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
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.
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
Settling into our Baby Rooms
In today's blog we take a look at the settling in process and key person allocations across our two baby rooms- The Hedgehog Room and The Butterfly room. There are many benefits to your child starting a childcare setting, it's a chance for them to develop additional social skills, learn new skills and gain independence away from their main carers. For this reason we ensure we create close bonds between our staff and your family, particularly between your child and their key person. But what is a key person?
The importance of relationships
'Key person' is a term used a lot in nurseries and it a vital part of our nurturing setting at inspirations. The statutory frameworks (2017) states;
“Each child must be assigned a key person. Providers must inform parents and/or carers of the name of the key person, and explain their role, when a child starts attending a setting. Children thrive from being a part of loving and secure relationships. Children learn best when they are healthy, safe and secure, when their individual needs are met, and when they have positive relationships with the adults caring for them”.
Prior to starting Inspirations, we offer a home visit, a chance for your key person to visit a few weeks before your child's start date. This is an opportunity to tell us all about your child but also a chance for you to ask questions. This will be followed by a series of settling in visits at our setting as follows-
- 1 hour with parent or carer
- 1 hour on their own
- Longer visit including Lunch or sleep
- Last visit including lunch and sleep
During the first session, the key person will spend time with the child and the parent; a general 'getting to know you' session. We will ask you to complete a ‘starting points’ sheet to show us what your child is currently doing and how we can meet their needs. We will also discuss sleep patterns, eating and conversations about your families and any festivals celebrated, religions or dietary requirements. By following your child’s individual routine will help them feel safe and secure, and create a home away from home. 
We are proud of our strong partnerships with parents and ensure we welcome you and your family into our Nursery and Forest School community.
Positive relationships is one of the overarching principles of the EYFS. It’s important to form positive relationships with the children and role model the importance of 'making relationships' with others too.
The Importance of Attachment
The attachment theory originates from the work of John Bowlby (1958). He wanted to look more in depth at the importance of the child’s relationship with their mother in terms of their social, emotional and cognitive development. He formulated his theory surrounding a link between early infant separation with the mother and later mental health problems. Bowlby proposed that attachment with a caregiver provides safety and security for an infant. Within his theory, it is suggested that between 0-5 years old is a critical period of time to form attachments with care givers and forms a secure base for children when exploring the world. Attachments are emotional bonds that children develop with parents and other carers such as their key person at nursery. It is thought that children who have secure attachments cry less when separated, they engage in more pretend play and have a strong sense of who they are. The settling in visits we offer are to support the attachment theory and help the children start to form those attachments with their key person and even the other adults and children in the room.
The home visit and the first visit with the parent is vital to show the children that the parent trusts this new person in their life and they can role model a positive relationship through talking about your children.
If you have any other questions about our baby room settings please don't hesitate to get in 
touch at 0113 2585800 then follow the extension to either the Office, The Butterflies or The Hedgehogs.
This week we are excited to announce Sophie will be our new Room Leader of The Hedgehogs room, as Tara moves on to her new role as Training Manager after 17 years of running the Baby Room. We wish them both well in their exciting new roles within our Nursery.
Summer Solstice
It was the longest day of the year on Monday, also known as Summer Solstice. A day we weren't going to allow to slip past us without making the very best of it.
Summer Solstice occurs when one of the Earth's Poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun, and so naturally we spent the whole day outdoors.
Usually for our Pre-Schoolers our Forest School sessions come back to the Yurt for lunch, before taking another group session in the afternoon. But this Wednesday we took lunch with us and spent the whole day in the forest.
It was beautiful.
Its amazing to see how the environment shapes behaviour and guides play. Spending the whole day in the woods allowed the children the freedom of both space and time without us having to cut short their explorations.
As we entered the woods a little boy at the front ran ahead, I was just about to call him back when I realised he was running to a particular tree simply to wrap his arms around it.
Nature Appreciation
As he held this embrace it occurred to me that this boy was excited to be reunited with a tree, and how wonderful that is.
How often do we remember to be thankful for plants and trees growing around us? I sure learnt something in that moment.
They needed this time.
They had their lunch beneath the trees, played in the hammock and rope swing, collected sticks to create dens, made their own books and explored at their own pace. At the end of the day we played in the long grass, and finished with a Nature Appreciation Story.
Then we headed back to nursery much dirtier, but calmer, wiser and more thankful of the world around us.
'Hello friends, I can see all of the sunshine in you'
Little Litter Pickers
It was during one of our daily Forest School trips that one of our Pre-School children expressed disappointment at finding litter on the ground. We decided to order some litter pickers and set out on an adventure to clean up Horsforth.
At least once a week now a small group set off around Horsforth with Litter Pickers and a bag, collecting every item of trash they see along the way. So far we have met some wonderful people who stop and thank the children. It's a wonderful way of getting exercise, meeting our locals and helping our community.
Watch the video here-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N-yULXVwjk
We're proud of our children for noticing the world around them and caring about the place they live. Would you like to help make Horsforth a cleaner place? Check out the Horsforth Litter Pickers group on facebook.
