence in a child’s life. Building strong bonds with our parents/carers is extremely important to us at Inspirations. All our children/families have their own key person. The presence of a key person helps both the child and parent/carer to feel more emotionally secure, and of course our management team are also there to offer support to our families daily.
-Tara
What's New for 2022
Welcome back from us all at Inspirations Nurseries, we hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break and New Year. We are excited for the year ahead and welcome back our current families and all our new families who are joining us this coming year.
We are excited to reveal that this year we will see all onsite construction complete! After over 3 years of developments and improvements, and some Covid related delays, our onsite developments will be finished.
So what can we expect to see this year?
The new staff room
Our growing staff require more space so our new staff room is well under way next to the Art Studio. This frees up the old staff room space which we will transform into a dinning area for our pre-schoolers. This will be a place for them to enjoy Carol’s hot meals cooked on site and refuel after their morning at forest school, art studio, yurt or outdoor classroom.
The Green house and Vegetable Patch
Coming 2022, a new exciting onsite development. Our new green house and vegetable patch will be an additional space for all age groups to explore and enjoy. A space for them to grow their own plants, fruit and vegetables. Another opportunity for our children to learn from nature and even taste their produce.
The Walk of Art
This year will be taking part in the Walk of Art again on 2nd July. The theme this year is Many Leaves, One Tree, and focuses on us being individuals who are still connected.
Some other dates for the diary include:
Summer Party- Saturday 23rd July
Parents evening- Monday 20th June
A New Years Resolution
It might be 2022, but our ethos and mission remains the same. As a nursery our new years resolution is to continue to learn from nature and make the right choices for our children and our planet.
Teaching children about the natural world should be seen as one of the most important events in their lives - Thomas Berry
2021 Wrapped
The year in review
Our children at Inspirations continue to lead their own learning and inspire us each day as we view the world through their eyes. Whilst Covid-19 still lingers over us for another December let's remind our selves of the many languages of learning our children have embarked on this year.
100 Languages in 12 Months- One photo for each month
January
After a Tier 4 Christmas 2020 our children came back in January eager to see their friends and explore. Nursery remained open throughout the January lock down and outdoor learning was as always, a priority. We jumped straight back into the year with a chill as the children explored the natural ice with power paint pipettes and brushes.
February
What is love? Snow stayed with us to Valentines Day as we focused on what love means, how it feels and what it looks like. At Nursery we focused on the beauty of learning from mistakes, and how our children seek meaning in everything they do. Check out our blog from February this year. https://inspirationsnurseries.co.uk/news/the-art-studio/
March
March saw our new pond thriving- A new project to invite natural wildlife into our setting and support the natural eco-system.
This also provided a wonderful learning opportunity as the children watched the life cycle of a frog unfold in front of them.
April
Sun spills into the art studio and the newly developed decking as their interest in flowers and growth develops. The toddlers embraced their forest school garden and there was a focus on raising confident learners.
Our Pre-schoolers took to the streets to litter pick, making Horsforth a cleaner place.
- https://youtu.be/5N-yULXVwjk
May
More developments happened in the Spring, a new outdoor classroom was built in the toddler room with shelter from the rain. The Art Studio decking was also upgraded with a rain cover, insulation and under floor heating.
Forest School spent longer hours in the woods making the most of the seasonal changes- check out our blog from one of our sessions -https://inspirationsnurseries.co.uk/news/spring-time-in-the-forest/
June
Whilst the Art Studio developments took place the buggy shed became a new pop up Art Studio. We also invited pre-school parents in for an open day parents evening where they experienced Forest School and the Art Studio and learnt about the Reggio Approach to learning.
July
In July we took the art studio sessions into the woods along with some mirrors to give some new perspective. The walk of art gave the children chance to showcase our forest school song -
August
The were some more changes within nursery as Tara stepped into her new training role, Sophie became Hedgehog Baby room leader and Becki became Butterflies Baby room leader. All three are flourishing in their new roles.
September
End of an era for some of our children as we said goodbye to our school leavers as they embark on their next adventure. This also meant a few transition for some of our toddlers moving up to our outdoor pre-school setting.
October
Time to light the wood burning stove again and to the pumpkin patch we went to bring an array of pumpkins back to nursery.
November
In November we celebrated Diwali and Bonfire night throughout all of our rooms. This was an exciting month for pre-school as Forest School Rachel stepped into the role of Pre-School Room leader.
December
The month we all came together for our Christmas party. And here we are again, a whole year later, and have you seen a cuter snowman? The children crafted this snowman last week using clay, wire and felt for the scarf.
This year we have seen some big developments to our onsite forest school, our new outdoor classrooms and the pond. We continue to have our amazing group of committed staff and we are excited to welcome more in the New Year as our nursery growth continues. But the biggest developments we have seen this year is in the children. There is no limit to their capabilities, curiosity and positivity through what has once again been a challenging but rewarding year.
