With thanks to Charlotte Mason.

Armitt Museum, Ambleside, Cumbria

Our Founder and Founding Philosophy

Our founder, Dr Abigail Grant-Williams, studied at Charlotte Mason College in Ambleside during the 1990s where she achieved her teaching degree. Based within what was Charlotte Mason's original House of Education, Abigail was immersed within Charlotte's philosophy of life - we are living organisms and we need knowledge and experience to grow.

Charlotte's way of educating children focused on developing good habits and self-regulation, learning from real things in the real world and feeding the mind, body and spirit with a rich curriculum. Charlotte believed in using the natural world, living books and experiential enquiry. This shaped her approach to encouraging the assimilation of learning through guided discovery, re-telling, and developing relations and connections between people, subjects and things.

Throughout her training and teaching career, Abigail was also immersed in the Philosophy for Children (P4C) approach. Abigail understands the value of using philosophical enquiry methods to encourage young children to think with others and to think for themselves.

Later in her career, Abigail embarked on a seven-year research project for her Doctorate in Philosophy. She focused her learning upon structure (institutions) and agency (people) within the English education system. This gave her great insight into how structure and agency interact. Combined, Abigail has developed a meaningful philosophy that underpins the ethos of The Tots' Clubhouse - to get the most enjoyment and learning in life.

Early Years Framework Information

Our Excellence

We research evidence based practices from across the world to inform our practice. We train our staff and ensure access to resources for their professional development. We engage with external practitioners to draw in additional expertise to enhance our provision. We are proud to share our achievements.

Ofsted Rating

We were inspected by Ofsted in October 2023.

Read the report here.

Food Standards Rating

We were inspected by Warwickshire County Council in June 2023.

Read the report here.

Vacancies

Start you Childcare career adventure here!

Use this link to see all of our current vacancies.

Current Vacancies

Our Ofsted Registration allows us to:

The Early Years Register

We can provide childcare for a child in the early years age range if they are any age from birth

to the 31 August after their fifth birthday.

The Compulsory part of the Childcare Register

The children are older than the early years age range, but not yet 8 years old who we will be

looking after for more than 2 hours on each day.

The Voluntary part of the Childcare Register

We can provide childcare for children who are at least 8 years old.

We will be limiting the age groups to under 11 years old.

Child and Family-Centered Care

We believe that developing teamwork between our Nursery School Staff and our families benefits the child.

We will work with you to understand what needs you and your child have, and what childcare works for your situation.

We take pride in our support to children and families, and we expect all of our children to be prepared for starting Reception within local schools.

All children will be introduced to phonics and will be taught to read before they start Reception. All children will be heard to read each day that they attend.

All children will be taught the correct pencil hold and will practice mark making each day they attend.

Quality and Safety

The welfare and learning of children is our priority. We risk assess our operations, recruitment and day-to-day operations to ensure that we are meeting and exceeding local and national requirements.

We operate a traditional model of learning. We are not a free-flow setting.

All staff are safeguarding trained across a wide range of safeguarding concerns:

Physical Abuse
Sexual Abuse
Emotional Abuse
Neglect

Why are we different?

We have a range of approaches that ensure every family is welcome. Sometimes it is the small things that make a BIG difference. Here are a few things that we support and consider....

Additional Services

We offer additional paid for services:

Professional Football Coaching with JJFC
Moo Music Sessions
Yoga Sessions with Mummy and Baby Buddies
French Lessons with La Jolie Ronde

We offer a paid for Enhanced Curriculum which includes:

Higher staff to child ratios (above what is required through the EYFS)
Fully qualified teaching staff (it is not a requirement of the EYFS to have a trained teacher working with the children or overseeing learning)
Academic teaching (including the teaching of reading - this is not a requirement of the EYFS)

Reading Programme

Children from 3 years of age will be given a reading book bag, reading record book, phonics list and a reading book.

Children are encouraged to read their book and practice their phonics each day. This experience should be shared with parents, siblings and other family members to build a love of learning.

We follow the Jolly Phonics programme and use a range of reading books including from Reading Stars Phonics (Ransom Books).

We also provide fiction and non-fiction books for children to enjoy at home. They choose these books or these are given out based on our topics.

Reading to and with your child encourages them to build their reading confidence, resilience and concentration. It also exposes them to a large number and wide range of language.

Preparing Children For School

We prepare children for school. in order for children to access the Reception curriculum and beyond, they need early reading and writing skills:

To respond to their name being called
To read their name
To write their name
To recognise their name amongst other similar names
To hold writing equipment and make marks for meaning
To read for life skills e.g. familiar signs (exit, entrance, classroom, toilet, Police etc)

They need to be able to hold a pair of scissors and make careful cuts, as well as use glue sticks and creative equipment.

They need to be toilet trained, express their own needs, ask for help, dress themselves and feed themselves. Many schools need them to put their own suncream on and take care of their personal hygiene.

Concentration and initiative is also important so that they can sit and listen at group time/story time, sit to a desk and concentrate on tasks for periods of at least 20 mins. Initiative is important so that they don't wait to be told.

Breastfeeding & Pumping

You are welcome to feed your child in a dedicated area when you drop off or pick up. We will store your breast milk for your child to drink during their session. Please don't hesitate to ask about how we support you to breastfeed, pump and combi-feed.

Allergens

All staff are Food Hygiene Level 2 trained. We undertake regular training to learn about allergens. We can support you to support your child with sensitivities or allergens.

We are a nut-free and 'may contain' nut-free setting.

We have children within our setting who diets that are dairy-free, gluten-free, wheat-free and soya-free.

We also have children with asthma, animal allergies and skin conditions.

We hold two children's EPI-Pens and one adult EPI-pen within the setting at all times to ensure that we have additional resources in case of anaphylaxis.

Parent Partnership Meetings

Our reporting to parents ensures that not only are the milestones of achievement recorded, but there is clear evidence of progression in skills and experiences.

We focus on recording progression and what this tells us about their understanding and independence. Through our learning model, we observe them, reflect on their thinking and actions, and respond through in-the-moment-planning. We don't underestimate what under 5s can achieve with careful personalised support.

We will run our 'Focus Weeks' every 8 weeks for parents to review their child's record of progress. We will discuss progress and plan together the ways to consolidate and support development. This supports what the child learns at home and within sessions.

Meetings are held once per term during the day, evenings and weekends.

Sensory Experiences for Babies

Our sensory programme for babies focuses on touch, see, smell, hear, taste and movement experiences. This involves babies playing with lots of edible resources.

Our sensory experiences involve using lots of additional resources and materials, for example:

Oats
Flour
Noodles
Maise
Fruit and vegetables

The FSA require us to treat raw food before use.

Our sensory sessions also involve our much loved licensed music - Moo Music and In The Dark experiences.

Toddler Explorer Experiences

Our toddler learning programmes focus on hands-on and experiential experiences. This involves a wide range of sensory experiences.