FAQ
Physical activity everyday is important for healthy growth and development it can vary from different ages.
Babies under 1- encouraging them to be active throughout the day is sufficient. Crawling, shuffling, reaching, grasping, pulling and pushing.
1 years- 5 year olds- encouraging them to take part in physical activity for at least 3 hours a day. Activity play, such as chasing games, climbing, jumping, hopping, ball games, riding a bike, playing in the water/sand, and running.
- Praising them often
- Letting them problem solve themselves
- Setting them challenges
- Encouraging them to speak out on their opinions
- Encouraging them to believe in themselves
- Focus on their strengths
- Reading to your child
- Talking to your child about their work and showing an interest
- Encouraging
- Praising
- Listening
- Setting fun but education activities
- Checking over your child’s work
Sending your child to nursery can boost their self confidence, encourage play and turn taking, boost social interactions, get them into a school like routine, teaches them rules and boundaries.
If your child has never attended and nursery/childcare setting before, part time is recommended at first until your child gets use to the nursery environment then you can introduce longer days, however some parents need full time childcare as they may be returning to work, study etc.
Nurseries have different methods of parental engagement, some will give verbal daily feedback at the end of the day others may have daily journals for each child, some may call you, some may give weekly feedback and others may arrange parent/carer meetings weekly or monthly. It is best to check with your service provider.
• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Universal Credit, and your household income is £15,400 a year or less after tax, not including benefit payments
• tax credits, and your household income is £16,190 a year or less before tax
• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• the Working Tax Credit 4-week run on (the payment you get when you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)
2-year-olds can also get free childcare if they:
• are looked after by a local authority
• have a statement of special education needs (SEN)or an education, health and care (EHC) plan
• get Disability Living Allowance
• have left care under an adoption order, special guardianship order or a child arrangements order
• National Insurance number
You will need to apply using the online form on gov.uk. You’ll need your de-tails (and your partner’s, if you have one), including your:
• National Insurance number
• Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR), if you’re self-employed
If you pay for childcare and want to use Tax-Free Childcare to get help you can also apply using this service.It usually takes 20 minutes to apply. You may find out if you’re eligible straight away, but it can take up to 7 days.
The Care to Learn scheme can help with childcare costs while you study.
You must be aged under 20 at the start of your course.
The scheme is available for publicly-funded courses in England. This includes courses in schools, sixth-forms in schools and sixth-form colleges.
You can get up to:
• £160 per child per week if you live outside London
• £175 per child per week if you live in London
Nursery fees may slightly change from time to time due to the government raising registration costs.
• cooking
•Painting
•role play-tea parties, doctors, dressing up, superhero’s
• learning to draw
•Hide and seek
•reading and writing a book review
•junk modelling, making robots, cars, castles etc
•making musical instruments using empty bottles/containers , pasta, rice, beans etc
•create a family tree
•Make an obstacle course and time how long it takes to complete it
•write letters to family members and post them
•playing card/board games
•put on a puppet show using teddies and toys
•Grand designs junior-Design(draw) and build something together using different resources from your house
•Creating a story- take it in turns to write/tell part of a story using your wild imagination
•reading to them
•exposing them to everyday language
•listening to music
singing and dancing games
•speaking clearly
•giving one instruction at a time
•flash cards for basic words
•using hand gestures when talking
•climbing
•jumping off and landing
•building towers
•row, row, row your boat
• toss balls in a basket
•throwing and catching
•imitate animals
•Follow the leader
•popping bubbles
• ring games
•balancing games
Reading to your child at least 3 time a week if not everyday could be very beneficial for them, it allows you to bond with them, teaches them about different forms of writing, can improve their numeracy skills and will help them become a better reader.
•Row-row-row your boat
•The wheels on the bus
•Hey diddle diddle
•One, two, three, four, five
•Humpty Dumpty
•Old MacDonald had a farm
•go camping in your back garden
•bike riding with family members
•friendly water fights
•climbing trees
•visit a park
•Smyths
• Bright minds
•Early learning centre
•Mulberry bush
•Amazon
• Nuna Mixx
• Uppababy Cruz V2
• Bugaboo Fox 2
• iCandy Peach 5
Dummies can give mum a break from constant rocking and soothing in the difficult hours and help abs by get to sleep, on the flip side dummies can build up bacteria if not sterilised regularly which can lead to oral thrush.
However, many parents choose a moses basket for the first few months.
This is often because a newborn baby can look and feel a little lost in a big cot.
Moses baskets are designed for newborn babies to sleep in for the first 6 months they provide cosy and reassuring confined space for your child.
• Where’s spot. Author: Eric Hill
• Each peach pear plumb. Author: Janet Ahlberg
• The very hungry caterpillar. Author: Eric Carle
• The elephant and the bad baby. Author: Elfrida Vipont
• Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Electric Breast Pump, White
• Momcozy New Version Electric Breast Pump, 2 Modes
• Inarock Electric Breast Pump, InaRock Dual Suction Rechargeable Nursing
• Breastfeeding Pump
• Eccomum Electric Double Breast Pump Eccomum Breastfeeding Pump with 4 Modes
Both bikes will teach your child how to balance but a standard bike will have pedals unlike the balance bike. As your child gets older they will probably want to lead how to pedal, so a balance bike would be suitable for a toddler as a stepping stone before the big bike.
