Headteacher’s Welcome

Hello and welcome to The RICCHER Federation of Nursery Schools

The RICHER Federation of Nursery Schools are maintained, resourced based, nursery schools. Gill Blowers Nursery School is split over two sites, one based in Marsh Farm (Leabank site) and one in Hockwell Ring (Mossdale site) and Pastures Way Nursery School is based in Lewsey Farm.

 We are passionate about inclusive early years’ education and ensure that the children are at the heart of everything we do.

All staff are committed to offering the highest quality of early learning and teaching opportunities to all children.

Our vision for our children is that they leave us RICCHER:

R –  Rich Vocabulary and Communication Skills

I – Independent and Ready

C – Curious & Critical Thinkers

C – Confident and Resilient

H – Have a Love of Stories & Reading

E – Engage in Boundaries & Routines

R – Respectful

The nursery environment is unique and well-resourced with exciting, stimulating and challenging experiences for children to access as they choose.

Our curriculum is based on exploration, experiences and investigation through play. Children are encouraged to follow their own ideas with real, natural resources and loose parts. Practitioners use a blend of teaching and scaffolding to encourage children to broaden, stretch and embed their learning. Children are supported to question, explore, experiment, develop hypotheses and test ideas, and reflect their learning. During a session we use a combination of adult led and child initiated teaching running parallel.

Joanne Iddenden

Executive Head Teacher