Welcome to Nursery

We are fortunate to have a very enthusiastic and experienced nursery team.

Class Teachers: Mrs Hawthorne

Higher Level Teaching Assistant: Mrs Gratwick 

Teaching Assistants: Mrs Rees, Mrs Wayne

We provide an adventurous, outdoor-based, experience-rich setting. We work with you and your child to ensure that they are happy and thriving in our nursery. We have frequent formal and informal meetings with parents to support all aspects of your child's development. The photos below will give you an idea of the type of exciting, hands-on play and learning that children enjoy in our nursery.

We work closely with the Reception class teaching team to prepare your child for their next steps. 

Our Nursery Goals

By the time they leave nursery, most children will be able to…

• Complete four laps of the big playground
• Make playdough following a recipe card
• Send a message to a friend and “sign” it
• Re-tell a story using key story telling vocabulary
• Enjoy Quiet Time and be able to express how they are feeling
• Identify the common birds and flowers in our nursery garden
• Make a model independently
• Climb the cargo net

Our Approach

At Cherry Hinton Nursery we want children to be happy and engaged.  We are fortunate to have an expansive nursery garden and a wooded Nature Land where the children can learn through uninterrupted self-chosen play. We believe that most children feel happier and more open to talk when they are outdoors in a natural environment.  In our nursery garden the children can play with sand, mud, water and sticks.  We actively encourage them to build dens and take measured risks. We carefully introduce open fires into our forest-school inspired play and regularly enjoy building bonfires and cooking over open flames. The children are encouraged to observe and name the trees, plants, birds and bugs in our garden and to notice the seasonal changes outside. 

We have regular visitors to nursery – including musicians, pet owners, artists, craftsmen and women and people who work in the community (postal workers, firefighters, police officers). We also take the children on trips into the local area e.g. to the baker, church, allotments, library, supermarket.

We are proud to serve a diverse community.  We have many different  languages spoken in our setting. We encourage language development through visual support and Makaton signing.

We welcome you to our nursery and hope your child will enjoy a happy and creative time here!

Reading

We focus on several class books and rhymes every term. In the summer term we will be enjoying some traditional tales including:  The Little Red Hen and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We will be learning rhymes including “Chook, Chook Chook-Chook-Chook” and  “When Goldilocks Went to the House of the Bears.” 

Developing Hand Strength

Many skills are required to develop an efficient pencil grasp. These include the ability to move fingers in isolation of each other, adequate hand muscle strength, & good wrist stability.

• Encourage your child to pop bubble wrap using the whole hand and individual fingers
• Use dough to “work out” fingers and the whole hand. Encourage your child to squeeze, poke with individual fingers and thumbs, roll and pat the dough with the whole hand
• Place dough in rubber/latex glove, encouraging your child to manipulate and squeeze the gloves
• Add shaving foam and food colouring to a zip lock bag, encouraging your child to make marks and patterns by using the flat of the hand  and individual fingers
• Encourage your child to pour water using a small jug, plastic bottles and watering cans

We love our nursery. Our parents love it too! This is what they say...

"Very kind teachers and staff helpful with all my child's needs."

"I love this [outdoor] approach. It leads to loads of formal learning i.e. counting, initial phonic sounds, exploration of the world and investigation of properties of objects and processes."

"We love the fact that our child is able to learn life skills like fire making, problem solving, exercise and academic support."

"So friendly, children love it! Thank you!"

"We love the atmosphere and ethos of the nursery...there is so much outdoor imaginative play and focus on nature, exercise, meditation, healthy eating and being given the freedom to develop interpersonal skills and increasing confidence and independence."

"I think this nursery is simply fantastic and I'm glad our daughter is coming here."

"Excellent learning and child-centred teaching. Friendly staff and a very happy child.