Foundation Stage New Build

This Summer was an exciting time for the Foundation Stage team....

A Brief History

For many years the nursery at St Joseph's has been physically separated from the rest of the school.  Mr Donald and Mrs Gum have always envisioned that the children in nursery should be able to fully participate in the life and experiences of the school without having to feel like they were going on a visit!

This year we were privelidged to have secured funding to enable us to carry out building work which would physically join nursery and reception to create a Foundation Stage area.

Preparing for the Build

Prepapring for the build was both tiring and fun.  The old conservatory was used as both teaching area and storage area and as such contained lots of 'stuff'.  We used the preparations as an opportunity to sort through years of resources.  Just like moving house we threw away lots of old and tatty things but we were excited to find lots of treasure too.

Summer Holidays

Leaving for the Summer holidays was a strange experience this year.  It was exciting to think about what the building would look like on our return.  Mrs Entwistle and Mr McKenna kept us all regularly updated with photographs so we could see how the work was progressing. Mr McKenna demonstrated a talent for photography as he took some lovely framed shots.

Our return

The building was not quite finished when we returned in September. The builders were fantastic and made sure to keep the noise to a minimum.  They were also very patient at answering all of the questions the adults had! Throughout the process the children took all of the changes in their stride and enjoyed watching the builders at work both indoors and outdoors.

Now!

The completed room was well worth waiting for! It is a beautiful, light and airy space that has given nursery and reception space to participate in free flow activities together. Already the children are confident sharing the space and all children are enjoying seeing each other and teachers from other classes.  

The room is also being used to hold the nursery drop in sessions so that by the time the toddlers start in nursery they are happy and confident.