Jack in the Box Nursery is a privately run, not-for-profit organisation, which operates in purpose-built facilities as part of the Tudhoe Moor Nursery School and children's centre. The nursery is popular with fee-paying parents and reports a healthy waiting list and high demand for early education places for two-year-olds. Working with the nursery school in an innovative whole team way has enabled the setting to increase the places it offers (12 two-year-old places in the full day setting and 16 places within the nursery school). This arrangement provides wraparound and out-of-school care for nursery children whose families require additional hours.
Children who are rising threes move through and receive a term of their entitlement in the nursery school, where there is spare capacity in terms of space, equipment and resources.
Jack in the Box Nursery employs and provides two staff members who act as key workers for 16 children. Day-to-day curriculum management and activity planning is developed in conjunction with the nursery teacher. One member of staff plays an active role in planning meetings to support a whole-team approach.
Jack in the Box staff lead the initial, focused activities specifically for the age group, then free-flow play enables children to interact with nursery-aged children. Jack in the Box staff are responsible for learning journals, and all staff members contribute to recording children's progress through their observations.
The partnership is further supported with joint training, and there are many opportunities to share experiences and skills between settings. Both providers and teams share the priority for better outcomes for children. As a result, the division between education and wraparound childcare no longer exists.
Another benefit is the higher staffing ratio provided by Jack in the Box, ensuring an increased level of support for children and parents in their transition to the new environment. The nursery school team have opportunities to get to know younger children and as a result children and parents are reported to be settled, comfortable and confident when they start the threeand four-year-old offer. As children make the transition to nursery school a term earlier, Jack in the Box is able to offer additional places to eligible children, increasing the intake throughout the year.
Demand for two-year-old places remains high and there are plans to create eight to 12 additional places in the children's centre.
Further information
James Hempsall is director of training and research provider Hempsalls (www.hempsalls.com)
