Aspects of Learning at Lesley Bothwell Nurseries
Barnton, 534 Queensferry Road, Edinburgh, EH4 6EE , Telephone: 0131 339 6340.
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Royal Mile, Stamp Office Close, 215 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1PX, Telephone: 0131 226 6574.
Babies Enjoy Baking Sessions
Sensory Play – Messy But Fun
The Sound Of Music!
Gathering autumn leaves
Wonderful facilities
Saying Hello to Spring Visitors
Courtyard Play Space At Royal Mile
The Nursery
You Need To Practice Your Ironing!
Experimentational Sensory Play
Aspects of Learning
Keeping each child happy is our number one aim and everything happens at a pace with which the child feels comfortable.
Children aged 3 month to 3 years old
Responsive Care – Relationships – Respect
Although there is plenty of opportunity for siblings to spend time together during the nursery day, our playrooms are segregated according to age in order that we can best meet the needs of each child at his or her stage of development.
Children find security and happiness in having flexible routine and each playroom’s timetable for meals, naps and play activities is structured around achieving this.
Babies and their parents need to be assured that the nursery routine will harmonise with home experiences. Each baby therefore has a nursery key-carer who takes a close interest in the insight and knowledge the parents can offer.
Each baby has her/his likes and dislikes, how they like to be comforted and cuddled, their preferred way of being put to sleep and what times they should be fed.
When a baby joins our nursery, their Mum and Dad are invited to come for as many settling in visits as they wish.
Our aim is to provide as much peace of mind to parents as we possibly can. Regular phone calls to the nursery to check on the well being of your baby are welcomed. Detailed records of each child’s daily routine are noted down for discussion between the key-carer and parent at the end of each day.
Regular parent evenings and social events also help to ensure that the child’s life at home and at nursery is one cohesive experience, which is essential to the wellbeing and happiness of every child.
Children aged 3-5 years old
Confident individuals – Successful Learners – Effective Contributors – Responsible Citizens
As your children grow older, our nursery adapts to their changing needs and activities become more focused. In the planning and supervision stages of these activities, our staff are fully aware of working towards the following desirable outcomes:
- Health and Well Being - Friendship, caring, sharing, equality, love. Food and health. Positive relationships
- Expressive Arts - Plays and musical performances, role play, dance, visual arts
- Early Numeracy - Exploring numbers, quantities, counting, sequencing, grouping, money, order, additional and subtraction, symmetry
- Sciences - Environment, plants and growing. Natural resources. Introduction to biology
- Literacy and English - Emergent writing skills. Books and reading. Listening and talking. Creating texts. Understanding analysis and evaluating.
- Social Studies - Local geography. Families and friends. People who help us.
- Technologies – ICT, photography, programmable toys, navigation and co-ordination skills
- Religious and Moral Studies - Celebrations, festivals and customs. Values and beliefs.
From careful observation, our personnel note the progress of each child, creating an on-going personal leaning plan. This indicates any areas requiring attention. All this cumulative knowledge is translated into a pre-school report and an interesting ‘All About Me’ folder created by each child – a wonderful scrap book capturing wonderful memories for the future.
Pre-school children enjoy trips to Lesley’s Fife farm during the harvest celebration and at Easter time. Lesley keeps two “micro” pigs, a dwarf goat and a donkey – all expertly tamed for the children’s general enjoyment and education, as well as a couple of laying hens. For the majority of the children, this is a rare and wonderful opportunity to learn about and care for “farm” animals and they love the regular visits of these pets to their nursery.
HMI approval and help with nursery fees
The fact that we have been selected and approved to work in partnership with the Local Authority in delivering the 3-5 year old curriculum means two key benefits for every parent.
A regular and rigorous inspection regime of each or our nurseries by HMI schools inspectors and the Education Department means you can be confident that your child is receiving the best in pre-school education. You can see the evidence in the HMI inspection report for each nursery, which if freely available to every parent.
The Local Authority gives you financial assistance with the funding of your nursery place, paid out direct to you through the nursery on each of the three terms per year.