Inside Little Ark
Helping children learn and develop through play and exploring their world, caring for them every step of the way!
Our Rooms
0-2 year olds
Our Tigers room is a calm, bright and stimulating – a space where we work to encourage our little Tigers development and where they are free to safely explore the environment and discover their world using all their senses. For the other children in this age group, they’ll learn to share and play with their friends and enjoy sitting round their own table at snack and meal times in ‘big kid’ chairs. There is a cosy area for nap time when it’s time to recharge.
2-3 year olds
Our Hippos room is a bright and exciting environment perfect for your inquisitive child to play, learn and develop. This is usually the noisiest room just because at this age they have so much to talk about all of the time! This space has lots of different activities for your child to enjoy, from construction and small world play to a sand pit and a cosy corner where children can relax and look at books.
Preschool (3-4 years old)
Our Preschool area is buzzing with energy as the children begin their final steps toward mainstream education and ‘big school’. There are opportunities to learn at every turn, including early reading and maths skills, mark-making, and imaginative play, which are reinforced through what we call ‘purposeful play’. It is the perfect space for getting our little champions ready for school (after their pre-school graduation ceremony in the summer!)
Meals & Snacks
With our very own dedicated kitchen and cook, our seasonal menus are nutritionally balanced and varied, which allows the children to experience a wide variety of flavours and textures. Most of our food and snacks are homemade on site, including our yoghurt (which is a firm favourite with the children!)
All of our menus are low salt and low sugar, and the specially designed menu for under-1s is no added salt and very low sugar.
Our kitchen is regularly inspected by the Food Standards Agency, where we have been praised for our high standards. We’re also proud to cater for children with special dietary needs including allergies, intolerances and cultural preferences.
Mealtimes are a fun family experience for our children as they get to sit together in their age groups learning independence and table skills.
Our Care, Learning and Curriculum
Children learn when they are in a safe and caring environment where they are stimulated through play.
Babies and young children develop best when they are in a caring relationship with an adult. A baby will learn to walk faster when they have a safe pair of arms to walk towards and learn to talk, when they have an adult listening and responding to them.
At Little Ark we will strive to provide your child with an environment that will be caring, fun and stimulating. We will implement ideas from the Early Years Foundation Stage standards for Learning, Development and Care for children from birth to five.
Little Ark’s aim is to facilitate all children to attain their maximum potential within and beyond their perceived capabilities. To assist in this aim, an individual record of each child’s development is maintained on the Famly app, showing their abilities, progress rate and areas to further their development. Parents can see all this information on the app.
A child’s learning begins at home. Therefore, we will encourage a partnership approach with parents to enable us to promote their child’s development by building on past experiences while reinforcing and extending them to explore new learning opportunities through play.
Little Ark aims to achieve this by:
- Providing a warm, homely, friendly and stimulating environment to children in our care
- Encouraging each child to reach their own potential through play and learning opportunities
- Ensuring equal opportunities are given to each child regardless of gender, age, race, culture, religion, disability or ethnicity
- Encouraging children to respect each other, thmselves and nursery staff and equipment
- Providing a full and varied programme that relates to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
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Our Team
Our team is what makes Little Ark as brilliant as it is! All of our staff members are passionate about early years education and giving children the best start in life.
In order to ensure every child in Little Ark is given the appropriate level of attention and care, a key person is appointed for each child. A key person is a named member of staff assigned to an individual child to support their development and act as the key point of contact with that child’s parents or carers. The key person has special responsibilities for working with a small number of children and helps build and develop positive relationships with children and between parents, carers and staff.
You will meet various members of the team when you book your lookround visit and at drop off and pick up times.
Our Team
Claire
Nursery Manager
Toni
Deputy Manager, Level 3 Nursery Practitioner
Paige
Deputy Manager
Tracey
Level 3 Nursery Practitioner and Wellbeing Officer
Ifra
Level 3 Nursery Practitioner
Kathryn
Level 3 Nursery Practitioner
Megan
Level 3 Nursery Practitioner
Teri
Level 3 Nursery Manager
Mamoona
Level 2 Nursery Pracitioner