Our older children start in Explorers in the term after their 3rd birthday or when they are ready to move up from Little Learners if they have started with us at the age of 2 years old.

Children in Explorers are put into keyworker groups of up to 13 children with a named keyworker. They have a mix of adult led and child initiated activities and have daily access to our garden and a fortnightly half day session in our on-site Forest School. For most of their session the children can move freely between all of our rooms and the garden and choose where to play and learn. Staff work alongside the children, making observations and extending their learning by their interactions and adjustments of the activities.

All children’s language is assessed on entry into Explorers using the Wellcomm Screening Tool and the children have daily activities in an appropriate learning group to develop their language skills.

Children also have a daily time of stories, rhymes and songs to develop their early reading skills.

Our spaces are carefully planned to allow children to investigate and problem solve. Practitioners select resources to encourage curiosity and enable children to develop key skills. We aim to provide our spaces with natural, open ended resources and we respond to the interests of our children.