A day here
This page is the timetable the rooms actually run to, written out point by point. It is put here for the part of choosing a nursery that happens at eleven at night, when you are trying to picture where your child would be at any given hour.
Times are the same in all three rooms, while the infant room bends them for sleep and for bottles. Nothing below is a target: it is what the room lead is doing when the clock reaches that number.
The timetable below runs from 07:30 until 18:00, Monday to Friday, and the point the nursery has reached is marked once this page is open in your browser.
07:30
The morning, from the door to the tables
The first half of the day carries the arrival window, two hours of open play, snack, the small-group tables and the garden hour. Your child can arrive at any point up to quarter past eight without missing the shape of it.
07:30 — the door opens and children are signed in one at a time, while the room lead takes medicine, bottles and any message about the night.
08:15 — the rooms are opened up and your child chooses a table, with an adult sitting at each area so the play is joined rather than watched.
09:45 — morning snack is at the table, with fruit and milk or water, and the allergy cards are read before anything is put down.
10:15 — small groups work at one thing each: paint, sand, dough, counting trays or a story with actions.
10:45 — coats and boots go on and the rooms go into the garden, or into the hall when the rain is heavy.
11:45 — toys are put away by the children, hands are washed at the low sinks, and books come out at the table while lunch is brought in.
12:15
The middle of the day, which is the part parents ask about
Lunch and rest sit together and take up two hours and a quarter. This is the stretch that decides whether a half day suits your child better than a full one, so it is set out in more detail than the rest.
12:15 — lunch is served room by room, a hot main and a pudding, with an adult sitting and eating at every table.
13:00 — the blinds come down, mats go out with the bedding from your bag, and children who no longer sleep take books at the quiet end.
A child on a morning session is collected between half past twelve and one, once lunch is finished and before the room settles. A child staying the day sleeps as long as they sleep, and the length of it is written on the sheet you take home. Nobody is woken to keep the room tidy.
14:30
The afternoon, which is quieter and goes outside again
The afternoon repeats the morning at a lower volume: outside first, then a snack, then the carpet. Children on an afternoon session arrive at one o'clock and join the room as it comes back up.
14:30 — the rooms are up, beds are stacked, and the garden is open again with the wheeled toys and the water wall.
15:15 — afternoon snack is handed round, often at the garden table while the rooms are still outside.
15:45 — everyone comes to the carpet for singing, a story and the news of the day from each child who wants to tell it.
16:15 — tea is on the table for children staying to the end, and the day sheets are written up while the room eats.
16:45 — the first collections are signed out against the named list, and coats, bags and wet clothes come off the pegs.
Between quarter to five and six the three rooms join into one, which means your child may be collected from the toddler room whichever room they spent the day in. The adults left on the floor are from all three rooms, so the person who hands over the sheet is one who was with your child that day.
18:00
What the timetable does when the day does not cooperate
A routine is only useful when it says what happens on the days it breaks. These are the ones that come up most often, and the room handles each of them the same way every time.
- Your child arrives at half past nine after an appointment, so they join the room at snack and the register is corrected at the door.
- Rain sets in before the garden hour, so the hall is set up with the frame and the tunnel and the hour happens indoors.
- Your child falls asleep at eleven, so lunch is kept back for them and served when they wake.
- Somebody other than you is collecting, so the name and the password go on the door list that morning.
- Your child is unsettled after rest, so the key adult takes them to the book corner until the room is worth joining again.
- You are running late for six, so the room telephones the numbers on the form in the order you wrote them.
When you want to see the shape of it in person rather than on a page, write to nursery@firststepsinfant.life and come in during a session. The settling page explains what the first fortnight looks like once a place is agreed.