There were learning opportunities at every turn for children at Hertford Barns Day Nursery in Hertford as they marked Deaf Awareness Week with a series of educational activities.
Inspired by the Coronation of King Charles, pre-schoolers from the award-winning setting on Cole Green explored picture books of the royal family, all whilst learning signs for family members, including ‘grandmother’ for the late Queen and ‘father’ for Prince William.
At the setting, children each have their very own ‘family book’, complete with pictures and labels of family members and their relationships, helping to comfort and aid settling in, as well as support cognitive development and communication and language skills, with tailored books for hearing impaired children, featuring British Sign Language imagery.
As part of the activities, children showcased their creativity by making musical shakers, discussing the sounds they could hear and learning about the power of instruments and their vibrations in helping those with hearing loss to experience music.
All colleagues at Hertford Barns are currently learning British Sign Language and are supported by a specialist teacher who visits the setting once a week to help staff.
Hertford Barns Day Nursery Manager, Jenny Pratt explained;
“All the children loved joining in with the sign language and making shakers with the array of loose parts available to them. Deaf Awareness Week has been hugely insightful and we are all enjoying learning together as a team, we are also delighted to be having Baby Beats join us at our next staff meeting, who use British Sign Language alongside music to teach.”
“It’s important for us to ensure every single child is fully supported and represented at our nursery, this ranges from toys, including dolls wearing cochlear implants, to a dedicated SENDCO who works alongside families to help them get the most from their Early Years experience”, she added.
We prioritise the importance of outdoor play at Cedars Day Nursery in Leighton Buzzard. All children at our Ofsted-rated ‘Outstanding’ nursery have access to our large, natural garden area on a daily basis as we recognise the impact that being outdoors has on a child’s social, emotional and physical development. The children enjoy planting vegetables and tasting their produce, served by our dedicated Nursery Chef.
Cedars Day Nursery, Mentmore Rd, Leighton Buzzard LU7 2PA
Tel: 01525 850200
Email: cedars.nursery@childbase.com
