3 – 5 years

Our 3-5 room accommodates 24 children and is a bright and cheerful room which promotes independence. All the resources are within easy reach of the children to allow them to choose what they want to play with.

The children can be creative in our arts and crafts area, as well as in our writing area, and have opportunities to use their imagination in the role-play area. We also provide a sand and water area, music area, construction and small world areas as well as a quiet area for reading books. The 3-5 room has an interactive smartboard, which allows children to participate in ICT and find new information regarding their monthly topics through internet access, closely monitored by staff. 

Each staff member plans 2 activities per week. Staff plan their activities using “A Curriculum for Excellence” which is the national guidelines set out by the Scottish Education Department. This encourages the children to become Responsible Citizens, Successful Learners, Confident Individuals and Effective Contributors. There are 8 areas of the curriculum which the staff use to plan their activities. The staff also use Big Book Planning and mind-maps with the children, which allows them to contribute effectively to their learning. Any photographs taken, work and comments collected are all stored in these books. Using big book planning also allows the children to comment on their own work as well as the work of others.

The children use this room for dining, and during this time we promote independence and responsibility by allowing the children to help give out the plates, cups and cutlery as well as serving their own lunch and snacks at the table. We are a healthy eating nursery and provide alternatives for any child who may have allergies or dislikes to certain food. The 3-5 year old children are also involved in the preparation of their snack, this involves a trip to the local shop to buy ingredients for their snack and with supervision from staff they are able to cut up their own fruit, etc.

The children also have the opportunity to spend time outside in the local area, visiting the library, local attractions such as a the People’s Palace and forming community links with the local day service unit Threshold, as well as going for a walk around Glasgow Green and accessing the local parks to develop their gross motor skills and risky play.

There are children’s toilets out with the room which the children are allowed to go to on their own. This is to encourage responsibility and independence especially for the pre-school children. We encourage the children to develop their life skills through a range of day to day experiences, such as changing their shoes a head of outings and getting themselves ready in weather appropriate clothing.

Parents receive regular updates via our closed platform app ‘Famly’ which enables parents to see what their child has gotten up to within their room through the newsfeed where staff post a morning and afternoon experience the children have taken part in. Parents also receive their children’s observations, completed on a bi-weekly basis and how this links into the current Scottish Curriculum frameworks. The app contains information about what your child has eaten, how long they slept for, if they are in nappies what these nappies were and when they were changed, along with any other information you may be looking for regarding their nursery session that day.