Toddler's Forest School Garden
Measured Risks and The Great Outdoors
Getting outdoors could not be more important right now, and the health benefits that come with it are not only beneficial but fundamental to our wellbeing. But are the youngest members of our society getting enough outdoor adventurous play? Recent studies suggest not. 85% of parents admit they would like their children to have more adventure, whilst 44% admit they played outside more as a child then their own children do. Indeed this is a sign of the times and sometimes children miss out on these opportunities due to safety worries.
At Inspirations you can rest assured that your children are getting more than their fair share of outdoor play. Our outdoor areas are of equal, if not more importance to our indoor spaces. The 2-3 age group is where our children are first introduced to a designated forest school area in addition to their outdoor area.
Our toddler room garden is an extension of their classroom, filled with repurposed objects and areas that support the many types of schemas as mentioned in the previous blog. There are balancing beams, planks, crates, small world areas to support interests, and many more. It is here we make use of the larger loose parts and ambiguous resources such as milk crates, planks and go kart wheels. We have an open doors policy so in all weathers our toddlers have access to the outdoors.
Raising Confident Learners
Not all children have easy access to nature, so it's important we offer this space from a young age. But why is it important for young children to experience adventurous play?
In 2019 we gained planning permission to extend our toddler room garden and build a Forest School Area. This zone is opened up with increased staffing and introduces the children to more adventurous play, with tracks, steps, netting, hills and trees to explore and climb.
Providing this access opens up valuable experiences they may not get elsewhere. As their brains are forming, growing and changing every minute these measured risks they are exposed to supports healthy boundaries and emotional and physical development. This purpose built area means children are using core muscles, with hills to mount and areas to climb. The uneven ground tests and strengthens their vestibular balance skills and coordination.
Whilst children navigate this recently developed area we encourage them to safely create their own boundaries, trial ways of movement, and learn to just keep trying. Instead of suggesting how to use the area, we as educators will avoid giving direction but instead ask open ended questions. 'I wonder where you'll go next?' or 'wow that looked really hard, and you didn't give up'. By focusing on questions and observations rather than just praise and direction we are building our toddlers inner confidence that sets them up for life.
By creating dens between the trees, growing lavender and scaling balance beams, having this little taste of adventure prepares our toddlers for Forest School when they move to Pre-school ....and beyond.
The Art Studio
Every morning and afternoon our Pre-Schoolers choose where they want to spend their time, between the Yurt/Outdoor Classroom, Forest School or the Art Studio. There is a quaint pebbled path that leads us behind the Yurt, past the new pond and up to this purpose built creative space, but this isn't just any art classroom, we do things a little differently here. http://simonr30.sg-host.com/the-art-room/
Why do we have an Art Studio?
Of course creativity is woven throughout every aspect of our learning at Inspirations, there are mark making tools, paints and clay accessible in all areas, so why do we need an additional separate creative space? The Art Studio, (referred to as an Atelier in the Reggio culture) is so much more than just an Art Room. It is its own separate space for the children to own, re-purpose and re-visit week after week, and is set out to foster self discovery.
100 Languages of Learning
It is a space for smaller groups of children to branch off, be heard, share ideas, and develop the confidence to be leaders of their own research and learning. It is an environment that plays host to books, materials and tools that support the 100 ways of learning with the support of myself as the Atelierista. It is a space where children proceed through their inquiry to reach their hypothesis though guided experiments, mixed media, play, music, light and shadow, sculpture and dramatic play. A space for them to give meaning to, give identity to, and in turn put them selves and their ideas into context within the world they live in.
The walls of the Art Studio are a canvas, a projector screen, an art exhibition and a metaphorical mirror reflecting the evolving learning journey of our children. Through photos and quotes of the children's voice on the wall the children can see where their ideas started, where they are now, and by reading back the children's own words they see that their inputs are recorded, valued and remembered.
It's also important to note that the Atelierista is not an art teacher, rather, an Artist who knows the potential of art materials and children, and the limitless possibilities when these are combined.
Beautiful Mistakes
In the Art Studio the children are not afraid to try new things, because fear of failure doesn't exist. How can it exist in a place where mistakes are simply learning opportunities. A fallen glue pot can become an art project in its self, and a drawing gone wrong can inspire new ideas. One project that stands out began when a child wiped up spilt watercolour paint from the floor with a baby wipe and watched as the colours soaked through the wipe. He then decided to add baby wipes to a canvas, the 'dirty' baby wipes themselves then becoming the art.
Seekers of Meaning
As constant seekers of meaning, our children are making sense of the world around them with everything they do, and our Art studio is one section of our pre-school that fosters this.
This week we will be filming inside the Art Studio to see their explorations brought to life, this short film will be shared on You Tube next week.
