Our Day Nursery In Bridgwater
The Olive Tree Nursery operates across 4 rooms, Bluebells, Tulips, Poppies and Sunflowers. We offer a variety of start and finish times throughout the day that will hopefully suit your family's needs.
Mutual Care
& Respect
Day care should be more than just care, it should help your child to socialise, to learn mutual respect, and to make them feel safe and secure. You can rely on us to give your child the best possible start.
Bluebells: Birth - 18 months
Ratio: 1:3
Our Bluebells room is set up to provide a home-from-home feel to ensure our littlest people feel safe and secure whilst away from their special adults. In Bluebells we encourage the babies to explore to their heart's content, we have a range of different toys to cover all types of interests and curiosity that the children may have.
We love exploring with sensory play using a range of materials- from shaving foam, gloop and Gelli Baff to shredded paper, there is really no limits to how much fun we can have (but please don't worry, the adults always clean us up after, you wouldn't even notice!) If your little one doesn't like messy play, we have a wide range of other toys and experiences that your child can enjoy - from small world animals, cars, and trucks to sensory toys that spin, flash and make lots of noise.
We like to ensure the equipment is accessible for your child to access throughout the day as and when they wish. We understand how important play is to young children for their development and that every child has different interests and develop and learn in their own way.
We also enjoy a large group time daily where we all sit together to dance, sing, and sometimes play with the musical instruments however, you never know when we may break out into a sing-along!
We also have a large garden and undercover area to explore during the day, we are lucky enough that this looks out onto Cranleigh Gardens Park and the children love looking for the squirrels or the dogs in the park, we get super excited if we can spot one! The garden is always changing around to keep us curious throughout the day. When we are outside, we have lots of activities to support us with our physical development, from slides to soft play to climbing frames, the adults are always there to support us and help build our confidence in new situations.
In Bluebells we understand that children can be cautious about new surroundings, and we pride ourselves on ensuring every child feels welcome, settled, and secure. We understand that dropping off your little one at nursery can sometimes be unsettling for you as well and we will do all we can to alleviate any anxieties you have. We want your child to thrive and feel happy about coming to nursery and we will do anything to allow this to happen. We understand your routine at home is vital to your child feeling secure and we will follow your routine as closely as possible we will also support you at the different milestones of your child’s development from weaning to potty training when the time comes. All parents are asked to complete and regularly update their child’s care plan to ensure the information we hold is current and up to date.
Tulips: 18 months - 2.5 years
Ratio: U2's 1:3, 2yrs 1:4
Welcome to Tulips where your child’s character and confidence will grow. Tulips love to form new friendships and we value and respect all children and love to hear about everyone’s experiences.
We provide a warm and welcoming room with different learning areas such as our role-play area where the children can let their imaginations run wild or even are cosy corner where we can relax and enjoy exploring a book or two.
Tulips love to have a boogie with our daily ‘Wake and shake.’ This is a great way for the children to enjoy expressing themselves by singing to the songs and showing off their best dance moves. Within this room, we equally provide the children with lots of fun and challenging adult-led activities and just as much opportunity for child-led activities. This allows the children to explore their own ideas and build on their skills and knowledge. Tulips have a daily routine that we like to follow to create structure and stability for the children. Our daily routine encourages independence as the children love to learn and achieve tasks/activities independently. We believe that supporting the children with their everyday life skills and building on new skills and knowledge allows the children to have the best start in life and for their future. Within our daily routine, we ensure that the children get to explore our large outdoor garden to test their strengths and abilities, whilst enjoying observing the wildlife in the park.
Our team work together to ensure we provide all the children with the best learning opportunities. We know that children need time and practice to ensure they are learning and have an understanding of what is being taught. We believe that building children’s vocabulary is essential, and we build on their vocabulary by using child-friendly language, we also use basic sign language. We take pride in working in partnership with parents and we ensure parents are always updated on their child’s progress daily. We believe communication with parents is key to a child succeeding. When your child is attending nursery, you will be updated with lovely weekly photos of your children exploring and having fun. All children learn and develop at different rates and can achieve many milestones, in their own unique way.
Poppies: 2 years - 3.5 years
Ratio: 2yrs 1:5, 3yrs 1:8
When we feel your child has outgrown Tulips, they will move to our Poppies room where they will stay until their preschool year, where they will move up to Sunflowers. Within this room, we encourage the children to continue their learning, through monthly topics and activities. We pride ourselves on providing activities that are inviting as well as challenging, whilst ensuring they link to the Early Years Foundation Stage. Whilst in our Poppies room your child will have the opportunity to become an artist, a builder, a mathematician, or anything else they dream of with a wide range of toys and equipment available to them throughout the day.
The children will be provided with opportunities to be creative by painting, cutting, and sticking and creating their own magnificent models. This is an important age for the children to develop their social skills and we will encourage the children to develop friendships with their peers as well as to express themselves appropriately during different encounters. Many of the resources that are in the room are at the children’s level for them to be able to choose what they would like out during the day; however, children are encouraged to respect and pack away their toys before choosing their next toy or piece of equipment.
Our experience in poppies isn’t restricted to just the indoors, we also have access to a large outdoor garden and an undercover outdoor classroom this means our exploration and curiosity can take us outside in all weathers. Wherever possible we offer a free flow environment where the children can enjoy the best of both indoors and outdoors when they choose.
Each child will have a key worker who will monitor their development and build a secure relationship with you and your child. By building this bond their key worker will be able to plan and provide activities that will interest them and challenge their abilities. Their key worker will add photos and observations weekly to their online development journal.
Sunflowers: 3 years - 5 years
Final Year Before School
Ratio: 1:8
Sunflowers is our preschool room that takes children from three years until they go to school. The Sunflowers room provides a rich learning environment containing several different learning spaces to cover all areas of the EYFS to promote the children’s playing and active learning. From September we promote school readiness and the children’s independence by carrying out a range of activities such as phonics, dough disco, P.E and much more which are all incorporated into our daily routine.
Our daily routine consists of ‘family style’ group snack times where the children get a chance to have conversations and learn about the different types of food that we eat. Small key group time, is a chance to work closely with their key worker and work on specific areas of learning. Large group time, this when the children can enjoy listening to stories, singing, and taking part in other planned activities. Children also have the choice to ‘free flow’ so they can take their learning outside into our sheltered outdoor classroom if they wish to. Sunflowers also have access to a large garden daily and in all weathers containing a range of equipment to promote the children’s physical skills. Sunflowers can take up to twenty-four children with three members of staff and all staff either hold or are working towards an Early Years qualification.
Your Child's Learning and Development
During their time at The Olive Tree Nursery, each child will have a personal development journal via Tapestry. Tapestry is an online platform that allows your child's key worker to upload photographs, videos and observations instantly to share with you. If activated you will instantly receive an email when something has been added to your child's journal you will then be able to see what your child has been up to during their time with us. Parents are also encouraged to add to the journal as well so we can talk about a child's home life with them whilst at nursery.
Snack Time
With all the learning the children do throughout the day it is inevitable they will work up an appetite! All children are offered morning and afternoon snacks.
Our family snack time is a wonderful opportunity for the children to sit together in small groups, refuel and discuss their learning. It also provides opportunities for the staff to encourage communication and model language as well as learn more about the children's interests and achievements during the session. During snack time the children may be offered crackers or bread a variety of fruit or vegetables as well as milk or water to drink.