Chessel Centre

The Ruby Room has space for 30 of our older children aged 3 plus, all year round. The children in Ruby Room follow a great schedule which gives them all the opportunities to learn and have fun.

Much like the Stackpool Room and the Raleigh Room at the Southville Centre, the children in the Ruby Room are encouraged by the practitioners to increase their independence in preparation for their journey to school. During group meal times, the children are encouraged to serve their own food and pour their own drinks. Throughout the room, there are plenty of activities and resources for the children to explore, including musical instruments and a creative area.

We follow a play-based approach, where children can take ownership over their learning and experiences; centring the children’s ideas and voices to create enabling environments and activities which scaffold learning. With a focus on providing children with opportunities to be independent learners, we encourage our little ones to develop through self directed play and by reflecting on their own experiences. Weaved throughout the daily routine are opportunities for children to make decisions and develop their skills and autonomy.  Our children thrive with regular chances to take part in show and tell during circle times, sharing their own worlds and unique experiences.

See what the Ruby Room have been up to:

November 2023

During November, we celebrated Guy Folk’s Day, also known as Bonfire Night. To celebrate this, the children made firework paintings, by splatting the paint on the paper, to give a firework pattern. We used bright colours and the children enjoyed being creative and messy!

We also took part in Remembrance Day, where we made poppies out of play dough. The children were given red and black play dough, with some glitter for decoration, and they had to try and make their own poppy in a cupcake case. They made some lovely poppies, which they could take home and share with their families.

October 2023

This month in Ruby Room we’ve been busy celebrating all things Harvest. Over a week we made yummy soup, which we had before our lunch every day and smoothies for snack. We also learnt a new song ‘cauliflowers’ fluffy and cabbages green’ which we are still singing proudly . We asked our families to donate some tinned or dry food to be given to the food bank… with all the items handed in we made Mr Ruby!

We have been practicing our independent skills through free flow play and planned activities for example spreading our butter on our toast for snack.

September 2023

During September, we celebrated Julia Donaldson Week. The children took part in a range of activities throughout the week, relating to one of Julia Donaldson’s books. These consisted of, Superworm, Room on the Broom, Tallest Giant in Town, Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book, Trolls, and The Smeds and The Smoos. This was a fun-filled week!

We also celebrated Pirate Day. The children had some fantastic pirate face paint in the morning, and then they read the Trolls story by Julia Donaldson, as it has pirates in it. After that, the children made their own treasure maps!