EYFS Best Practice - All about… military nurseries

A Tyrannosaurus Rex looms over a large metal bowl filled with sand and small-world dinosaurs in one of our early years settings. Wooden cable reels and crates turned on their sides enticingly display more carefully chosen provocations, and a nearby reading corner is covered with a sparkly canopy and filled with a cosy rug and cushions beside a range of picturebooks. We want our settings to be magical and feel like a warm hug every day the children are here.

We purposefully strive to provide the most engaging and rich environment possible in order to fully support the unique needs of the children in our care who are growing up in military families and living a transient life around the world. Defence Children Services looks after Ministry of Defence schools and nurseries on military bases across the globe. We provide support and advice to ensure that all Service children have every opportunity to achieve their full potential. There are seven Defence Children Services in the organisation – four in military bases in Cyprus, where I am based, with the others in the ‘Rest of the World’: Brunei, Germany and Gibraltar, which my fellow early years advisor oversees.