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AWARDS 2021  ORGANISATIONS Pre-School of the Year The Greenhouse Multi-Cultural Play and Arts Project Liverpool Supporting parents to thrive so that children will thrive too” – judge Approximately 95 per cent of children at Outstanding-rated charity organisation the Greenhouse Project have English as an Additional Language. As a result, the project focuses heavily on engaging parents in their work to help support the needs of the whole family and aims to provide quality early education to children from the community by prioritising ‘staff over stuff ’. Activities are delivered through the day in the project’s large garden or Forest School, with around 80 per cent of the daily routine taking place outdoors, regardless of weather. Practice is rooted in children’s personal interests and opinions, promoting a culture of respect, support, and multiculturalism to help children grow up confident and equipped to face any challenges ahead. Daily conversations at circle time allow staff to note children’s interests and opinions on different topics, and they use this information, alongside All About Me forms, cultural approach forms and daily observations, to discuss any strategic decision that will affect provision. Children are even involved in recruitment and hiring, with prospective staff engaging in storytelling with children so engagement can be considered in the final decision. The setting’s early years educators are constantly working on continuous professional development through active reflective opportunities to improve their practice and challenge themselves. Every key person is well supported and encouraged to take the lead on the care and support of their key children. They undertake CPD on all relevant topics, from how to handle difficult conversations with parents to how to lead on their own key children’s Early Help Assessment Tools. Partnership with parents is the keystone of the setting. Parents and staff have both daily informal conversations and formal termly reviews, where they speak in depth about the family situation, including concerns about language barriers and immigration status, and they work together to help support children in all areas of learning and development. Every term, parents’ reviews allow parents to give feedback about the support provided by the setting and what they would like to see more of. All compliments and complaints are recorded and considered during termly reviews of the project’s Focused Improvement Plan. Short projects and activities within the setting aim to respond to common needs among families, from English language lessons to helping families socialise when they are struggling with a lack of social interactions. Parents regularly volunteer to help with sessions, learning how to support their children through play and gaining social interactions and language practice. Monthly meetings with local leaders of other projects and organisations allow the setting to find opportunities and support from the wider community. For example, with most families from deprived backgrounds, the setting is a Fare Share provider. During the lockdowns, if a family were to self-isolate, another organisations and projects stepped in to help provide resources and food for any families stuck at home. By helping children and families to feel confident being themselves and expressing their thoughts and choices, speaking any language they choose, experimenting with new foods and activities and exploring all kinds of resources, Greenhouse sets them up to face any of life’s challenges with emotional intelligence and resilience. FINALISTS Bury Grammar School, Bury Busy Bees Ledbury, Herefordshire Findon Valley Free Church Preschool, Worthing Kilsby Pre-School, Rugby CRITERION Open to registered settings offering sessional care and education 10 | NurseryWorld Awards www.nurseryworld.co.uk
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AWARDS 2021  ORGANISATIONS Early Years in School Award Manor Wood Primary Leeds Clear philosophical and pedagogical approach… Strong child-centred and outdoors ethos” – judge The approach at Manor Wood Primary is inspired by the pre-schools of Reggio Emilia and Scandinavian Forest Schools. The fundamental belief, central to all the work it does, is that children are competent, collaborative, powerful individuals who should be given the time and space to conduct their own investigations and research. The Foundation Unit is a place full of curiosity and creativity. Children feel valued and cared for by educators who wholeheartedly believe in their potential and capabilities. Practitioners are thoughtful, reflective, and work extremely effectively as a team. Staff act as co-constructors in children’s learning; sharing their curiosity and offering all they need to further their research and deepen their understanding of the world around them. Practitioners meet weekly to discuss the children’s work and investigations and support one another in developing the environment to offer children provocations which spark wonder and curiosity. Carefully curated spaces offer children inspiring places in which to explore their interests. The belief that the environment acts as a third teacher means that all outdoor spaces at Manor Wood are constantly evolving to reflect children’s interests. Great emphasis is placed on outdoor exploration, and physical development can be explored in the large garden with woodland, riverbed, polytunnel for growing vegetables, outdoor atelier and woodwork workshop. Children regularly harvest vegetables to cook on the campfire, collect wood for the fire, and later reuse the charcoal in their artwork. Children are encouraged to express themselves creatively. In the atelier, they learn a number of artistic techniques which offer further languages of expression, experimenting with mixed media sculpting, painting, printing, fabric dying and making recycled paper. Children also interact with the local community, with weekly visits to local woods as well as trips to nearby farms, museums and galleries. They work on short- and long-term projects throughout the academic year, meeting weekly for project meetings and confidently sharing their ideas. This project work culminates in a grand event in a venue somewhere in the local community where children present their work to parents and carers. Parents are highly valued and actively welcomed into the setting at regular ‘Stay and…’ sessions, with activities including ‘Stay and Strum’ and ‘Stay and Sketch’. These sessions offer children the chance to share their interests with their families. There are also ‘Book Breakfasts’, where children make breakfast for their carers while sharing their favourite books. Children’s learning is extensively documented throughout the setting and in their learning journals. Families are encouraged to look through the journals to gain a sense of the work their children are doing, and make contributions from home including their own documentation, photographs, and work samples. Reception children and their families are also invited to a barbecue in the summer before they start school to celebrate the start of their first school year. Children at Manor Wood make great progress and leave the Foundation Unit full of self-belief, confident in their own abilities, resilient and independent. They are extremely well equipped to succeed in the next stage of their learning journey. FINALISTS Gateways School, Leeds Marlborough Primary, Washington CRITERION For Early Years Foundation Stage or equivalent provision in primary schools which have developed high-quality practice for nursery and Reception children www.nurseryworld.co.uk NurseryWorld Awards | 11

