Kaida, our very own dragon maths mascot, will guide your child in learning all things mathematics, from numbers and shapes to space and measure.
Kaida’s Challenge is designed to foster co-operation skills, build relationships and connections, and nurtures a positive attitude towards learning as your child plays with others, navigates turn taking and takes on each of the challenges.

Before playing for the first time, prepare your counters 0 – 5. Add stickers to 6 of your counters. Place a sticker with the number on one side of each counter, and a sticker with the corresponding number of dots on the reverse side.

Dragons challenge 1

• Collect 4 objects
• Complete 5 star jumps
• Place a favourite toy ‘under’ a chair
• Build a small tower, then build an even bigger tower
• Point out a circle shaped object from around the home.
  For example: a circle clockface or plate
• Collect 3 objects and place them in height order, shortest to tallest

Dragons challenge 2

• Collect 5 objects and place them in weight order, lightest to heaviest
• Repeat a made-up action pattern.
  For example: Clap, clap, tap your knees, tap your knees, stomp stomp
• Collect 3 items, add 2 more, how many items do you have now?
• Fill a container with a range of objects and guess how many are inside.
  Once you’ve made your prediction – check!
• Find a square shaped object and a triangle shaped object from around the home – go, go, go!
• Show 2 counters in a pile, next to 4 counters in pile. Which is more?

Dragons challenge 3

• Using your Dragon Maths board, place your age in counters on the board, using the song, add 10. How old will you be in 10 year’s time?
• Predict how many steps to takes to get from the living room to the kitchen?
  Once you’ve made your prediction – test it out!
• Count backwards from 5 or even 10. Make it fun using different voices!
• Collect 5 objects, can you match to your number 5 counter? Repeat using 2 objects etc.
• Place a favourite toy ‘between’ 2 objects
• Order your number counters from 0 to 5. What number comes next?

Our very own mathematics programme designed to give your child a strong foundation in numeracy.

Dragon Maths will guide your child in taking their first steps in learning to count, develop their understanding of numbers, and will introduce your child to solving basic addition and subtraction problems in a fun and creative way.

Watch the video to learn how to play!

Our programme is designed to support your child in taking their first steps in learning to read and to ignite a love for books that lasts a lifetime. Our goal is to nurture a passion for reading, to build healthy reading habits for school and beyond.

Programme overview
To learn to read children need to know which letters (graphemes) correspond to which sounds (phonemes).

Letter sounds are not introduced in alphabetical order, but in an order that allows children to blend sounds together to start to read first words more easily. For example, once your child is confident with the sounds s, a, t, p, i, n, m and d, they can start to blend these together to read words like it, in, is, am, at, sat and pat.

Some words cannot be decoded using phonic methods, these are known as harder to read and spell words, or tricky words. We teach these words through sight recognition. Keep an eye out for the * symbol in our resources to identify these words.

How to use the sound sets

Show your child each letter sound, modelling its sound, not its name. Encourage your child to repeat the sound back to you. Play games in short, fun sessions as new letter sounds are introduced. For example:

Sound hunt – find objects around the home that start with the new sound.

I spy – play I spy to spot items that begin with that sound.

Hide and seek – hide cards around the home for your child to discover.

Storybook search – look for letter sounds in your favourite storybooks.

Once your child is confident with sound set 1, it’s time to dive into word bank 1. Progress through each sound set and the corresponding word bank, from 1 – 7. You’ll notice we’ve colour coded sets for ease.

How to use the word banks

Show your child each word, modelling how to read by segmenting into individual sounds, then blending sounds together. Encourage your child to do the same, running your finger under each sound in turn as a guide.

As new words are introduced, focus on vocabulary. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for words marked with a * to identify words that are harder to read and spell.

Once your child is confident with word bank 1, jump to sound set 2. Progress through each sound set and the corresponding word bank, from 1 – 7.

For correct pronunciation, checkout the guidance on the back of each card, or listen to the sound buttons below:

Sound Set 1

s

a

t

p

i

n

m

d

Sound Set 2

g

o

c

k

ck

e

u

r

Sound Set 3

h

b

f

ff

l

ll

ss

j

v

w

x

y

z

zz

qu

Sound Set 4

ch

sh

th

ng

Sound Set 5

ee

oa

oo

ar

ai

Sound Set 6

er

ow

or

ur

oi

Sound Set 7

igh

ear

air

ure

Reading journal

Your child’s reading journal captures their early reading progress. This journal will keep you updated on letter sounds your child is practising at nursery, so you can focus on these at home. Your key person will share book titles for home reading and will provide further ideas to enhance your child’s reading experience. We love for parents to participate by adding comments too!

