Toddler & Preschool
Toddlers
The toddler rooms provide large, bright, stimulating and airy environments to develop your child’s exploration and acquire discovery through play and enjoyment. At this age, children learn to co-operate, express themselves and their needs, and show sensitivity to one another. Our staff adopt a positive approach to introduce more structured activities, alongside the fun, free play and choice.
This ensures the toddlers are continually learning and are being stimulated by new things whilst having the freedom to choose what to play with.
The staff in this room will sit with the children and eat snack with them as this is a fantastic opportunity for our Blath Beag toddlers to build on these skills and learn from how the staff behave and interact with them.
A key worker system is also in place in the toddler room to ensure individual needs and abilities are being catered for through a supportive environment and stimulating opportunities. We operate on a one to 5 ratio in this room.
Group time will be further expanded upon and progressed including rhymes and stories to promote concentration skills and language development.
Outdoor play and exploration is widely available for toddlers and our staff provide an extensive array of resources and activities to promote gross motor skills, challenge co-ordination and develop social awareness.
Toddlers favourite word at this stage is ‘why’ and we appreciate your child’s desire to question their world therefore staff provide activities both inside and outside for your child to examine, analyse and investigate with support and guidance from adults, to motivate responsive play.
As with all age groups, you as the parents will be given daily updates on your child’s day through verbal feedback from staff.
In Wobbler room the children begin to form friendships with those of their own age and this social interaction is a very important part of every child’s development.
In the Toddler room, our staff support children to form friendships and convey feelings and emotions with confidence and self-assurance.
The foundations for friendships are cemented in Toddler Room and good manners, turn taking and sharing are reinforced.
Blath Beag Toddlers also follow the 4 areas of development which are; Social, Emotional, Intellectual and Physical. Curriculum planning focused on these 4 areas now becomes a little more complex and sophisticated versions of what they have previously done. Staff change activities, resources and the layout of the room on a weekly basis enhancing stimulation for your child. A large selection of play opportunities are available including, art, train sets, cars and road mat, dough/clay and small and large construction.
Pre-School
Building a happy and positive foundation for future school life
Our Pre-School facility is a new, purpose built, bright and stimulating environment. Our philosophy is to offer a play based curriculum, beneficial to the children’s development, in a fun and loving home based setting. Our Pre-School staff prepare planning on a yearly, monthly, weekly and daily basis and it is displayed for parents to see at all times. This is always with the Aistear Curriculum as the foundation.
The room is divided to incorporate the separate areas of learning include: role play, home corner, reading/quiet area, art & craft area and floor and table top play area.
Aistear Curriculum
The aim of Aistear is to help every child to grow and develop as a competent and confident learner. Ultimately, according to Aistear early childhood care and education must support a child’s sense of
- Well-being
- Identity and Belonging
- Exploring and Thinking
- Communicating
These are the 4 main goals of Aistear and it proposes that they are achieved through the contexts of play and supported by caring, learning relationships with adults and peers. In this way it makes very strong links between care and education in the early years and firmly establishes the child’s right to a safe, stimulating, nurturing and play-based environment.
