The rooms
There are three rooms on Boniface Walk and your child is in one of them for the whole of a session. Each room has its own door, its own sink, its own store of bedding and its own way into the garden. What changes between them is the ratio, the height of the furniture and how much of the morning is spent sitting down.
Below, the ratio is drawn out first as people rather than as a pair of numbers, and then each room is set out with the cupboard list beside the bag list. The two lists together answer the question most parents arrive with, which is what has to be packed and what is here already.
1 : n
A ratio read as people standing in a room
A ratio written as 1:4 is easy to skim and hard to picture. Drawn out, it is one adult and the children that adult is responsible for while the room is open. The filled circle is the adult and the rings are the children, and every room is worked to its own line.
The rows also explain why the staffing sum on the front page rounds upwards. Nine toddlers do not fit into two of these rows, so a third adult stands in the room for the one child left over. You can run that sum for yourself in the count on the front page.
1:3
Infants, three months to two years
The infant room is the quietest of the three and keeps the least in it, because floor space matters more than furniture while your child is learning to move. Sleep happens when your child needs it rather than at one o'clock, and the cots are in a side room with the door open and a listening adult in it. Bottles are made up in the room to the times you wrote on the form, and each feed is noted with the amount taken.
Nappy changing happens at the table by the sink, and the time and outcome go on the sheet as the change is finished. Weaning follows what you are doing at home, so the room will spoon the same textures in the same order while your child gets used to the table. Two adults are always on the floor when the room is open, even on a morning with only three children booked in.
| In the bag, named | Kept in the infant room |
|---|---|
| Nappies and your own cream | Wipes, changing mats, spare bedding |
| Bottles and formula, or milk in a labelled bottle | Steriliser, bottle warmer, fridge shelf |
| Two full changes of clothes | Bibs, muslins, spare vests and socks |
| A comforter or sleep toy | Cots, sleeping bags, blackout blinds |
| Pram rain cover in wet weather | Waterproof suits for the covered garden |
1:4
Toddlers, two to three years
The toddler room is built around reaching things. Shelves stop at your child's shoulder, the sink has a step at it, and the coat pegs carry a photograph so your child finds their own without reading. Toys come out in trays and go back in trays, and the tidying is part of the session rather than something adults do afterwards.
Most children start using the toilet while they are in this room. The room follows whatever you have begun at home, so pants or nappies are entirely your call, and accidents are changed without comment and written on the sheet. Lunch is eaten at the low table with a fork and spoon, while an adult sits at each table and eats the same food.
| In the bag, named | Kept in the toddler room |
|---|---|
| Three changes of clothes while toilet training | Steps, potties, a low sink and spare pants |
| Indoor shoes or slippers | Wellingtons in every size on the rack |
| A sun hat in summer | Sun cream, shade sail, water tray |
| A comforter for rest time | Mats, blankets and the quiet corner |
| A bag for wet clothes to go home in | Aprons for paint, sand and water |
1:8
Pre-school, three years until the school gate
The pre-school room runs a longer morning, and the shape of it looks more like the shape of a reception class. Children come to the carpet when the bell rings, sit for a register they answer themselves, and then choose from tables that stay open until tidy-up time. Writing, letters, counting and scissors are put into the play rather than taught away from it.
Lunch is served at tables the children lay themselves, and they carry their own plate to the trolley afterwards. Rest is a quiet half hour with books and cushions, because most children in this room have stopped sleeping in the day. In the last term before school your child practises the things a reception teacher asks for: a coat done up alone, a lunch box opened alone, and a name recognised on a peg.
| In the bag, named | Kept in the pre-school room |
|---|---|
| One change of clothes | Spare uniform-style clothes for accidents |
| A book bag once school has offered a place | Library shelf, writing trays, name cards |
| Wellingtons in the winter term | Waterproof trousers, spades, the digging bed |
| A named water bottle | Jugs and beakers on every table |
| A sun hat in summer | Sun cream and the shaded end of the garden |
Moving up
What moving up a room actually involves
Children move room when the next room suits them better, which is usually near a birthday and sometimes a term either side of it. The decision is made by the two room leads together, and you are told before anything changes so the move can be planned around the week you are having.
- The two room leads agree a date and the nursery manager writes to you with it.
- Your child visits the new room for an hour a day across a week, with their own key adult.
- The visits stretch to a meal and then to a rest, so the new room is met at its busiest points.
- The file, the allergy card and the collection list are copied across before the first full day.
- The peg, the tray and the photograph move over on the morning your child starts properly.
When a move does not suit your child, it is paused and tried again a few weeks later. Nothing about the fortnight is fixed, and a room lead will say plainly when your child is happier staying where they are. The settling page describes the same care taken at the very start, while a day here sets out the routine each room shares.