Muddy Wellies Nursery
Our History
YMCA South Devon opened a nursery in January 2016. This was purpose built in the ground floor of our building and offered a free flowing play environment for 0-5 year olds. Since then our nursery has evolved and grown and following rebranding in early 2018 we became Muddy Wellies Nursery. Although still run by and very much a part of YMCA South Devon we wanted to promote our unique facilities and celebrate all our outdoor areas, also acknowledging that we allow the children to play outside come rain or shine-hence ‘Muddy Wellies!’
In 2019 we expanded and following consultation with parents in our local community we opened up a baby room for the under twos.
Our Nursery
At Muddy Wellies we believe in providing high quality early years care and education both indoors and outdoors. We are extremely lucky to have lots of indoor and outdoor space. Indoors, our space is split into two, one for the under 24 months (Caterpillars) and one for above 24 months (Butterflies).
Caterpillars
Our under 24 months room is warm and welcoming as you would expect for the youngest children in our care, making the children feel welcomed, happy, and at ease, to explore the many different experiences that are offered by our caring and understanding staff who not only understand the needs of your children but also the needs of the parents. This room has been specially designed for this age group and was only opened in March 2019.
Within the room we only have toys that are specified for the age range of the babies. These toys help in so many ways to ensure your child has everything necessary to achieve those important goals and milestones. From starting nursery, each baby has their own daily record; within this you can see all the eating, sleeping and changing times, the day’s activities and baby’s individual achievements. Activities that are planned and carried out will also be constructed with all the babies ages and individual needs in mind.
As a Nursery we recognise the importance of these early years of your child’s life and the staff will work closely with yourselves to get to know your child and their routine in order to maintain consistency. The children have a cot area within this room where they can have a sleep as well as a cosy, quiet area and an open space for playing and exploring. Children within this room are given individual attention, cuddles and reassurance that they need to feel safe and secure. There is a separate outdoor play area for the children to enjoy daily.
Butterflies
The children within our Butterfly room, over 24 months, are split into 2 groups Butterflies 24 – 36 months and Ladybirds 36+ months. They are given an abundance of activities to encourage them to be creative and to explore the wide range of activities that are on offer, including: paint, playdough, clay, water, sand, small world resources and building blocks to name a few. We provide lots of opportunities for the children to be involved in imaginative play, sing songs, participate in yoga and dance, explore the musical instruments, share stories, and above all to have fun.
The activities that are planned for the children in these groups are based on what the children are interested in and what learning intentions they are working towards. This means that your children will have the chance to access lots of different activities as well as revisiting them throughout the day/week and practice their new learning throughout. We know that children learn best through their play, which is why we ensure that children are provided with activities that engage and excite them.
The children also have a lovely quiet sensory room that they can use - whether for some chill out time with the books and music or to experience all the sensory resources.
Outdoor Learning Environment
The outside area for these children is vast; it has a large sandpit as well as a mud kitchen for the children to explore. We are also very lucky to have access to our own woodland that the children love to explore whilst running around or climbing up to the tree house whilst splashing in the muddy puddles. We also have a large playground that the children love to play running games on or ride their bikes or scooters. And on the days where the weather is not as nice as we would like it, we have the large indoors sports hall where we can run loose with the soft play equipment, bouncy castle and large toys.
Ofsted
During the Summer Holiday’s 2017, Ofsted visited our nursery and holiday club and we are very pleased to have received a ‘good’, maintaining our brilliant childcare service.
More Information
For more information about our nursery, click on the links below: