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The Learning Journey Day Nursery

URN: EY471673

Rating and reports

All reports.

17 July 2018

22 June 2017

28 May 2014

13 December 2013

Next inspection

Early years register.

Providers on the Early Years Register will normally be inspected at least once within a 6-year window.

We will prioritise the first inspection of newly registered providers on the Early Years register. This will normally be within 30 months of their registration date.

Good or outstanding - We will inspect them at least once within a 6-year window from their last inspection.

Requires improvement - We usually re-inspect all childminders, pre-school provision and nursery provision within 12 months of the latest inspection.

Inadequate - We re-inspect all provision within six months of the latest inspection.

Group provision will normally receive a telephone call at around midday on the working day before the start of the inspection.

Group providers that do not operate regularly, will usually receive a call no more than five days before the inspection.

We can also inspect without notice.

Childcare Register

Each year, we inspect 1 in 10 of those who are only on the Childcare Register.

We do not inspect any provider on the Childcare Register until it has been registered for at least 3 months unless we receive information about possible non-compliance.

We will usually only inspect a provider on the Childcare Register once in any 12-month period unless we receive concerns.

For inspections of providers of childcare on domestic premises that operate regularly, we will carry out an unannounced inspection.

For all other inspections (childminders, nannies and childcare on non-domestic premises and childcare on domestic premises that does not operate regularly), we give no more than five days’ notice.

About The Learning Journey Day Nursery

• Type: Childcare on Non-Domestic Premises, Full day care
• Local authority: Dudley
• Address: Learning Journey, 64 Bromley, Brierley Hill, West Midlands, DY5 4PJ
• Region: West Midlands

Contact details and general enquiries

• Telephone: 01384262155

Registered by The Learning Journey Day Nursery Limited

Open to show all providers under the same registered person.

• The Learning Journey Day Nursery Kingswinford Ltd
• The Learning Journey Day Nursery Waterfront
• The Learning Journey Day Nursery Holly Hall Closed

At the same postcode

• Bromley Pensnett Children's Centre
• The Bromley-Pensnett Primary School

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Trio of Dudley day nurseries acquired by Kids Planet

Specialist business property adviser, Christie & Co, has announced the sale of three day nursery settings trading as The Learning Journey Nursery Ltd in Dudley, West Midlands.

The settings – The Bromley, Waterfront, and Kingswinford – which cater for a total of 334 children aged between nought and four years old, all benefit from busy locations and ‘Good’ CQC ratings.

For the last 10 years, they have been owned by Penny Virdee - a key contributor in the sector with a wealth of experience and contacts across the region – who recently decided to sell to spend more time with her children and to travel abroad.

The day nurseries have now been acquired by Kids Planet Day Nurseries , taking the group to 170 across the UK.

Penny Virdee, former owner, comments, “After nearly 11 years of dedicated service, I am pleased to announce the successful transition of The Learning Journey group to Kids Planet. I founded the business with a commitment to meet the unique needs of children, particularly our beloved daughter, Maiya. I wanted to make a real difference and address the significant gap in care for children with additional needs. The Learning Journey is something my family and I are deeply proud of, and choosing the right buyer to hand our legacy to was extremely important. Kids Planet shares our ethos and is the perfect partner for advancing our mission. Collaborating with Kids Planet through the process has been a pleasure and I thank them for making it as smooth as possible.

“I step away with immense gratitude and optimism. I couldn’t have chosen a better company for this new chapter, and I am confident that under Kids Planet’s guidance, my team will continue to deliver the highest standard of care.”

Clare Roberts, CEO at Kids Planet Day Nurseries, comments, “ A warm welcome to the teams within The Learning Journey Nursery group – three family-feel settings with qualified and caring staff – that align with our Kids Planet approach. We look forward to supporting them as they join the Kids Planet family.”

Jassi Sunner, Associate Director – Childcare & Education at Christie & Co, comments, “Penny has built a fantastic business with an experienced team that delivers her work ethic and ethos in abundance. This has been the cornerstone of the nurseries for a number of years and something that Kids Planet will benefit from going forward. Kids Planet continues to expand across the Midlands with these fantastic additions. This transaction is a good example of a deliverable buyer collaborating with a seller to ensure a successful outcome is achieved. The appetite from buyers across the region remains persistent for quality settings in key locations surrounded by residential suburbs and key commuter routes for parents who use the nurseries.”

The Learning Journey Nursery Ltd was sold for an undisclosed price.

----------------

For further information on this press release, contact: Phoebe Burrows , Corporate Communications Manager P: 07540 063 598 or E: [email protected]

Contact the agent: Jassi Sunner , Associate Director – Childcare & Education P: 07791 979 343 or E: [email protected]

Visit Christie & Co’s Business Search page to find out more about current listings.

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Learning Journeys - All about you

By Wendy Howes, Jackie Wells and Sally Cave Tuesday, November 24, 2020

How learning journeys help settings to capture the wonder of the early years and build a holistic picture of children’s development. By Wendy Howes, Jackie Wells and Sally Cave

Guildford Nursery School has a long tradition of documenting children’s learning, and while we use an online tracking tool (Di Chilvers’ Development Map), we have always maintained paper Learning Journeys, as we feel they are more accessible for children.

The children love looking at and sharing their Learning Journeys; it is their go-to book, especially when they are feeling less secure. However, we wondered about the purpose and audience of these written observations.

We wanted to ensure that our documentation of children’s learning and development reflected our Froebelian principles of ‘valuing the holistic nature of development and the uniqueness of every child’s capacity and potential’ (Flewitt R and Cowan K, 2020). We also wanted to make sure that our documentation was equally useful and meaningful to the children, the parents and the staff.

As a result, we now write everything to the child, which means so much more to the child, parent and, actually, the practitioner. We have also stopped writing short observations which offer little real insight into children’s learning and development. Our focus is now very much on quality rather than quantity.

CAPTURING LEARNING

Our learning stories are inspired by the work of New Zealand early years experts Dr Margaret Carr and Wendy Lee (see More information). The story captures what a child is doing in the moment; the key person briefly notes what they observe a child doing and, as accurately as possible, what they communicate about a child’s learning. There are usually photos to accompany or better illustrate the story, which is written after the observation as this allows the key person time to reflect on, analyse and interpret what they have observed. The child is the hero of their learning story.

Learning stories rely on professional curiosity, the ability to tune into the child, to know when to intervene and a deep understanding of child development. Most importantly, they are individual and personal to the child and, therefore, the family. Take the following example:

A birthday cake for a witch

‘We’re making a cake for the witch’s birthday,’ you said to me, F, as you played in the mud kitchen. ‘She lives in the sky and she has a very warm dress on. She looks a bit like an angel,’ you added. I wondered what you had put in the cake. ‘There’s lots of different things,’ you answered. ‘The recipe is called “Cake”. And you need to write the name because the witch won’t know whose cake it is. She might think it’s yours or mine so you need to write the name.’ I wondered where you were going to cook the cake, and you replied, ‘In the giant oven.’ ‘Guys, the icing’s ready,’ you said to your friends, adding it to the big bucket they had been moving. ‘Then we need to put it in the giant oven.’ The bucket was very heavy and you and your friends decided not to move it any further. ‘It’s all ready for the witch,’ you said.

What I noticed about your learning today

You were using your imagination today, F, to create a story about the witch and gave me a good description about where she was and how she looked. I liked your responses to my questions and that you knew you needed to follow a recipe. I wonder if you could write your recipe down for others to use? You also gave an explanation as to why you needed to write the name. Were you going to write it on top of the cake? You worked together with your friends and you were keen to share your ideas. I wonder if the witch enjoyed her birthday cake.

THE WHY AND HOW

Learning stories are made to be shared. They are a very effective way of connecting with parents. Who can resist a story about their child, especially when the process of learning is made evident?

A learning story really makes learning visible to the child. We read them aloud to the children. It is wonderful to see their responses when they realise that the story is all about them and what they were doing. This sharing of their story often supports and promotes further and deeper learning, as in the case of B (see box).

A HOLISTIC VIEW

It is important that learning stories provide a holistic view of the child. For instance, conflict and challenges can be recorded in a careful, thoughtful way. The story can be used for further discussion with parents and children about alternative ways of dealing with a variety of scenarios, supporting and developing self-regulation. For example:

Sharing cars

A, you have just started with us at nursery. Today, I could see that you were really interested in the cars that children were sending down the guttering. You were gathering them all up as they landed in the black tray.

