Guest Posted July 30, 2007 Posted July 30, 2007 I have just joined the forum and am very interested to know how other Nurseries manage full time provision. Previously I have had seperate morning and afternoon sessions with differrent children however in Septmeber we are going full time. I will have 20 full time children and 6 am only and 6 pm only! I have had some ideas on managing this but wondered if anyone had some sound advice? Thank you Jayne x
Gezabel Posted July 30, 2007 Posted July 30, 2007 Hi Jayne Welcome to the forum and if you haven't realised already I am sure you will be find it soon becomes an addiction I work in a preschool that offers full daycare but we only have a maximum of 16 children at any time. We have a combination of children who stay all day and bring packed lunch, children attending morning only, children attending afternoon only and then just to complicate things we have children who attend the morning session and stay for lunch and children who attend the afternoon session but come for lunch! phew!! Not sure about sound advice but things you may need to consider: Storage of lunch boxes if they bring a packed lunch (OFSTED like them to be stored in a fridge!) Any resources you will need to obtain, eg tablecloths, napkins, plates etc - we provide children with a lunch apron which we launder. Staff cover during lunch. As for the organisation we end the morning session with a story and then the children going home get shoes/coats and those staying for lunch do the loo/handwashing/getting aprons. After lunch the children have free play and those coming for the afternoon session join them. Probably not much help really - sorry it's my first day at home and I am still recovering from the leavers party on Friday (Actually if I am honest I'm recovering from the staff 'do' in the evening!!) Will have a think and get back to you but I am sure someone with wise and wonderful words will be along soon. I just saw your message and primarily wanted to welcome you
HappyMaz Posted July 30, 2007 Posted July 30, 2007 I have just joined the forum and am very interested to know how other Nurseries manage full time provision. Previously I have had seperate morning and afternoon sessions with differrent children however in Septmeber we are going full time. I will have 20 full time children and 6 am only and 6 pm only! I have had some ideas on managing this but wondered if anyone had some sound advice? Thank you Jayne x Welcome Jayne! I work in a sessional pre-school and we offer lunch clubs and one extended day. All the children arrive at the same time, and depart according to when their session ends. So we have all the children for the first three hours, then some go home and some stay for lunch. On a full day, at this point some will go home after lunch and some will stay all day. We have to pack away at the end of each session, so we gradually 'wind down' as the day goes on, and tailor the activities on offer to the individual children who are staying for the next session. The main problem comes when parents are late picking up at the end of the morning session, or after lunch because we can't go outside with the children who are staying until the children who are leaving have actually left the premises! I know this doesn't help much - I'm better when asked a direct question, but someone will be along soon with just the right piece of advice, I'm sure! Maz
millhill Posted August 3, 2007 Posted August 3, 2007 Hi Jayne, My pre-school is changing to full time in September, we're offering the same a Geraldine, sessional, lunch club or full time. But we've got more half day than full day children and no lunch clubbers! I'm trying to work out a routine, we're pretty much free play with outside area open all day. I'm still working on developing a routine with my staff, when we come up with anything, I'll post the ideas. Good Luck with your plans! Emma
Guest Posted August 4, 2007 Posted August 4, 2007 we are a school nursery - so part time am or pm sessions but we also offer lunch club and full day wraparound so some full-time children. As part time children are in the majority (and are in their funded LA session) we plan the main routines to cater for their needs i.e. afternoon is repeat of morning to ensure equal access. Obviously we don't expect full-time children to repeat their routine so in the afternoon when we all gather for a set activity the full-timers have a separate activity time with the wraparound staff member - this is usually a more low key activity than the 'teaching' activities. Our routine looks like this: 9.00 / 12.30 - children come in with parents - free choice of activities. Full day children are usually keen to meet up with afternoon pals and get straight on with choosing but some will choose to have quiet time with the wrap staff after lunch. 9.30 / 1.00 - group time - all gather on the carpet for big book / counting etc activity - in the afternoon full time children gather separately for an activity (art / craft / cooking / games / gardening) 10 / 1.30 - activity time (free choice and focus activity) - full day children choose freely with part-timers. Sometimes they choose to stay at the wrap activity for longer, sometimes they choose to join in the focus activity but we only expect them to complete a focus activity during their main nursery session. 11 / 2.30 - small group time - stories/songs before home. Again full day children have separate story time in afternoon.
Guest Posted August 8, 2007 Posted August 8, 2007 Hi and welcome, we have run as all day care with preschool and then afterschool club until 6pm for the last three years or so. We pretty much run the same as Geraldine, but we prefer to repeat the morning and afternoon sessions pretty much in the same way with familiar routines. The all day children are welcome to attend set activities again if they wish, often getting a lot more out of an activity when re-visiting it, we have different staff on each activity in the mornings and afternoons so a fresh approach is given and the staff do not feel their day is being repetitive too much. Lunch time rotas is often a pain when trying to maintain ratios, especially as we collect children from the school adjacent to us for nursery and reception wraparound. It does work ok in the end. Good luck.
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