About our community
The Red House is an independent early years setting for children aged 2 to 5 years with a diverse teaching team that is committed to providing the best possible experience for children and their families. We are a community, working, learning, being and existing together on a daily basis, situated in a detached house where the warm homely environment reflects our ethos.
The Red House is an open-plan learning environment filled with diverse resources, for example: clay, sewing machines, woodwork and Bauspiel construction. Here we always retain focus on naturally-occurring resources and learning opportunities, both inside and outside the building.
We are keen learners ourselves, and we constantly engage with both our own and others’ educational research. This ensures that everyone who works with us is challenged and inspired by original ideas and alternative ways of (re)thinking early years practice.
We consider it very important to be an outward-looking educational setting that listens to others’ views. We then collectively decide what works well in our small community within The Red House.
One of the key foundations upon which The Red House thrives is a positive working relationship with families. Conversations and the sharing of information with parents/carers is crucial in understanding how families are experiencing what The Red House has to offer. Parents’, students’ and visitors’ feedback is key in influencing our approach.
We have been consistently graded as ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted since prior to 2010 and we are recognised as an innovative setting locally and nationally.
Red Area
At the front of the house we have our most open-ended play area. Here you’ll find role play and ‘small world’ resources, big wooden blocks to build life-size structures, but also a soft cosy corner with books. In this space we can become pirates, doctors, animals, and gather in a big group for some singing or stories.
Clock Area
This room takes its name from our 19th century ‘grandfather’s clock’ which stands in the corner of the room. It’s a space for constructions, mathematical thinking, small crafts and science experiments. It’s also where we have our snacks and meals, and it’s next to the kitchen - in case we need to bake a cake!
Garden Area
This conservatory area is dedicated to sensory play, especially with sand and water, mixed with other natural materials like stones and shells. It’s also where we observe nature indoors - we germinate seeds and keep some of our plants here in the winter.
Art Studio
A calm, light, dedicated space for creating big paintings, papier-mâché creations, multi-material constructions and collages, and all kinds of works of art. We also proudly display them, take time to reflect on them - and maybe go back to them for a final touch!
Movement Area
A physical play space, equipped with big soft blocks, bridges, tunnels, and other large construction materials, to enable children across all our age ranges to exert their physical energy in a safe and open-ended indoor environment.
Craft Area
Here we have our woodwork bench and real tools to plan, shape, saw, nail and glue together 3D creations. We also have weaving and sewing equipment and machines, for when we work with wool and textiles - which we love to do!
Music Area
With instruments from all over the world, a big mirror and resources to dress up and dance around, this is the space to improvise sounds and movements, and be inspired by yoga, drumming, dance videos and action songs.
Library
This is where most of the our books are stored, with a wide range of both fiction and non-fiction to encourage a love of reading and storytelling as well as research and investigation. Resources that encourage storytelling also live in the library, such as puppets of all sizes, a puppet theatre and board games.
Side Garden
Play here is generally free and it’s a good place for big and bold projects and ventures. Here we keep bikes, scooters, trikes and other vehicles to zoom around, and other big garden play equipment to build with, balance on, throw, catch…
Back Garden
This is the quietest of our gardens, where we come to observe insects and other small wonders, tell stories, make mud pies and potions. There is a vegetable patch where we plant flowers, fruit, and vegetables, some of which will end up in the kitchen or in our snacks.
Front Garden
Under the shadow of our magnolia tree, that changes with the seasons, lies our little ‘tree house’, a place for role play and climbing. It gets more adventurous as we grow and most of us will one day be able to climb to the top of the tree!
Redland Green and our allotment
We go to Redland Green and its play park so often that it becomes another learning environment for all of us. We play big group games on the lawn, explore the woody and hilly bits, learn about the trees and wildlife, and even go on picnics there in the summer.
We visit our plot at Redland Green allotments twice a week, to grow fruit, vegetables, salad and flowers in raised beds and the polytunnel.