Here's our festive video from last year. So with just one week to go, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from us all at Inspirations Nurseries and Forest School.
https://youtu.be/y_6UFaNqbx0
2021 in the Art Studio
Looking back over another year in the Art Studio reminds me how every year of learning is completely different to the previous one, and that's the beauty of a child led setting.
The Art Studio is Reggio Emilia inspired space for the 3 and 4 year olds. They come in smaller groups to extend any areas of learning interests through all kinds of expressive arts. It is a purpose built wooden structure set behind the yurt where the children's voice forms the basis for each following weeks planning and activities. Because of this there is no way of knowing what subjects will be explored and what questions shall be raised by the children. But one thing i do know is; the combination of their imagination and curiosity, and the art studio's extensive creative supplies of art, music and visuals makes for a thousand possibilities.
Here's just some of what we got up to this year-
The year started with an interest in creating structures. I noticed the children using clay, magnets and loose parts to build spaces. This lead onto an interest in castles and 3D shapes which lead the children to compare materials.
As early spring set in the children noticed changes to our trees and the first sign of growth. This was to lead onto a 7 month project exploring plants, flowers and trees, but also lead us to look at different artists and styles of painting. Van Gogh's sunflowers inspired us to try new ways of painting, as we studied Blossom, Sunflowers and Dandelions.
'The branches are little paths'
The growth interest lasted the entire Spring and Summer, we dissected plants and vegetables as the children experimented with their own ideas of the hypothesis of the journey from seed to plant. In the Autumn as the trees started changing they became a topic of interest which lead to a tree structure being built from floor to ceiling.
Throughout all of these group interests, individual interests are happening simultaneously and woven throughout each art session. Here's just a snippet of this years creativity-
Don't forget to check out our Art Studio video on Youtube-
-Nathalie
https://youtu.be/4-59qb9GgdQ
Measured Risks- Part 2
In our previous blog 'Risky Play' https://inspirationsnurseries.co.uk/risky-play/ -we defined the importance of risky play with the pre-school age group, but how can we incorporate measured risks within our youngest rooms?
Physical Risks and Emotional Risks
At Inspirations Nurseries and Forest School we are committed to outdoor play adventurous and creative play. Taking risks isn't a negative; it is about learning to safely manage tasks. Risky play can often be physical, but also includes taking emotional risks such as conquering fears and meeting new friends, and mental challenges such as learning a new routine or overcoming a fear.
We work with our parents to find out each child's ability and how they are challenged. During home visits and settling in sessions we get to know the families and can usually determine whether the parents take measured risks themselves. At nursery, the educators will be aware of children's limits and which children need more support than others. Babies begin to take risks as soon as they begin exploring the world and their environment through crawling, rolling, walking, running and balancing.
There are a few examples within the baby room where we have adapted our expectations to support children in their needs to explore. We noticed the babies climbing up the slide, instead of limiting this need to explore we supported them, removed their potentially hazardous socks and enabled them to learn their own limitation and boundaries.
Another example is from a few years ago involving our very low babies table. The rule was simply 'no climbing on the platform' but this need for them to explore was constant and persistent. And so, with support we allowed them to climb. Interestingly after this rule changed they stopped trying to climb on it due to the fact we enabled them to take their measured risk safely and they mastered that new skill.
Supporting Adventurous Play
By allowing measures risks we are making our children more aware of their surroundings and abilities. Our aim is to let them find their limitations themselves instead of preventing learning opportunities. We often hear the words 'be careful' thrown around, but by simply changing our language we can help our children achieve their goals more safely. Here's some ways we can use language to encourage our toddlers and children with new tasks-
- 'Stay focused on what you’re doing.'
- 'Take your time'
- 'Find more space/do you need more space'
- 'Do you feel stable/balanced/safe'
- 'I’m here if you need me.'
- 'What could you do differently?'
The space and freedom that comes with our outdoor setting allows children to hone in on their motor skills, build their muscles and indulge in their natural curiosity. In our toddler room garden we have created a separate area incorporating some trees for climbing, slopes and ropes with uneven surfaces. This is heavily supervised but allows the children to take more risks in a safe environment. It strengthens their resilience and prepares them for even more opportunities when they are able to go in the woods for forest school sessions when they turn 3. With support and the right environment there is no limit to the tasks they can accomplish.
'The more risks you allow children to take, the better they learn to take care of them selves'
- Kayleigh
Forest School in the News
It's becoming more common to find Forest School articles making the news and for all the right reasons. Out of the turmoil of lock down came some good news stories, and here is one that we wanted to share with you.
Lockdowns were “a chance to get off the treadmill” for families, says Lewis Ames, co-director of Devon-based forest school Children of the Forest. They’ve seen a rise in applications since the start of the pandemic, with about 150 families on their toddler-group waiting list, and 50-60 children on the waiting list for their forest school for home-educated children.
