Classes & Resources

PolkaDots Nurseries offer much more than just the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum (EYFS). We believe in educating the ‘whole’ child from an early age and offer experiences that will enhance and inspire children to learn more about their place in the world they live in!

We want to create opportunities for children to extend their learning at home too. Using our website, we share resources and home activities. It’s turned out to be a great way for us to keep in touch with parents too (especially during Covid restrictions), sharing stories in our regular Newsletters about what’s going on inside PolkaDots!

Here are a few of the different types of learning experience we include in our daily routines at nursery…

Our Extra Curriculum Classes

Spanish (+music!)

Every week our nurseries have a visit from a musician teacher from the brilliant Bilingual Beats. They help our children to learn Spanish while making music! With live music and lots of singing, this is one of our favourite lessons of the week.

Music

As well as being a qualified teacher, Headteacher Kathleen is also a musician. Bringing her guitar to nursery, she uses her music and songs to inspire the children and help them learn the basic elements of music. We use pitch, rhythm, percussion and singing to enhance their understanding and use of music and melody. All our children sing daily at nursery from our circle and story times to singing our ‘Tidy Up Time’ song!

Movement and Dance

With physical development being one of the three Prime areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum, we offer our children the opportunity to develop and enhance their physical abilities through movement, dance and drama with our specialist trained Dance Teacher from the wonderful En Pointe School of Dance

Makaton

Makaton is a language program that uses signing alongside speech. We teach all our children at PolkaDots to sign as they speak, just like Mr Tumble in ‘Something Special’. Makaton signing along side speech supports children in their listening and concentration as well as their language, communication and interaction with others. It enhances all the areas of non-verbal communication such as facial expressions, natural gestures and body language. Kathleen is a qualified Regional Makaton tutor who teaches our staff and children in weekly sessions how to add sign language into their speaking, singing and play.

“PolkaDots is a great and safe environment for children’s personal and social development. They have amazing activities, among which yoga and dance classes and I strongly believe that the kids benefit a lot from those sessions. The team is brilliant, very welcoming, caring and fully reliable. So happy that my daughter is part of the team :)”

Stella Alleva, May 2021

Google Review 5 stars

Our Resources

PolkaDots’ website is a great way for parents to stay in touch with what’s going on inside our nurseries. Each half-term, our newsletters share information and updates. They contain ideas for home activities as well as Makaton signs for topics the children have been learning about.

It’s also the place we share findings from our regular parent surveys. We use their feedback and suggestions to see how PolkaDots is meeting our parents’ needs and expectations (you can read last year’s survey here!) This year, we’re extending our Resources section to include ideas for recipes, songs for children to sing along to, and Activity Sheets with ideas for learning at home too!

Read our most recent Newsletter to see what life is like inside PolkaDots… or find out how we use the Tapestry platform to share observations and pictures with parents!

Newsletters & Resources

Tapestry