Wee Green Spaces

1. Aims, objectives and overview

Braehead Nursery offers weekly opportunities for a group of children to visit our Wee Green Spaces site at Westfield Park. The aims and objectives of these sessions are:

· To give children time to experience free play in a natural setting

· To help children develop a connection with the natural world and to learn about nature and how to care for it.

· To learn the practicalities of how to be outside: personal safety, hygiene, coping with weather and different terrain.

· To offer experiences which are different to that which happen in the outdoor space, back at the setting. The visits aim to develop children’s resilience, confidence and other aspects of wellbeing outlined in Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC).

clothing and footwear

Each group will go to the Wee Green Spaces site every fortnight. The rota of dates for the visits is attached with this letter.

On your child’s days for Wee Green Spaces can your child come to Nursery with -

· their own labelled rucksack bag containing –

· Own water bottle labelled with their name

· Packet of Pocket tissues

· One change of clothes

Please ensure that your child is wearing appropriate clothing for the weather as they will be outside for the majority of the Nursery session. A warm jacket, hat and gloves for cold days and strong shoes or boots are all a good idea. If your child wears wellie boots (which are great for wet and muddy weather) could we ask that you buy some warm insoles or thick wellie socks to put inside them.

If you are unable to source any of these items please let a member of the Nursery Team know.

hand hygiene and toileting outside

Hand Hygiene and Toileting Outdoors

The children will wash their hands in Nursery immediately on returning back to Nursery from the outdoor session. Children will be required to wash their hands before eating or preparing food, after using the toilet, after coughing or sneezing and when hands are soiled or dirty. They will use hand wipes for this. If you do not want your child to use hand wipes, can you please indicate at the bottom of this letter. We have sourced equipment to allow us to use water, soap and paper towels to wash and dry hands when we are offsite for those who cannot use hand wipes.

Hand hygiene practice will be updated, as will information provided to parents, as relevant research and guidance develops and is published. Our current infection control policy is available for you to read in Nursery.

We have discussed our toileting procedures with the landowner of the Wee Green Space site to ensure that we keep practice as hygienic as possible:

· We use a “leave no trace” approach in line with the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.

· We make every effort to ensure your child has privacy when going to the toilet.

· At the site we use a portable potty.

We appreciate your support with maintaining high levels of hygiene and toileting within our Nursery and ask that you complete the attached slip to confirm your support on this matter.

our positive approach to risk

The children will experience our positive approach to risk and how outdoor play is benefiting them.

When playing outside the children may wish to:

Play in mud – making mud pies or slide down a muddy slope.
Jump in puddles or discover the joy of paddling in shallow water.
Climbing trees: staff supervise and ensure children are confident and sure of their abilities.
Use tools: such as litter pickers for collecting litter or trowels for digging in the soil.
Play with sticks.
Play on a low-level rope swing or hammock.
Balance on fallen logs or small boulders.
Undertake many other exciting adventurous activities that keep them fit, healthy and curious about the world

our risk management arrangements

· We do not actively encourage a child to try an activity where there is an element of risk. A child must decide when they are ready to try something new.

· We have clear procedures in place to support those children who do. We consider the benefits to the child and whether these outweigh the risks involved. We have risk-benefit assessments that have considered the foreseeable risks and measures we have put in place to manage these risks.

· We ensure that the identified activities are supervised in proportion to the abilities and confidence of each child. We take the utmost care to ensure the whole experience is as safe as necessary.

· We encourage all parents and carers to ask questions, look at what we are offering and help us to assess and understand the risks. Your thoughts will help make our decision-making stronger and enable children to take positive, appropriate risks within a framework of safety.

Wee Green Spaces

clothing and footwear

hand hygiene and toileting outside

our positive approach to risk

our risk management arrangements

wee green spaces presentation