Teaching and Learning
The Nursery staff at Holy Child Nursery Unit aspire to provide the best start to education for each child that comes through our doors.
As a team, we work very hard to create an invigorating environment to challenge our students while maintaining their happiness and wellbeing first and foremost. We provide a stimulating curriculum for our children through a thematic scheme of planning which caters for every child’s needs.
We focus mainly on Language Development to ensure we are giving our students the best chance to reach their full potential. Our Speech Therapist has proven to be a vital element of our Nursery team. We have recently created a lot of resources and time to help with our children’s wellbeing and mindfulness. There is a dedicated time each week to focus on wellbeing as well as opportunities throughout each day for children to experience mindfulness activities.
We, at Holy Child Nursery Unit, aim to provide opportunities for our children to develop and grow and we explore every area of the Nursery curriculum to do so. Our active learning approach keeps our children engaged and interactive in their own learning in a comfortable and safe environment. Our staff are constantly changing and adapting our planning to suit our classes and their styles of learning.
We follow the Northern Ireland Curricular Guidance for Pre-School Education, promoting a play-based learning environment which is child-driven and child-focussed.
We cover the following six areas of learning;
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Physical Development and Movement
- Language Development
- Early Mathematical Experiences
- The Arts
- The World Around Us
Staffing
Our Nursery teachers are Miss Claire Johnston and Miss Mrs Áine O’Connor. Our Nursery assistants are Ms Deirdre Doyle, Mrs Catherine Breslin and Miss Casey Canning.
Session Times
8:30 – 9:00am – Supervised Breakfast Club
9:00 – 9:15am – Morning Meet and Greet
9:15 – 11:10am – Child-Initiated Play
Listening Games
Snack Time
Indoor Physical Play
Tidy Up Time
11.10 – 11:30am – Focused Carpet Time
11.30 – 12:00pm – Shared Outdoor Play
12:00 – 12:50pm – Dinner Time
12:50 – 1:15pm – Afternoon Play
1:15 - 1.30pm - Pick Up
Further Learning Opportunities
Throughout the week we also have external visitors coming to the Nursery Unit for extra sessions such as Miss Doreen with Jo Jingles (Music and Movement), Maiden City Soccer (Fundemental Movement) and visits to Creggan Library.
We offer extra Speech and Language sessions for children who need further support after school, and run a Transition Programme to help children with the transition from Nursery to Primary 1.
Home-School Links
We recognise that parents are also the child’s first and primary educators, so work hard to establish a partnership with parents from the offset.
We send home weekly language packs and reading books, run “Big Bed Time Read” events throughout the year, invite parents and grandparents in to school as much as possible, and use the SeeSaw education app to send photos and updates from your child throughout the school day.
Sharing from the Start
We are delighted to be reinstating our successful “Sharing from the Start” programme with our partner school, Ebrington Nursery Unit, throughout this school year.