Other children were then coming to get them to use them again. You were not happy about this! I could see how cross and frustrated you were getting. This is quite understandable as you are two years old and aren’t used to sharing with so many other children.

What I discovered about you today

PRACTITIONERS’ VIEWS

As with any new approach, this form of learning story must be manageable for staff. We have found that once key people have had time to ‘play’ with this approach, they have found it very satisfying and less time-consuming than our previous methods of documenting children’s learning and development.

One staff member said, ‘Initially, it can be daunting to move away from a familiar style of recording observations. At first, I thought that a learning story had to be a significant moment and you can’t predict those which were causing anxiety. With experience, you begin to see the learning emerging and the child’s thought processes, knowing when to record them.

‘Some children will voice their thoughts for themselves, talking out loud about their activity, while others may respond to your ponderings or say nothing, leaving it for you to surmise what it was they might have been thinking.’

B’s big climbing challenge

At the beginning of this week, you set yourself the challenge of climbing on top of the tunnel and jumping off. L noticed that you were a little hesitant at first and offered you some support, which you happily accepted. L gave lots of verbal encouragement as you took on this challenge. You repeated this process a few times with L’s support. L noticed that you were really happy with yourself, as you had lots of smiles.

A few days later, you told me that you wanted to climb on top of the tunnel again and jump off. You asked if I would watch you do it. I watched as you attempted to climb up the side of the tunnel. After a few attempts you said that you couldn’t do it. I wondered if there was any other way that you could climb up on to the tunnel. You suggested climbing up the middle using the straps to pull yourself up. Again, after a few attempts you decided it was too tricky.

I love the way you didn’t get upset by the fact it was tricky; you just wanted to find another way to climb up. After this second attempt, I asked you if there would be any other way to climb up on to the tunnel. You had a little think and finally said, ‘I could use a ladder’!

You went in search of a ladder and carried it yourself all the way to the tunnel, even though you found it to be quite heavy. C helped you to put it on to the tunnel and you happily accepted his help. As soon as the ladder was secured, you climbed up the ladder and on to the tunnel. Without hesitation, you jumped off on to the mat. The look on your face was so special, B! You shouted, ‘I did it, I did it all by myself!’ You were so proud of yourself and I could see this by the expression on your face.

What I learned about you today

I noticed how you set yourself a big challenge to climb up, and persevered when things didn’t go your way. I think that you were assessing the risk all the time and wanted to be safe in your climbing.

You showed real resilience, which is one of the main reasons why you eventually achieved your climbing goal. I wonder what other challenges you will set yourself in nursery.

• MORE INFORMATION
• Flewitt R and Cowan K (2020) Guidance for Practitioners on Digital Documentation. Froebel Trust
• Tovey H (2020) Froebel’s Principles and Practice Today. Froebel Trust
• For more examples of our Learning Stories, please see our website: https://bit.ly/3polCqE
• www.developmentmap.co.uk
• Documentation of Learning Stories: A Powerful Assessment Tool for Early Childhood, https://bit.ly/38D2v6y
• https://famly.co/blog/management/what-sustained-shared-thinking-kathy-brodie

Wendy Howes is assistant head teacher, Jackie Wells is an Early Years Educator and Sally Cave is head teacher at Guildford Nursery School and Family Centre

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What Kids Learn in Preschool

A typical preschool curriculum covers concepts like colors, shapes, and letters, plus social and school-readiness skills such as how to take turns.

What Do Kids Learn in Preschool?

• Academic Concepts
• Motor Skills
• Social and School-Readiness Skills

How Preschool Curriculum Is Implemented

• What To Look for in a Preschool

From learning how to take turns to counting to 10, preschool is all about discovery. By the time your child graduates from pre-K, they will have learned a lot. The entire span of lessons and content that your child will be taught during preschool education is what's known as the preschool curriculum.

Depending on the type of preschool you choose and the early childhood education philosophy it follows, your child's preschool curriculum may explore a wide variety of academic, social, physical, and emotional lessons. In addition to academics and social skills, many preschools also work on critical speech and fine motor skills.

In some settings, preschools are also able to help children complete their toilet training. By the time they get to kindergarten, children who attend preschool should be ready to speak in longer phrases and sentences, use a pair of scissors, follow instructions, and kick a ball. Learn more about preschool curriculum and what kids learn in preschool.