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AWARDS 2021  ORGANISATIONS

Pre-School of the Year

The Greenhouse Multi-Cultural Play and Arts Project Liverpool

Supporting parents to thrive so that children will thrive too” – judge

Approximately 95 per cent of children at Outstanding-rated charity organisation the Greenhouse Project have English as an Additional Language. As a result, the project focuses heavily on engaging parents in their work to help support the needs of the whole family and aims to provide quality early education to children from the community by prioritising ‘staff over stuff ’.

Activities are delivered through the day in the project’s large garden or Forest School, with around 80 per cent of the daily routine taking place outdoors, regardless of weather.

Practice is rooted in children’s personal interests and opinions, promoting a culture of respect, support, and multiculturalism to help children grow up confident and equipped to face any challenges ahead. Daily conversations at circle time allow staff to note children’s interests and opinions on different topics, and they use this information, alongside All About Me forms, cultural approach forms and daily observations, to discuss any strategic decision that will affect provision.

Children are even involved in recruitment and hiring, with prospective staff engaging in storytelling with children so engagement can be considered in the final decision. The setting’s early years educators are constantly working on continuous professional development through active reflective opportunities to improve their practice and challenge themselves. Every key person is well supported and encouraged to take the lead on the care and support of their key children. They undertake CPD on all relevant topics, from how to handle difficult conversations with parents to how to lead on their own key children’s Early Help Assessment Tools.

Partnership with parents is the keystone of the setting. Parents and staff have both daily informal conversations and formal termly reviews, where they speak in depth about the family situation, including concerns about language barriers and immigration status, and they work together to help support children in all areas of learning and development.

Every term, parents’ reviews allow parents to give feedback about the support provided by the setting and what they would like to see more of. All compliments and complaints are recorded and considered during termly reviews of the project’s Focused Improvement Plan.

Short projects and activities within the setting aim to respond to common needs among families, from English language lessons to helping families socialise when they are struggling with a lack of social interactions.

Parents regularly volunteer to help with sessions, learning how to support their children through play and gaining social interactions and language practice.

Monthly meetings with local leaders of other projects and organisations allow the setting to find opportunities and support from the wider community. For example, with most families from deprived backgrounds, the setting is a Fare Share provider. During the lockdowns, if a family were to self-isolate, another organisations and projects stepped in to help provide resources and food for any families stuck at home.

By helping children and families to feel confident being themselves and expressing their thoughts and choices, speaking any language they choose, experimenting with new foods and activities and exploring all kinds of resources, Greenhouse sets them up to face any of life’s challenges with emotional intelligence and resilience.

FINALISTS Bury Grammar School, Bury Busy Bees Ledbury, Herefordshire Findon Valley Free Church Preschool, Worthing Kilsby Pre-School, Rugby

CRITERION Open to registered settings offering sessional care and education

10 | NurseryWorld Awards www.nurseryworld.co.uk

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