Happy Hippos

Happy Hippos at Abbey Ark

Abbey Ark is open from 7:30 am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, 51 weeks of the year, for children aged 2 to 4 years old. The Happy Hippo room is where our children aged two – three attend.

Abbey Ark offers a wonderful opportunity for you and your child to become part of the Bourne Abbey family – a place where children can access a high quality purpose built environment, build strong and lasting relationships with their peers and adults and feel settled and supported in a loving, caring Christian environment.

In the Happy Hippo room we promote early development, and support your children to take those first steps into learning, we aspire to help your children to grow and develop into resilient and curious beings, helping them to extend their learning opportunities through their own individual interests and through play-based learning.

Our Environment

In the Happy Hippos we provide enjoyable stimulating and exciting experiences in a safe, secure and happy environment.  Play is fundamental to young children’s learning at this stage of their development.

With a strong focus on child-initiated learning and play, our environment and resources are carefully planned and selected to facilitate new and engaging ways to challenge and stimulate the children, providing provocations that will excite and develop the children’s knowledge and curiosity.

We believe that outdoor learning is an important part of each and every child’s development and we offer constant access to well-designed outdoor provision, allowing children to develop skills and enhance their learning in a wide variety of ways. We have access to our exciting environmental area, where the children can explore the great outdoors and nature at its finest

A Typical Session

Register time:

We welcome the children and talk about our routine for the day and discuss all of the wonderful learning opportunities that are on offer for that day. We also have register time in the afternoon after lunch.

Free Flow:

The children have the opportunity to explore both inside and outside as they wish throughout the day.

Key Learning:

Throughout the morning and afternoon sessions, there are lots of planned learning opportunities. This is either adult led, child initiated or a mixture of both. We ensure there is plenty of quality adult interaction to enable our children to achieve their full potential.

Snack time:

The children enjoy a healthy snack of milk/water and fruit. We have snack in the morning and in the afternoon.

Tidy up time:

The children help to tidy away their toys and put everything back where it belongs.

Circle time:

This is where we all come together and enjoy some group time together. We may share some stories together, sing songs, music sessions and/or group games.

Lunchtime:

The children all come together to enjoy a healthy lunch. You have the option of bringing a packed lunch or a hot meal that is prepared for us at school and brought over to us. (More information on hot meals is available upon request).

Our Ethos

Every child is respected as an individual and given the chance to grow and develop at his/her own pace.  We believe in having a positive approach to learning, so every child is highly motivated, thrives and is confident in him/herself.

At Abbey Ark we aim for each child to:

Develop a happy, positive attitude to learning

build self-confidence and self-worth.

Become independent.

Interact harmoniously with others.

Expand their natural curiosity by exploring.

Learn to respect others and their property.

Be creative and learn through play.

School and Family Partnership

Here at Abbey Ark we work closely with parents/carers and welcome their involvement.  Parents/carers are encouraged to talk regularly to their child’s key worker and other Abbey Ark staff.  To ensure parents/carers have a good understanding of what happens during their child’s time with us, they have access to Tapestry, our online learning journal, where they can see all of the wonderful learning and activities that have taken place.