Sean Justice / Getty Images

Preschools teach the basics to kids, giving them a strong foundation for the elementary years. This includes academic concepts of literacy and math, such as counting, coloring, letter recognition, and developing gross and fine motor skills , such as walking in a line and using a pencil. It also includes social and school-readiness skills, such as making friends, sharing, and taking turns.

Academic Concepts in Preschool Curriculum

The preschool curriculum offered at one child's preschool may vary significantly from what is offered at other schools. This is because preschools are not governed by the standards that apply to K–12 education.

Individual schools and groups of schools have the freedom to teach what they please in the manner they prefer. For example, preschools affiliated with religious institutions may include religious education in their curriculum. Montessori preschools use specific materials and activities to encourage children in hands-on learning.

Teachers may also adjust their educational approaches to suit the needs of individual children in their classrooms. While preschools don't all adhere to the same educational guidelines, they're intended to prepare students for kindergarten . That means most effective preschools work on key skill areas, which include math, science, and literacy skills.

Important concepts in the preschool curriculum include the following:

• Calendar, including the seasons, days of the week, and months of the year
• Cooperation
• Drawing and painting
• Physical activities like running, jumping, skipping, hopping on one foot, and using playground equipment and balls
• Sorting objects
• Taking turns
• Transitioning from one activity to another
• Writing letters and numbers

Motor Skills in Preschool Curriculum

Preschool-age children are learning to master both gross motor skills (which involve large physical movements) and fine motor skills (such as manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination). Many preschools spend time actively engaged in working on these developmental skills.

Fine motor activities, which are important for writing, grasping, and coordinating fine movements, include drawing, cutting, coloring, and gluing. Gross motor skills are often worked on during recess and may involve using playground equipment, running, skipping, jumping, and kicking or throwing a ball to a partner.

Social and School-Readiness Skills in Preschool Curriculum

Preschool also aims to teach kids social-emotional and school-readiness skills. These lessons include teaching kids how to function in a group setting , with an emphasis on behaviors like sharing, turn-taking, cooperative play, transitioning from one activity to the next, and following classroom rules. Preschool also helps kids learn self-care skills they will need in kindergarten, such as putting on their own shoes and coats, feeding themselves, and using the bathroom independently.

Most preschools have a set of goals and a philosophy to which each teacher must adhere. In some cases, teachers follow those general guidelines informally. In many cases, teachers use specific lesson plans and rubrics for assessing student progress.

Preschool curricula take into account the length of the preschool day. Some preschools run for only a few hours a day, while others (especially in public school settings) operate all day. Some even run longer than a typical school day to cover parents' work hours.

During any given day, preschoolers may take part in:

• Field trips designed to enhance a lesson, such as a trip to the post office to learn about mail or a visit to the grocery store to learn about choosing healthy foods
• Sessions with special guest speakers who are brought in to provide more details to a lesson, such as a firefighter to talk about fire safety or a dentist to discuss oral health
• Special activities taught either by the primary preschool teacher or a special art, music, library, or physical education teacher
• Specific activities, such as circle time, song time, calendar time, active playtime, storytime, and craft time
• Transitional periods that exist between activities like learning how to walk in a line with peers and how to clean up toys and supplies

A preschool curriculum can also encompass homework given to the child to reinforce what was learned in the classroom , but many educators also believe that homework is unnecessary at such a young age.

While it may look like a preschooler is simply playing in the preschool classroom all day, that's not the case. Play is so much more than a child having fun, though kids are certainly having lots of that. Especially when it involves interacting with other children, play teaches young children how to:

• Form friendships
• Learn how to cooperate
• Think creatively
• Try out different ways of problem-solving
• Use their imaginations

Different types of play , including structured and unstructured play, allow children to practice different skills in different ways.

What To Look for in a Preschool Curriculum

No matter which philosophy your preschool follows (Bank Street, Montessori, Reggio Emilia, and HighScope are common ones), the preschool curriculum should promote learning while helping children meet the various language, social, physical, and cognitive goals. In an ideal situation, a quality preschool curriculum will be taught by certified teachers and be based on the most up-to-date childhood education research.

Depending on the school and the school's philosophy, the preschool curriculum can be developed by administrators, teachers, and in some cases, even parents. If you ever have a question about the curriculum or anything that's going on at your child's preschool, reach out to the teacher or preschool administrator.