Maxi-Cosi Axissfix Plus, £399
Kiddy Evo-Luna i-Size, £409
Silver Cross Dream, £195
Cybex Cloud Q, £220
Maxi-Cosi CabrioFix Group 0+, £139
Jané Koos, £160
Graco Milestone, £220
Yes? Especially if you have stairs in your house, once your baby starts to move around independently stair gates are a great baby prodding gadget not only for stairs but for unwanted access to rooms with potential danger in eg. The kitchen where there are hot objects and dangerous cleaning products.
Yes. All Nurseries in England are required to follow the EYFS (Early year’s foundation stage)
How often is the curriculum updated?
It’s always good to Mirror what your child is doing at home to nursery, you may want to talk to your child key worker to find out if they are focusing on any topics so that you could focus on it at home with your child.
TBC
Yes, stranger danger talks and activities work really well, you don’t want to frighten your child but it is very important that they understand the rules and potential dangers of talking to strangers
Try and take a subtle approach, depending on age you could play a role play game scenario and ask them what they would do in the situation. Talk to them about how to call for help.
Problem feeders tend to almost always eat different foods than their family and do not want to eat at the table with them.
There is no set amount that you should give your child, but try not to use an adult sized plate and overfill their plate as this could be discouraging. It’s best to give them smaller portions and see if they ask for more.
Water and milk are best for your child, as most fruit juices contain alot of sugar. You can give your child fruit juice but you should limit how much they have a drink water inbetween.
Depending on your child’s age you can offer some healthy snacks like fruit and nuts inbetween meals but not too much as you don’t want them to fill themselves up as dinner may become a struggle to eat. Some children need to eat small portions and more often.
Seeking help before it gets worse, If you’re concerned about your child’s development, don’t wait contact your childcare providers and your GP.
• Problems with math.
• Poor memory.
• Problems paying attention.
• Trouble following directions.
• Clumsiness.
• Trouble telling time.
• Problems staying organised.
If you think your child may have special educational needs, contact the SEN co-ordinator, in your child’s school or nursery.
• avoiding eye contact.
• not smiling when you smile at them.
• getting very upset if they do not like a certain taste, smell or sound.
• repetitive movements, such as flapping their hands, flicking their fingers or rocking their body.
• not talking as much as other children.
• repeating the same phrases.
IEP is a plan or programme designed for children with SEN to help them to get the most out of their education. An IEP builds on the curriculum that a child with learning difficulties or disabilities is following and sets out the strategies being used to meet that child’s specific needs.
It’s normal to worry about your child being labelled and within time it will ease. Once the school has identified your child as having SEN, they must take action to remove barriers to learning and put effective special educational provision in place. This is called SEN Support. This will give a child a medical diagnosis for their specific need, for example autism or ADHD.
Two year olds – 1:4.
Three year olds and above – 1:8 or 1:13
Yes, a DBS check has to be completed before individuals start working. Paid staff, volunteers and students all have to have one.
When you fill out a registration form for your chosen nursery, a staff member will discuss with you about the regular observations they will be carrying out on your child. So you would only have to give your permission once.
Parent afternoons should be very informative, you will get the opportunity to see exactly what your child is learning about, possibly see some of your child’s work and get to talk to the teacher. If you can get the time off work to attend it is a lovely experience. Your child will be over the moon to see you in their classroom.
Every woman’s body is different some people put on a lot of weight and some very little. Some have larger babies than others and some are carrying more fluid then baby. The average weight that woman put on during pregnancy is between 10kg-12.5.kg.
• Folic acid
• Vitamin D
• Iron and Vitamin C
• Vitamin B12
• Omega fats
• Prenatal vitamin supplement
You can find these in your local pharmacies or drug stores eg- boots, Superdrug.
Antenatal classes are not compulsory, they are created to give mums/parents support and advise about their new baby that they are going to have. It’s a lovely social event and can be very useful for tips.
Everyone is different, so depending on how you feel, the work load you have, travelling times to work can all have an affect on when you should go on maternity leave. You can go from as early as 11 weeks before your baby’s due date although a lot of women usually wait till a bit closer to the time.
• Don’t smoke during pregnancy, breastfeeding or allow anyone to smoke near them
• Don’t share a bed with your baby if you have been drinking ally of alcohol or you smoke a lot
• Never sleep with your baby on the armchair or sofa
• Don’t let your baby get too hot or too cold
• Keep your baby’s head uncovered
• Place your baby at the bottom of their cot (feet at the bottom)
• Read or sing to them
• Don’t have tv lights on
• Use a dummy if needed
• Give them some warm milk or breast milk
Between 6pm-7pm is a good time to start winding down and getting your child into bed.
• place your baby in the “feet to foot” position – with their feet touching the end of the cot, Moses basket, or pram.
• keep your baby’s head uncovered – their blanket should be tucked in no higher than their shoulders.
Toddlers need around 12 hours of sleep a night; children aged three to six – 10-12 hours; seven-12 years olds – 10-11 hours; and teenagers – around eight to nine hours.
It is safe for your toddler to sleep in your bed but it may cause problems when you are trying to get them to sleep in their own room later.