In addition, the journal provides useful information as your child begins the programme, with details on:

• Pre-reading skills
• How to support your child in learning to read at home
• Understanding reading book bandings

Let the reading adventures begin!

For more information, please speak to your key person or Head of Early Years Practice

During your first settling in session, your key person will discuss with you your child’s sleep routine, noting times of day they tend to nap. We will mirror this routine as closely as possible, but it’s important to share that we will not force a child to wake or keep them awake against their wishes. There’s lots of research on babies’ brain development that tells us that when sleeping, the brain is busy learning, restful sleep helps us to process daily discoveries, so time for sleep and rest is a really important part of child development.

There’s no need to worry about nursery bedding, as we take care of this for you. Your child’s bedding will be kept safe in their individual sleep bag until needed and is laundered regularly.

Our team are nurturing in approach to sleep routines. Your child will be offered a cot or sleep mattress to snooze on, depending on their stage of development. We never leave children to cry themselves to sleep and ensure that sleeping children are always supervised. Team carry out regular sleep checks to ensure your child’s safety.

Importantly, our safer sleep practices are in accordance with recommendations from both the NHS and the Lullaby Trust to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

The Lullaby Trust have lots of helpful information to support families with safer sleep at home too, visit The Lullaby Trust – Safer sleep for babies, Support for families for more information.

Our new Awe & Wonder programme has been lovingly created by Seymour House early education experts, to create brilliant childhood memories for our tremendous two-years-olds.

Filled with 5 Cs learning, our Awe & Wonder programme offers adventure, excitement, discovery, and moments of pure surprise! Children can be a firefighter for the day or even a superhero; be wowed by marvellous magic or go on a time travelling expedition in the search for dinosaurs!

Every two-year-old will receive a personalised Awe & Wonder keepsake to share with their family, which captures each experience with a photograph to cherish the memory. Children will also be given a unique sticker to wear home on the day that they’ve taken part in an Awe and Wonder experience.

We would love for families to contribute too! All parents with a two-year-old at Seymour House will receive an experience card from their Key Person, where you can jot down Awe & Wonder experiences with your child as a family. We’ve put together a list of 22 things to do aged two for some magical inspiration!

We would love to see what you’ve been up to! Why not return your card to nursery so that we can talk about your adventures with your child and share it with their friends?

Download 22 things to do aged two

All feeding equipment, bottles, teats, and trainer cups are provided by nursery and sterilised in line with the latest government guidance, as part of daily routines. Bottle warmers are used to heat bottles when necessary.

The EYFS organises knowledge and skills through 7 areas of learning and development:

• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development

These are known as the prime areas of learning which are most essential for your child’s healthy development and future learning. As your child grows, the prime areas help them to develop skills in the 4 specific areas of learning:

• Literacy
• Maths
• Understanding the World and
• Expressive Arts and Design

Young children learn best through play and exploration. As part of daily practice nursery will provide your child with a wide range of fun and engaging play and learning experiences that underpin the skills your child needs to work towards the Early Learning Goals.

At Seymour House we teach the EYFS areas of learning through our own 5 C’s curriculum:

• Communication
• Cooperation
• Curiosity
• Critical thinking; and
• Creativity

These 5 C’s are the skills we feel will really endure in a rapidly changing world. Educational programmes offered at Seymour House promote the 5 C’s through a range of learning experiences including regular storytelling, song and rhyme times, cooking sessions, Dragon Maths, sky writing, P.E lessons, safety detectives and choose a challenge to name just a few!

What food is at nursery?

The nursery menu includes breakfast for children arriving before 8.30am, a mid-morning and a mid-afternoon snack, a cooked meal served at around midday, and for those children staying after 4pm a tea. Fresh drinking water is always available throughout the day for children of all ages.

Meals are served in small groups with supervision from the team. Social skills and independence are developed, with older children encouraged to help themselves.

For children under one, the Key Person will work closely with you through the weaning process which we will begin in accordance with parent wishes from 6 months plus of age, in line with the latest guidance from the Department of Health and the Food Standards Agency. Pureed food is available. The Key Person will support older babies to attempt to feed themselves promoting independence, for example by encouraging babies to hold a spoon while being fed.

If you would like a copy of the full menu, please speak to your child’s Key Person.

Please note: for safety reasons we do not serve nuts at any age, and ask parents not to bring in food from home as we cannot be sure of the ingredients.