Maryland Nursery provides a wonderful setting for inspiration, learning and fun.
What makes us unique?
- Our rich and stimulating learning environment provides memorable and unique experiences to enable children to understand the world and develop imagination.
- Our early introduction to phonics through the Read Write Inc. programme ensures children make excellent progress in literacy and have a headstart when starting school.
- Our close relationship with our onsite primary school provides children with opportunities to be included in performances, events and feel a part of the Maryland family.
- Our language rich environment supports our children’s communication skills and development of the English language.
- We are leaders in embedding equality into our curriculum and the ethos of our setting. We train other educators on how to create a culture that challenges bias and one in which every child feels represented and valued.
- Strong links with our on-site Children’s Centre allows the holistic needs of our families to be met, providing access to support and services they might need.
At Maryland, we have outdoor areas that are unique and provide many enjoyable and unforgettable learning experiences.
‘Outdoor learning boosts confidence, social skills, communication, motivation, physical skills, knowledge and understanding, while research from O’Brien and Murray found an increase in children’s self-esteem, self-confidence, ability to work cooperatively and positive attitude to learning’ (National Literacy Trust, 2022)
Cluckingham Palace:
We are one of the very few schools in Newham to have our own chicken coop which is situated in our nursery garden. The chickens are a daily joy for our children and encourage a sense of responsibility and instil values such as kindness and respect. They also provide unique learning opportunities, such as learning numeracy by counting how many eggs were laid!
Our Early Years Garden:
We are fortunate to have a large nursery garden which is used all year round.
We have climbing equipment and bikes that support a child’s gross motor skills, a role play house that develops a child’s imagination, a large sand area which encourages social and communication skills, a grass area that is perfect for teddy bear picnics and a sheltered area which is ideal to build forts!
The Nature Garden:
This is located next to the junior playground. We believe that the best way for children to learn about nature, seasons, growth and life cycles is by actually seeing it in real life! Children observe the changes that happen as each new season starts, they can go pond dipping to discover how the tadpoles change into frogs and what a wonderful place to release the butterflies that the children have watched transform from caterpillars.
On a warm day, children can take off their shoes and socks and build sandcastles in our very own Negril Beach.
Our nursery provides a rich, exciting and inspiring curriculum, with a strong focus on active, play based exploration to develop curiosity, critical thinking and a love of learning. Our early years curriculum follows children’s interests and enables them to make excellent progress in developing their skills, knowledge and understanding across all areas of learning.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the statutory framework that continues until the end of the reception year. There are 7 areas of learning which are all important and inter-connected.
In the nursery there is a particular focus on the 3 ‘prime areas’ which are the building blocks for all future learning:
- Communication and language
- Physical development
- Personal, social and emotional development.
Children will learn through a balance of the following:
- Independent learning – having significant choice and independence as they play. This supports the development of confidence, independence, teamwork, resilience and social and emotional skills
- Guided play – Practitioners are skilled in quality child:adult interactions which gently scaffold the children’s learning in areas such as language development, numeracy skills and problem solving.
- Direct teaching – Adults working directly with children to teach them a new skill, such as letter formation, phonics (Read Write Inc.) or using scissors.
Promoting equality and anti-racism is at the very core of who we are at Maryland school and nursery. We seamlessly embed this into our curriculum through the use of carefully chosen books, toys, resources and of course, more importantly, through the positive interactions we have with the children. We believe that by giving a child the chance to play and learn through representations of their own culture in an everyday way, children feel valued, included and proud of who they are.
At Maryland nursery, we are committed to providing enjoyable, engaging and stimulating learning experiences, which will enable children to thrive and be successful. We recognise that every child is unique and has their own needs and abilities.
We ensure that children with SEND receive an education that enables them to make progress so that they can reach their full potential and become confident individuals.
Our nursery team are experienced practitioners, who are knowledgeable and passionate about early years. Your child will be supported in both their educational and emotional needs. We ensure every child in our setting will feel welcomed, safe, understood and cared for which is why every child will have a ‘key person’.
‘Research and evidence show that children thrive when their needs are met by special people that they know, trust and respect. Familiarity, pattern and predictability support children’s personal development and helps them understand who they are and what they can do’ (PACEY, 2022)
The key person builds a special, supportive relationship with children in their group. They also maintain your child’s ‘special book’, which is a collection of photographs, the child’s work and annotations recording your child’s speech. We review the books with children, to help them to perceive themselves as learners and the books are always out in the nursery and available for parents to enjoy too.
For many children, joining a nursery is the first time they have experienced saying goodbye to their parents. At Maryland nursery we understand this and support both you and your child through the process. We value the contribution that our parents and carers make to their child’s learning and take every opportunity to work in collaboration with them. Every child will have a unique starting point and collection of early learning experiences at home. In partnership with parents we can support the children on this next stage of their learning journey.
We invite and welcome all parents and carers to our stay and play days and weekly family singalongs.
We also have a ‘School and Family Association’ that we would love for you to join! Parents and staff come together to share ideas on fundraising and events at Maryland.
Supporting your child at home:
- Lots of positive talk about going to nursery – all the exciting things they will do, all the friends they will make etc.
- Practise putting on coats and shoes.
- Support your child in becoming independent with their own self care in the bathroom – going to the toilet and washing hands.
- Playing games at home that involve turn taking
- Constantly talking to your child and listening to their answers to build language and social skills.
- Singing nursery rhymes and songs that have repetition in them will help your child to remember new words.
- Reading stories together is an important part of developing an interest in reading. Encourage your child to talk about the pictures and what is happening in the story.
- Notice and point out numbers, colours and shapes in the environment when you are out and about.
- Provide lots of opportunities for play! Play improves the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children
- Encourage activities to support their fine motor skills such as drawing, painting, threading, playdough and puzzles.
- Provide words and meanings to name and express emotions, so children can begin to learn how to manage their feelings and talk about them.
- Encourage an ‘I CAN’ attitude. We always encourage children to try, supporting them as much as they need until they can proudly say “I did it by myself”.
Maryland nursery offers 15-hour places: morning 8.45-11.45am or afternoon 12.20-3.20pm Monday to Friday.
We offer term time provision, in line with our school academic year.
As a nursery department in a primary school, we offer a limited number of 30-hour places.
Please click the link below for further information: 30 hours offer
