Golden Rules for a golden nursery – case study notes – what works well.

It is always lovely, and important, to see and hear of case studies where Positive Press resources are making a difference to every day life in schools and early years settings.

Our grateful thanks go to Laura Robshaw from the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), with whom we have worked on the Golden Rules box set for early years, (click here to see) for forwarding this case study from Advantage Day Nursery. This will feature in the next edition of the NDNA Nursery News and we are delighted to have a preview of it here. It is delightful to read how this Advantage Nursery staff and children are using the resources to great effect!

“As a starting point the staff in our 3 preschool rooms use the Golden Rules box set at whole group circle times. The books lead on really well from our Feelings board we talk about every morning. They help support our Room rules, particularly with the younger children who have just moved into the room. The children absolutely love the books. They can relate to the characters and will often ask to sit quietly and read them alone or with a friend. 

The children find the finger puppets a lovely resource- or as one staff member said,”They are really interactive-the children feel they are part of it” ( when using the puppets). The puppets come alive when used for ‘reading’ stories to the children (instead of the teacher). The puppets and stories really promote language. The children have the opportunity to either ‘read’ the book back to their friends, or make up their own stories.

The staff have been able to get some great ‘wow moment’ Communication and Language observations as well as PSED. As the children chat, their ideas ‘spark from each other’. The creativity of their stories grow and grow. 

The staff also report that the books are lovely for the end of the day care session. Being in a day nursery, where some children attend full days from 7.45am-6pm, these are perfect to use for a calming session at the end of the day. The relationships between staff and children are positive and our chats around the books are often in smaller groups. In addition during the summer term recently we had some quite challenging behaviour from the ‘big children’ who were ready to move onto school. The staff were able to refer back to the books saying “Remember what it says in the …..book”. Children responded well to this as they had developed a lovely relationship with the characters/ puppets form the stories.”

Many thanks Advantage Day Nursery.

Website Manager’s Notes:

1. To see our Early Years resources please go to: https://www.circle-time.co.uk/product-category/early-years/

2. The National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) and Jenny Mosley have worked closely together, Jenny has contributed to their conferences and they have collaborated to produce Early Years resources. http://www.ndna.org.uk

3.  Jenny Mosley runs successful and transformative positive behaviour for learning, circle time and social skills, fun, and lunchtimes and playtimes training –Click here to see all forthcoming public conferences that anyone can attend.

4. For all training enquiries – better behaviour for learning, improved social and communication skills, circle times, working with parents as partners and more, phone 01225 767157 or email circletime@jennymosley.co.uk.

5. Resources to support all Jenny’s training are available on our website www.circle-time.co.uk/shop