Small Wonders Childcare is owned by Shankill Women’s Centre. We are a social economy business set-up to provide high quality childcare for parents living and working in the Greater Shankil/Falls area and beyond. We are committed to providing a safe, secure, friendly and stimulating environment for all children in our care.
We know that you are entrusting us with your most precious gift “your child” and for this reason we want to provide the best care we possibly can. Small Wonders have bright, spacious rooms with the high quality age appropriate equipment and materials. All staff are trained in Child Protection, First Aid and Level 2 Award Food Safety in Catering, Fire Trained, Health & Safety, as well as their Childcare Qualification Level 3.
Small Wonders Childcares outside play area is themed to represent a learning experience of landmarks around Northern Ireland including Harland & Wolfe Cranes, Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge, Belfast Castle, Scrabo Tower, Cave Hill, Marble Arch Caves and the Titanic all in miniature form. Our second Daycare Care Small Wonders II is themed around Peace in Northern Ireland and has landmarks such as “Hands across the divide”, “Angel of Thanksgiving” and a miniature “Peace Bridge”.
Baby Room (Small Wonders Craven Street)
In Small Wonders we are registered for 9 babies with a 1:3 ratio (staff to children).
A beautiful, bright, airy and comfortable room that will encourage and promote your baby's development. Babies strive from the social interaction they experience facilitating the ability to develop their physical skills. Their Intellectual Development is nurtured by providing stimulating toys and equipment and their Language Development is encouraged through talking and playing music. We also provide them with art activities, sand and water play, and natural/heurisitic play.
Wobbler Room
Our Wobbler Room is registered for 8 wobblers (1-2 years) with a 1:3 ratio (staff to children).
At this age, your child may be intensely curious of their surrounding environment. We recognise the importance of supporting and encouraging each child to explore and learn in their surroudings through play.
By providing linguistic, physical, cognitive, social and emotional learning experiences, we are confident we can satisfy their eagerness to learn and explore.
In the Wobbler Room the children can sometimes still be that little bit wobbly or maybe just starting to get their feet on the ground. To support this area of their gross motor skills, we ensure there are plenty of different opportunities to perfect their skills! Your child's emotional and social development is supported within the room through use of role play equipment and with the childcare professionals who care for your child each day. Fresh air is essential to their day-to-day routine and we try to avail or both our own outdoor space as much as possible throughout the day as well as going to local parks. The staff in our Wobbler Room will prepare your child to the best of their ability to ensure they are ready to make the next step into the Toddler Room.
Toddler Room
Our Toddler Room is registered for 12 children with a 1:4 ratio (staff to children).
As children reach their toddler years, the need for indepence and their natural curiosity about the world around them intensifies. They grapple with trying to communicate and make themselves heard. They are in effect sponges ready to learn and absob all that they are exposed to. At Small Wonders we encourage this new period of discovery. We ensure that the Toddler Room is packed with a diverse range of equipment for the children whilst ensuring that there is plenty of acitivites to do. We also make sure that children get plenty of access to the outdoor space as superivsed outdoor play is acitively encouraged.
Pre-School (Small Wonders Craven Street)
Our Pre-school Room is registered for 26 children with a 1:8 ratio (staff to children).
Our Pre-school Room provides activities and challenges to help your child progress and grow in all areas of development. They will become more confident and independent, learning and developing social skills needed to ensure a smooth transition to school.
Or large Pre-school Room allows children to access freely a vast range of educational, fun resources. Friendships are formed as they discover and explore together sharing experiences and ideas.
The Pre-school Room is an open plan room based downstairs which has French doors leading out to the outdoor play area. The children take part in daily activities including physical activities such as music and dance, circle times, cooking, arts and crafts, different types of messy play and ICT play.
Pre-school provides the perfect platform allowing children to acquire all the skills needed for school.
Afterschool Club
Our afterschool building is situated on Morpeth Street. This building was previously St Luke's Church Hall but has since been refurbished to fulfil the purposes of our afterschool club.
The Afterschool is designed to allow children aged 5 - 11 years a place to have fun and relax. We offer a wide range of activities and outings so children have a home away from home where they are occupied and allowed the freedom to choose from an array of options. The children are involved in planning safe, creative, positive opportunities which provide ownership by the children and young people. The staff build up a positive relationship with each child and encourage them to make choices and decisions to express their own needs and to learn about being responsible for their own actions.
Small Wonders Afterschool provides an atmosphere conducive to learning, a space for work and with relevant materials to support them. Children engage in fun arts and crafts activities, cooking, outdoor play and organised outings, drama and role play, individual and group board games, computers, music and dance, group projects and many more.
Homework is only one of the many activities which is carried out within the Afterschool. The ethos of the setting is to provide children with recreational activities that allow for relaxation after their day at school. However, we do appreciated that some parents would wish to have a certain amount of homework completed by their child and this will be facilitated. Support and encouragement will be given to the children when completing their homework.
Opening Hours
Small Wonders (Craven Street)
7:30am - 6:00pm
Small Wonders Afterschool (Morpeth Street)
Term Time: 1:30pm - 6:00pm
Out of Term Time: 7:30am - 6:00pm
Further information
- About Small Wonders
- Details on registration
- Information on the childcare vouchers scheme
- Our aims and objectives
