ROOMS AND CLASSES
NORBURY ROOMS & CLASSES
We take children between the ages of seven months and five years. Purple Panda is divided into five separate rooms for children of different age groups and there is an additional building – Bamboo House – which accommodates our Toddlers. We have two separate baby rooms.
Each of our Nursery rooms has been designed to maximise learning opportunities for children. The high ceilings and large windows in our building create bright, spacious environments for play and learning. All of our rooms are air-conditioned.
Baby Unit (Pandas and Penguins)
6 months to 20 months
Class Size: 15
Our Baby Unit is spread over two floors. We have a ‘baby baby’ room for those babies who are not yet fully mobile, and another room for our babies who are stable in their walking, and who can climb and eat their meals independently at a table rather than in a high chair. We spend a lot of time helping the babies with their language and communication
– babbling, then their own words, then single words and then phrases (Oh dear! More, please!). We have lots of singing and rhymes sessions, and the babies do a lot of sensory play
in Gelli Baff, artificial snow, shredded paper, baked beans, coloured spaghetti, sand and water. It is not long before they are climbing on everything and being very active!
Tots (Giraffes)
20 months to 30 months
Class Size: 12
Our Tots occupy their own building – Bamboo House. They have their own decking area and so they have in/out access throughout the day. They do lots of sensory activities, sand and water play, mark-making, singing, playing musical instruments and riding the small balancing bikes. They spend time in the mud kitchen, racing around on the race-track and climbing up/rolling down the hill in the middle of the race-track.
Toddlers (Zebras)
30 months to 3 years
Class Size: 8
Our Toddlers occupy a classroom on the ground floor which adjoins the Pre-school, so they spend time with the Pre-schoolers each day. Younger children learn from older children. Having developed good communication and language skills
and physical activity
skills, the Toddlers have maths and literacy activities, through play. They do lots of mark-making and junk-modelling with a variety of resources and they become aware of role-play
at this age (putting dolls to sleep and cooking in the home-corner, being superheroes, play shop and dressing up in a range of costumes). They love cars, trains, dinosaurs and construction with Lego, magnetic tiles, Mobilo, wooden blocks and large plastic bricks. They also ride their bikes and scooters in the garden.
Pre-School (Tigers)
3 years to 5 years
Class Size: 20
Our Pre-school is very similar to a reception class at school and so there is a smooth transition
from Purple Panda to school for all of our children; they are all “school ready”. The Pre-schoolers do lots of mark-making, writing, phonics, construction, very developed role-play, reading and maths. Everything is through play, so they write menus for their café role-play and take notes on clip-boards for their office role-play. They also look after our pet terrapins (Leo and Raf) and our rabbit (Oreo), and they have yoga lessons and French lessons. The Pre-school has two sets of trifold doors which lead to the garden, so the Pre-schoolers have in/out access throughout the day. By the time they get to the Pre-school, the children have formed friendships and they love to interact and play with their friends every day, especially when they are in the garden riding their bikes and scooters.
