2 Year Old Provision

Welcome to our wonderful, exciting and highly sought after two year old provision. This is our 7^th hugely successful year of running our Caterpillar Nursery for 2 year old children. It’s no surprise that our 2 year old Nursery has gone from strength to strength especially with the experienced staff we have running the room. From the minute you step into the room you are immersed in a caring, friendly and safe environment, carefully and purposefully organised for our youngest learners.

We are over the moon that it has been as successful as we had dreamed it would be. We are fortunate enough to see first hand the benefits to the children who attend our 2 year old provision. Both staff and children are beaming from ear to ear with its continued successes, when asked, Mrs Short said “I’m on cloud nine, it’s been delightful” and Mrs Gordon followed it up by saying “the children are so lovely, they each have their own wonderful little personalities and it’s so nice to see the children interacting with each other”. Mrs Short also expressed her thanks to the parents for so kindly welcoming our staff into their homes for the children’s home visits. Staff glean valuable information from parents/carers which undoubtedly aided in the smooth transition for the children into the 2 Year old room.

Entering our Caterpillar room for the first time, one child was overheard saying to his mummy “Awesome” whilst another was “WOW!”.

Sessions on offer:

We currently offer spaces for 2 year olds on both morning and afternoon sessions. We also offer 2.5 full day provision at either the beginning of the week or end of the week. These are for 2 year old’s who are eligible for the government funded 2 year old play and learn sessions. We offer paid childcare sessions for children who are not eligible for a government funded place. These sessions are charged at £12 and can be flexible to meet the needs of children and their families.

Morning and Afternoon Nursery sessions are 3 hours long.

Morning sessions are 8.30am- 11.30am and afternoon sessions are 12.00pm-3.00pm.

MTW sessions are from 8.30am – 3pm full days and 8.30 am – 11.30am on Wednesday.

WTF sessions are from 8.30am – 3pm full days and 12noon – 3pm on a Wednesday afternoon.

Although we will try our best to accommodate the sessions you require, our places are on a first come first serve basis and therefore we may only be able to offer sessions in which there are spaces.

Free or Funded Places:

If you think that you may be eligible for a funded place there are a number of ways to check. You are able to call in to the school office to collect a ‘free play and learn for 2 year old’s’ form and apply to the Local Authority. It is also possible to find out more information on Durham Families Information Service. This link also enables you to check your eligibility online.

You may receive a ‘Golden Ticket’ along with a letter from the Local Authority, this entitles your child to their FREE 15 hour place. Please bring your golden ticket to nursery and we can arrange some visit sessions, prior to your child starting nursery.

Children who are eligible for these sessions are able to take the 15 hour free entitlement across morning, afternoons or 2.5 full day sessions.

If you are interested in a nursery place for your child please come down to the nursery for a look around or ring us on 0191 370 0260

We have been very fortunate to be able to offer this service to some of the 2 year olds in our surrounding area, if you know of anyone who would be interested please spread the word and ask them to contact the school for more information. Take a look at the photographs to see what we’ve been up to in the caterpillar room.

We look forward to sharing our journey with you this year,

Mrs Henry

Sharing Information

Two -year -old progress check

All 2 year old children who attend our setting will have a developmental check between their second and third birthday. It will happen jointly with parents/carers, the child’s key person and their health visitor.
The check helps the child’s key person to focus on the child’s progress. It will also help parents/carers with ideas to keep chatting, playing and reading with their child at home.
Parents/Carers will receive a written summary about how their child is learning and developing.

Top 25 activities for our 2 year old children:

Here are our top twenty five experiences which children have during their time with us at Beamish EY’s:

Mud walking and footprint making
Go camping …make a den
Wear a cape (super hero style)
Fly a paper aeroplane
Spread your bread with a tasty topper
Feel sand beneath your toes
Waterproofs on and dance in the rain
Go for welly walks and run wild (with hot chocolate in the woods)
Something special about boxes
Something special about splashing and puddles
Jump into a ball pool
Echo echo echo … Who has the loudest yell (over in the forest)
Fly a flag
Climb a mountain (the slide)
Blow a dandelion clock
Sail a boat
Thigh high in long grass
Feel falling snow on your tongue
run through crisp autumn leaves
scoop up and throw autumn leaves in the air
Smell a rose
Hide and seek with the dinosaurs
Spread paint on your hands and feet
Hose pipe and paddling pool fun
Dance to music