NURSERY ROOMS AND ROUTINES

The babies of The Tower House Nursery have beautiful rooms with lots of natural light and wood floors. Their equipment has been selected especially to help the children develop their skills; social and emotional, language and communication, expressive, physical development and understanding of the world around them. There are also lots of cuddles and close time with experienced staff, who the babies soon recognise and trust. These rooms are calm to allow for peaceful, fully supervised sleep.

Tower Toddlers 

As the children become more independent they begin to experiment with toys and activities, developing their own imaginations. Children then move into our Toddler Rooms, where we have facilities that will help to stimulate the children and take them to their next stage of development. These rooms are separate and calm and are only for children of the same age/stage of development to prevent stress and over-stimulation.

Each age group has a structured day. Within the structured day the children have the opportunity to bake, play in the sand and water, read, dress up and role-play, sing, do music and movement, arts and craft activities and many more themed activities designed to activate curious minds. We are also out in our beautiful garden as often as possible.

Parents evenings are held six monthly in all rooms.

The Tower House Pre-School Building

From 3 to 5 years your child's day will become more structured. The facilities offered at the Tower House Montessori nursery are second to none; a purpose built glass and cedar constructed school room with direct access to the Nursery gardens.

The Tower House Nursery is in partnership nursery with Edinburgh City Council, and our pre-schoolers are eligible for assistance of up to £1500 per year towards fees (regardless of their own local authority area). This funding is given to the nursery and rebated to eligible parents.

The staff in the pre-school room work to the Curriculum for Excellence:

Physical Development: We have an extensive garden for gross motor skills development as well as fresh air and well-being. We also do sewing, drawing, painting and construction for fine physical movement.

Emotional, Personal and Social Development: We have sociable communal meal times, and our games encourage the children to take turns, listen and improve their social skills. Children are encouraged to talk about their feelings and to be kind to their friends. This includes being kind to each other and our Nursery animals.

Knowledge and Understanding of the World: We use our Nursery garden to encourage children to explore the world around them and to experiment. We organise relevant outings to expose the children to new surroundings and new experiences.

Aesthetic and Expressive Development: We provide a wide range of art materials, for example drawing, painting, gluing and playdough. These encourage children to be expressive in their play.

Communication and Language: Children are encouraged to develop their communication and language skills through books, story time, songs and activities.
A portfolio of each child's work is maintained, in order to assist the transition to school, which parents are free to look at. Our observations and assessments of each child are also discussed at organised parent evenings where feedback centres on your child's development and progress.

Each child has their own personal learning plan 'PLP'  (including appropriate work on the computer), to challenge their mind and assist learning.

The children also have time to learn through play in our house corner, arts and crafts, construction, sewing, baking, nature trails and outdoor activities which include the children planting their own seeds and caring for their own plants and animals.