A day here
The day, hour by hour.
The same shape every day so children know what comes next. Babies run on their own clock inside it: they sleep when they are tired and eat when they are hungry, and the daily diary tells you when. The Oaks run on it to the minute, because that is what school asks of them next.
The routine
Doors at 7:30, doors at six.
- 7:30am
Doors open; breakfast at the long table until 8:30
Everyone - 8:30am
Up to the rooms; free play; the babies' first sleeps
Everyone - 9:00am
Group time: register, the song of the week in Welsh and English, the plan for the day
Saplings, Oaks - 9:45am
The minibus to Forest Farm on Tuesdays and Thursdays
Oaks - 10:00am
Outside: the garden in all weathers; the pram walk on fine mornings
Everyone - 10:15am
Snack: fruit, vegetables, a breadstick or oatcake, water or milk
Everyone - 10:45am
The planned activity for the room; the messy one is usually the afternoon
Everyone - 11:30am
Lunch, cooked by Maureen: a main and a pudding, staff eating the same
Everyone - 12:15pm
Sleep in the sleep rooms; quiet time with books and puzzles for the Oaks
Everyone - 2:00pm
Afternoon activity: painting, water, cooking, construction, the library on Wednesdays
Everyone - 3:00pm
Snack; the garden again
Everyone - 4:30pm
Tea, cooked: jacket potatoes, pasta, rarebit, Friday pizza
Everyone - 5:00pm
Stories and quiet play; the daily diaries handed over at the door
Everyone - 6:00pm
Doors close. Late collection £10 for every fifteen minutes
Everyone
This week
The menu, cooked by Maureen.
Week two of the four-week autumn menu. Breakfast every day is toast, cereal, fruit and milk; the morning and afternoon snacks are fruit, vegetable sticks, breadsticks, oatcakes and cheese, with water or milk. Allergy, intolerance and halal alternatives are cooked from the same dishes.
| Day | Lunch, 11:30 | Pudding | Tea, 4:30 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Lentil and vegetable soup with homemade bread | Apple and blackberry crumble with custard | Jacket potatoes with beans and cheese, cucumber sticks |
| Tuesday | Chicken and root vegetable casserole with mash and greens | Yoghurt with berries | Pasta in a tomato and hidden-vegetable sauce |
| Wednesday | Fish pie with peas and sweetcorn | Rice pudding with a spoon of jam | Welsh rarebit with salad and tomatoes |
| Thursday | Chickpea and sweet potato curry with rice and naan | Banana loaf | Scrambled egg on toast with spinach |
| Friday | Cottage pie with carrots and broccoli | Fruit salad | Homemade pizza with a vegetable topping, the Oaks make the bases |
Nothing with nuts comes into the building. No juice, squash or added sugar. The kitchen has a five-star hygiene rating from Cardiff Council. More about the food.
By room
What the day looks like for each age.
Acorns
Their own routine, not ours: sleeps in the sleep room when they are tired, bottles and weaning when they are hungry, the garden corner and the pram walk on fine mornings, the treasure baskets and the floor. Every feed, sleep and nappy on the daily diary.
Saplings
Group time at nine with the song, then areas: home corner, water, mark-making, construction. The garden to themselves for an hour each morning. Sleep after lunch in the quiet room for most; potty training when you say. The "little wood" session on Wednesdays.
Oaks
Group time, the register in Welsh, the plan for the day. Forest Farm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the library on Wednesdays, the planned activity from the Foundation Phase, quiet time after lunch, the school-readiness term in the summer.
The edges of the day
From 7:30 to 8:30 and from five to six the rooms join up downstairs: breakfast at the long table, stories in the book corner. Ratios hold at the edges exactly as they do at eleven, and the diaries are handed over at the door.
Come and see it running. Tuesday to Thursday, forty minutes, bring the child.
Tell us your child's age and the days you are thinking of, and we reply within the working day with a time to walk round every room while it is open, the garden, the kitchen and the fees. No pressure and nothing to sign; the waiting list is free to join afterwards. Or ring Bethan.