Early Learning . National Institute of Child Health and Human Development . 2021.

Montessori Early Childhood Programs . American Montessori Society . n.d.

About Early Learning . National Institute of Child Health and Human Development . 2021.

The Power of Play: A Pediatric Role in Enhancing Development in Young Children .  Pediatrics . 2018.

Early Childhood Education . US Department of Education . 2014.

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How to get started on the Nursery English Learning Journey

You can work through the worksheets below in order or you can pick worksheets that match topics your child is currently covering in Nursery. There is also a Nursery English Learning Journey checklist to help you keep track.

Alternatively, check out your child's dashboard on the home page . You'll find this week's worksheet from the Nursery English programme (as well as the Nursery maths programme ). You'll also find guides for parents on the topics your child is learning, so you can explain it to them, plus science experiments and topic-focused activity packs for you to explore if you have time to spare.

For more information, we'd recommend you read  What your child learns in Nursery: English and literacy .

Don't forget! We have a whole section of the site about EYFS English where you'll find even more articles, games, worksheets and activities.

Don't forget to print out your reward chart !

Make your own sound shakers

Phonics sound hunt

Ordering events in a rhyme

Body percussion

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Four in a row sound match

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Introducing /g/ and /o/

Introducing /c/ and /k/

Initial sounds I spy

Blending practice

Remembering story facts

CVC blending game

Initial sound pairs

Click the signposts below for even more eyfs worksheets..., have you checked out these fabulous learning packs, scroll through to find an english or maths learning journey for your child's year group..

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Early Years Careers

Are learning journeys useful or not?

27th May 2016 by Kelly Leave a Comment

How useful are learning journeys?

Learning journeys are a common way of documenting a child’s progress and storing development information within the early years. As it is not an Ofsted requirement, there is no set guidance on exactly how learning journeys should be completed. The steps taken to completing a learning journey are often:

• An observation of any kind that has been written and stored
• A photograph will often accompany the observation
• A Learning story which is written by the key person sharing their thoughts and detailing what was seen, heard and any interactions that have taken place
• Often a next step is added to inform future planning.
• EYFS links are added by the early years practitioner to inform other progress sheets and to show where the child is meeting in terms of development matters outcomes

A learning story tells a story of the child’s learning. These learning stories can be shared with parents and with the children. The layout tends to stay the same throughout the whole setting however as the child progresses the observations may become more detailed and the accompanying stories more complex. Childcare practitioners and parents are often fond of these stories as it makes each child’s journey more individual and in the future becomes a wonderful keepsake. However, it could be argued that it is these learning stories that take away the effectiveness of a child’s learning journal and takes up the most time. A few reasons a learning story can often be misleading and ineffective are:

• Due to the amount of time it takes to write up a learning story, these are often completed at a later time or date. This means the learning story is often created weeks after the observation or event has taken place. This relies heavily on practitioners remembering the details clearly, however when each practitioner can have a large number of key children this can become a problem. Therefore, these learning stories may not be a total true reflection of the experience as it is difficult to remember so many individual details for each child.
• Practitioners work a variety of hours in childcare settings which means they may not have been present when the observation, photograph or event took place. As it is best practice to record observations for every child and not just your key child, this may mean a learning story is being written by a child’s key person even though they weren’t there to witness the observation take place. Meaning much of the story is down to imagination.
• Every practitioner has their strengths and weaknesses, and although all should have received training and support on completing children’s learning journeys , everyone will have their writing style and interpret the events differently. For this reason, if each practitioner witnessed the same event take place, each one would write the learning story completely differently.

Taking into account the points stated above many would argue that learning journeys with added learning stories are often not the most reliable documents to support a child’s development. They are time-consuming and may not result in best practice being displayed. Also learning journeys and learning stories are often only recorded once a month or once every other month. This is not a true reflection of a child’s development or progress as children meet new learning outcomes every week not just one a month. Learning journeys should be kept factual, take a little time to complete and include the most important details in a child’s development. To make the learning journey a more effective tool, it should also be regularly shared with parents as they may have witnessed different things at home and this is a useful way to document further interest and developments a child has reached. To fully support a child’s development and accurately track and record their progress, an observation folder may be a more useful tool.

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