Organisation

We work together with parents to ensure your child’s individual interests and abilities are catered for. Throughout your child’s time we document their development in their ‘Learning Journey’ book which parents and children are encouraged to contribute to. Parents also get to keep this book when your children goes to BIG school.

Children are welcomed into the Cabin at the start of every day. They have free flow access to the indoor and outdoor areas and take part in daily woodland adventures. We explore outdoors EVERY DAY regardless of the weather. We believe there is no such thing as bad weather as long as you have the correct equipment. We provide waterproof trousers for ALL children so everyone can have the same experiences whilst staying warm and dry!

We do also believe in the sensory approach to learning so will encourage children to explore with their whole selves including squishing mud, splashing in puddles, laying down etc to aid their discovery and build up sensory awareness. They will get muddy! Children are encouraged to be children. This means they will get paint on their clothes and in their hair. We will always change your child and clean them to meet their basic needs but please ensure they wear old clothes and bring lots of spares! Uniform can also be purchased.

Day in the Life of Mini Explorers

Daily Routine:

9.00-10.00 – Play activities – includes group activities and movement to music.

10.00 – 12.00 – Forest Adventures

12.00-12.15 – Circle time / focus group work

12.15-1.00 – Lunch

1.00 – 2.30 – Play and Activities

2.30-3.00 – Circle Time, Story and Songs

All snacks and drinks are available throughout the day for children to access alongside their play.

Opening Times

We often go out on trips and whole day adventures if the weather is good, using trolleys to transport equipment and belongings. We are flexible in our day to allow people to choose their attendance hours and to follow the interests and concentration levels of the children. As children move into Pre-School we switch the forest adventures into the afternoon to match the daily routines of school life and prepare them for transition.

Mini Explorers is open from Monday – Friday 9.00am-3.00pm Term Time only. Our terms dates are in line with Leicestershire Schools and local schools.

All children bring a packed lunch with them. These should be inline with healthy eating guidance and not contain nuts, chocolate, sweets or fizzy drinks. All snacks and drinks of water or milk are provided by Mini Explorers. Allergies can also be catered for.

We also do lots of baking and cooking using vegetables grown in our vegetable garden and cooked on an open fire.

Session Times

A wide variety of sessions are available as you choose the hours you wish to attend during our opening hours and then are charged by the hour. This gives you flexibility to build up your child’s hours to suit you and in preparation for BIG school.

We offer a series of short settling in sessions (free of charge), which are arranged according to parents’ wishes.

Holidays

Holidays taken during the term time will be charged as usual. We always do our best to offer additional catch up sessions if you have missed time as attendance is important to us and your child’s development. This also applies for illness.

We have ‘Explorer Bear’ that we hope you will take on your adventures. If you take photos of your child with Explorer Bear they can they show this to the group upon their return to setting. This helps build relationships between the setting and home, whilst giving your child confidence to present in front of a group for speaking and listening skills.

We are open in line with Leicestershire County Council Term dates (which are available online) and try to keep in line with local schools for Inset days. We also close for Bank Holidays.

Staff

All our staff are highly qualified, experienced, and enthusiastic about the outdoors. They undertake regular training and continued professional development to enable them to be the best they can be for your child.