Risky Play
Why do we advocate risky play at Inspirations?
‘Encouraging children to enjoy challenges rather than to shy away from them, could also increase their persistence and learning abilities.’ - (Dweck 2000)
We are reading more and more to support this view in the paper and in the news. Children are becoming so mollycoddled and protected that certain traits like independence, resilience, creativity and confidence are being eroded away. It is this erosion of critical life skills that has driven Inspirations move towards our Reggio Emilio inspired approach to learning and our Forest School ethos. Both pedagogies allow for environments rich in learning opportunities including those gained from taking risks and learning to manage those risks.
So, what is risky play?
Risky play is how we allow, encourage even, our children to explore, examine and play within areas, or with equipment, which could be determined as carrying a measured level of risk. Examples of risky play within our Nursery environment would show themselves particularly within our Forest school ethos where children are encouraged to climb, slip and slide in mud, traverse small streams, swing on rope swings and use tools such as hammers and potato peelers for whittling wood.
Of course, measured risk is not limited to our Forest School children, our babies and toddlers have balance beams to traverse, uneven ground to manoeuvre through and even nettles which are purposefully left within our garden as part of our measured risky play policy.
How does risky play help build more resilient, independent confident children?
Taking measured risk gives children the opportunity to fail, learn and adapt processes. It naturally encourages children to be determined and resilient to failure, which in turn shows them the flip-side of failure: success!
It is a beautiful thing to observe children helping their friends, problem solving together, building up their teamwork and communicative skills and showing such compassion, support and encouragement to one another during particularly challenging moments. The beauty is, that each child understands that they may be the supportive one on this occasion, next time though it could be them needing the support of their peers!
Obviously failing can be a stressful, uncomfortable feeling, one which as adults we can fully understand. But it is important that our children are able to manage their stress and know that they have the skills and understanding to overcome it. It's important that they realise it is a temporary state of mind that, once managed and overcome can in fact lead to great success.
Here at Inspirations children can traverse manageable challenges and are able to experience small levels of temporary fear and stress finding they have ways of overcoming it. This leads to adults who have a balanced view and approach to risk.
Risky play should not be…
..Dangerous! You may have noticed throughout this blog I have consistently used the word measured. This word is paramount when talking about any risk but particularly so when working alongside children. At Inspirations our risk assessments are carried out on a daily basis whether they be in written form or within our day-to-day observations of children’s play and interactions with each other.
We are constantly assessing the levels of risk and putting in place management strategies for those risks. This may be as simple as ‘it’s too windy to go into the woods today as hanging dead wood may fall off trees’ to 'that piece of equipment is looking worn and needs fixing or replacing'. At all times you can rest assured our team of highly qualified educators are adept and assessing and keeping our children safe whilst at the same time offering all the joys and learning opportunities of MEASURED risky play! Win, win…
Pumpkin Picking
It's that's time of year again...
The time that nature hands us natural learning supplies by the plenty. Conkers, acorns and fallen leaves are brought into our learning environment to inspire creativity, discussions, and all kinds of learning through play.
In the Art Studio, the children are inspired by Leaf Man, making their own leaf people and arrangements on the Lightbox. But there is one thing missing: pumpkins!
Every year we take our pre-school children to Kemps Farm- Horsforth Pick your own. In spring they open up for strawberry and fruit picking. In Autumn they provide thousands of pumpkins all shapes sizes and colours. How lucky we are that this is on our door step.
So on this crisp cold but sunny Thursday morning in October we counted heads, suited up and set out for our Autumn adventure.
A Beautiful Day
When we arrived it was a little different to last year, much to their delight, this time we had a tractor ride to the field. Just 5 minutes from nursery and we somehow felt like we were in the middle of the countryside. Next year the tractor driver said he might even drive us right back to nursery.
As we meandered around the one way dirt tracks through the fields of orange the children selected the pumpkins to bring back. Orange, white, green, bumpy, they selected a total variety. The terrain added to the adventure, climbing over the winding stalks and wading through the mud was a naturally formed assault course. We definitely recommend wellies!
Wheel barrows full and imaginations captured we began our walk back to Inspirations. We arrived back to our yurt in time for our Spaghetti Bolognese and we look forward to showing you what we do with our chosen pumpkins next week. Watch this space.
Happy Halloween!
-Nathalie
Autumn Equinox
As the yellow takes over the green of the leaves, the Pre-School children get ready for a full day in the woods to celebrate the end of summer. We take a bag of sandwiches, oatcakes, veggie sticks, plenty of fruit and some hot chocolate.
During the autumnal equinox, the sun shines directly on the equator, and the northern and southern hemispheres get the same amount of rays. The alignment officially occurs at 2:21 p.m. Wednesday, around the exact time we were laying on our backs looking up at the trees.
We were there to celebrate change, to appreciate the natural surroundings, the end of summer, and freedom and time to learn from our woods. I brought my camera along to capture some of the children at play-
