Who's in the team?
Mel and Annie are a mother and daughter team, who between them have a huge amount of experience in education. They have trained as childminders together and have built a setting that reflects their passion for enabling environments, nurturing learning independence, active learning and curiosity. We are all DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) enhanced checked with updates.
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Mel is a trained primary school teacher B.Ed with 30 years teaching experience. She was a deputy head teacher for 10 years, and for 15 years her role included being a Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator, working with children, their families and teachers to help find and provide the support that they needed. She has a passion for Early Years and Foundation Stage education, teaching predominantly in Key Stage 1 during her career, reception class and year 2 particularly. On leaving teaching she worked for Surrey, teaching children who were out of school or difficult to place and those awaiting special school placements, providing additional support for their families. She has also supported young and new parents to settle their newborns on return home. She is committed to creative learning, discovery, schematic play opportunities, exploring, learning in the outdoors, learning through play, first hand experiences, mantle of the expert, imaginative and creative curriculum provision, quality story telling and real reading. Through the exploration of schematic play to engage children's interest, she is committed to providing and extending opportunities to develop children's speaking, listening, imagination and thinking skills.
Annie is a trained Learning Support Assistant. She has worked in primary school for 7 years supporting learning and play in reception class, year 1 and year 2. She is trained in positive play, positive behaviour management, speech sounds, supporting learning in the primary school and Lego therapy. She has taken part in outreach opportunities to a special school developing the use of visual timetables, and has supported early reading and phonics play too. |
ABOUT THE SETTING
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Children learn best when they are immersed in real experiences and have time to rehearse, explore, discover and try out their own and new ideas. When they initiate their own ideas and pursue their interests and schematic play, they become 'lost in their learning', developing perseverance and curiosity. They learn best when the environment they are in provides them with the materials, space and security they need to make their own decisions and learn and work at their own speed., an enabling environment. They need to feel valued and have their attempts and efforts valued too. They need to feel celebrated and know that their unique qualities will be recognised and acknowledged. At Little Acorns we know that we are all different, but that we all belong together. We understand the important values that help us to learn and play together as friends, respect, responsibility, courage, honesty, joy, tolerance, kindness and forgiveness.
Learning through play...
We provide exciting play based childcare for under fives in our own home. Our 'secret woodland' provides the opportunity to explore learning about and in the outdoors throughout the year, in all weathers.
These wonderful, memorable experiences are nurtured in our setting through play and active learning, developing exploration, discovery, imagination and creativity. The wilderness is within their grasp through the woodlands at the bottom of the garden! |