- Nathalie
Pre-School at Adel
Are you longing to peer into the future, catch a glimpse of normality resuming once again? I think we can agree this is going on longer than we initially imagined, but here we are. We are still in this together, and we hope during these times of increased social distancing you can still maintain social connections online, just like those in this news story that brought a smile to our faces. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-55732174
So we start this blog by asking, how are you, and what are you grateful for? We are grateful to have our Inspirations Nurseries families that continue to bring a sense of community.
Last week our blog focused on our Horsforth Pre-School, so this week we hand over to Deborah our manager at Adel to talk about our other Inspirations Nursery only 10 minutes away.
Welcome to Adel
At Adel we take children from the age of three, to starting school. Like Horsforth, we follow the Reggio Emilia Approach, which comprises of loose parts, mirrors and reflection, natural resources and investigation of up-cycled and recycled trinkets and materials.
Our setting is within the grounds of Adel St John the Baptist Primary School which is surrounded by beautiful woods and trees. There’s a well-equipped natural garden with a climbing wall, workbench, piano, mud kitchen and bikes. We have the use of the super large playing field and the conservation area which we use twice weekly for Forest School.
Our planning involves the outdoors as much as indoors and the children can choose where they would like to play.
Inside we have a very spacious room with areas to promote learning wherever the children choose to be.
Set Out to Inspire
The aim of our pre-school environments is to inspire the children to want to explore and learn. We have a maths, literacy, construction, small world, home and creative area of which all have natural resources for the children to explore and a wide range of loose parts to promote maths, communication, imagination and problem solving.
After observing the children’s common interests, we plan as a team to add resources and challenges to the areas and talk to the children about what they know and what they want to know, and how they would like to learn.
The children’s key worker also plans for their key children’s individual interests to support and provide opportunities to progress in all areas of development. As we are a pre-school we encourage independence and all skills necessary for school readiness, such as being able to express their own needs, listen to others and stories, separate from their carer, independent self-care, and understanding of British Values which encourages respect for ourselves and others.
Phonic, Spanish and Creativity
We teach phonics which is differentiated to meet and challenge each child’s individual ability. At Adel we also introduce Spanish to the children; an introduction to languages through songs, games and activities promoting enthusiasm with learning languages later in school. We also have our own Atelierista who comes in 3 times a week to deepen creative projects in smaller groups.
Throughout both our Pre-School settings we support your children in becoming strong independent learners, enabling them to think critically and outside the box. Their use of imagination and their understanding of the world, alongside their ability to problem solve, will stand them out from the crowd and give them a head start in life.
If you love our nursery as much as we do, have any questions or are interested in joining us check out more on the website here-http://simonr30.sg-host.com/our-settings/adel/ or contact- deborah@inspirationsnurseries.co.uk
Let's Save The Planet
The difficulties faced globally over the past year make it easier to forget the hot topics of the year before. Looking back over the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020 and remembering the pictures of those red-hot raging fires across Australia, of animals desperately trying to escape the flames, family homes burning and men and women fighting through the smoke and heat futilely trying to combat the flames. It all seems such a long time ago and, in some ways, no longer imposes on us the horror they once did.
The World Has Changed
A pandemic has hit and, in many ways, has made the fires seem further away, maybe not so important, and impactful on our conscience as they once were.
In this distance between one global disaster and another, we have hopefully managed to enjoy, at times, a slower pace of life, we have had the enjoyment of our gardens, our local nature reserve, woodland, park or beach. We have clung to our outdoor spaces seeking the peace, tranquillity and escapism that being outdoors offers us. We have in a sense returned to nature and for many it has soothed troubled souls and helped those many people struggling with their mental health.
You may also have watched the new David Attenborough series EXTINCTION. Within the series he suggests we are currently in what will be the sixth mass extinction of planet Earth with a million species at risk. Our biodiversity is in crisis and he goes so far to say that this lack of biodiversity will, in the future cause more major pandemics and disease amongst the human race.
It is all very overwhelming, daunting, and somewhat scary if you think too deeply or for too long. However, burying our head in the sand will not save our planet. We must do what we can, all we can.
Here at Inspirations, we are naturally, through our ethos of outside learning, Forest school and loose parts play, inspiring our children to appreciate our natural environment, forging a love of nature with a deep-seated respect, and understanding for it. They, with our support and commitment to their futures will turn this all around. They are the generation who will aspire to and ultimately achieve a purely ‘green’ way of living. It is a challenge Children of Inspirations will be well equipped to meet! Read more about our culture and ethos here- http://simonr30.sg-host.com/our-culture/
As parents of the future generation
Like all households and businesses, Inspirations are struggling to maintain our promises to reduce single use items, the pandemic has seen an end to that for now. It does therefore become even more important to do what we can in other areas, like composting, shopping local, not buying plastic covered fruit and veg, walking or cycling where we can. Lots of little things, if we are all joining in, help to make a big difference. They the baby steps we, the parents of the future generation, can do to make it possible for them to take the giant leaps required to save the planet.
2020 is almost over and as we say goodbye to the year that has taught us so much about what is important, I fervently hope and pray that 2021 is happier, healthier and of course more sustainable…
-Nicola
BBC iPlayer - Extinction: The Facts