Nursery Times

Nursery Morning session begins 8:45am

Morning session ends at 11:30am- 11:45am  

Afternoon session begins at 12:30pm  

Afternoon session ends at 3:15pm- 3:30pm 

NB: We have set times for drop offs and pick-ups. Due to the age of Nursery children and required statutory staffing ratios, Nursery children are not able to attend breakfast club provision or after school provision. Therefore, it is not safe to drop children off before the beginning of Nursery sessions and as such, they cannot be left with a staff member (teaching or non-teaching) before their specific session starts. They must be collected on time at the end of their session.

Gate Times

For health and safety reasons our main gates are locked when our children are arriving and leaving Nursery at the following times:

• 8:35am to 9:15am

• 11:20am-11:50am

• 12:20pm and 1pm

• 3pm –3:35pm

In order to allow access at all times for emergency vehicles and deliveries, visitors must never park in front of the main school gates. There is a significant amount of FREE parking at the Recreation Ground.

Entrance and Exit Routes 

Our Nursery children have their own exit and entrance.  This is through the new door in the walkway connecting the Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 buildings.      

Nursery staff will always meet and greet the children at this door at the start of their session.  To get to this entrance you enter the school via the main driveway and walk through the car park towards the Key Stage 2 building.  The walkway is on the right, just past the Annex (Childcare Centre Building- this was previously the Sure Start Centre).  This door will be used at the start and end of all Nursery sessions; the old Nursery entrance will no longer be used. 

Scooters and Bikes

Children will only be allowed to bring their scooter or bike to school if they are wearing a safety helmet. Please understand that this is to ensure the safety of our children.
 

Arriving on Your Child’s First Day at Nursery

You will have been informed when to bring your child for their first day. Please make sure that you have made a note of this date and time. This will not be the same date for all children as staggered start dates and times have been carefully organised to help the Nursery children settle and so that a greater amount of attention can be given to each child who is new to our Nursery.

On the first day please bring your child to the team will come and greet your child and bring them in to Nursery . We appreciate that it may be difficult for you to leave your child initially and perhaps for your child to leave you.  All children are different and will settle in different ways.  A quick definite goodbye is often best but you know your child and can settle them best in your own way.  If you need help, please ask.

All children do settle happily, but some can take longer than others. Children who settle initially, may become unsettled after a week or two. Usually the re is a simple explanation, but if you know of reasons for this, you may wish to talk to staff to enable us to resolve any problems quickly. If your child is upset it is important to reassure your child that you will be back soon to see what they have been doing and explain what you will be doing while they are at school.

Beginning of the Session

You and your child will be greeted at the Nursery door.   Staff will bring children into setting.  The children take off their coats and hang them on their peg and find either their photograph or their name card when they are ready -  this is an important learning opportunity. Staff will help and encourage your child to complete these routines on their own, to improve their independence skills.

All staff will do their best to ensure all coats and belongings are kept safe in the Nursery cloakroom. Please help us by clearly naming all of your child’s peg your child’s belongings in an obvious place with a permanent marker that can be seen. 

Staffs’ first priority is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all children.

End of the Session

It is really important to collect your children on time. It would help if you could arrive 5 minutes before the session ends. At the end of the session the staff will make sure that all children are handed over safely to their parent or carer to go home.

Children should always be collected by a responsible adult over the age of 18 who is known to Nursery staff and to your child.  The Nursery staff must always know who is expected to collect your child. If it is necessary for another adult to collect your child, please let staff know as soon as possible.  You are always able to contact the school office to inform them of any changes. We would appreciate it if this could be done in plenty of time, not at the last minute. We have a duty of care to keep all children safe, therefore children may not be collected by any other adult without the knowledge and permission of the parent/carer.

We take safeguarding very seriously and the adult collecting your child:

• Must be known to your child.
• Must be named on our list of named adults.

Under normal circumstances we ask you to name a maximum of 2 familiar adults other than yourselves as parents/carers who are able to collect your child.

Daily Routines

Group Activity Times

9:00am and 12:45pm        

Group Activity Time: This time focused on developing children’s listening through a range of activities.

Children then have free choice, which links to all areas of learning.  This may be indoors or outdoors.

11:10am and 2:55pm        

Story Time: We have a story of the week which is read daily.

Milk is provided free of charge.  All children are encouraged to drink some every day.  Alternatively, water is available.

Children in Nursery receive a piece of fruit or vegetable each day that they are in Nursery. We also provide buttered bread for our children each morning.

School Meals and Lunchtime Arrangements

Please be aware that unlike other nursery settings, we currently do not charge for childcare over lunchtime, even though it is in addition to the 15 hours entitlement for Nursery children. This may have to change in the future. Chartwells provides our school meals service.  Children have lunch in the Nursery dining room.

Nursery children who attend for 2½ days a week are offered the opportunity to have either a school meal or bring a packed lunch.  Nursery lunches are offered on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday lunchtimes. Children have lunch in their own supervised dining room, within the Nursery environment.

Menus are sent out each term.  We also have a meal booking system via ParentPay which allows you and your child to choose what your child eats from a selection of menus. This system means that every child can have a meal of their choice.

Getting Involved

We very much welcome the involvement of parents and carers. We have recently established a Parent Teacher Association (PTA) led by Mrs Venner and Mrs Dooher. The PTA helps support with whole school events and fundraising for the benefit of all of our children. We would be delighted if you could contribute in this way. Please contact the school office for more information. Please leave your name and someone will get back to you as soon as possible.

Throughout the year we have lots of events that you can be involved in such as our MacMillan Coffee Afternoon, play and stay sessions, summer fayre, sports day, end of year celebration assemblies and Christmas singing and craft sessions. We are always delighted when you can join us.

If you can also spare some regular time supporting learning and activities within school, we would be delighted to hear from you. For obvious reasons this may not be based in your child’s class. Please contact Mrs Watson (Deputy Head Teacher) via the school office if you would like to and are able to be involved in this way.

Extra-Curricular Activities

Throughout the school year we have a full programme of after school and lunchtime activities. Many of our Nursery children join after school activities such as:

• Forest school
• Ball and games skills
• Arts and crafts

Places are obviously limited and are allocated on a first come first served basis. Information about available after school activities is sent out via OPEROO. It is important to respond straight away as places are often taken very quickly.

Widening Children’s Experiences

Throughout the year our staff organise many wonderful experiences for our children. We look forward to seeing your child be part of events such as:

• Teddy bears picnic
• Pirate day
• Farm visits
• Forest School
• Polar Express Day
• Chick hatching project
• Christmas parties

We look forward to working in genuine partnership with you and hope that your child remains with us for the entirety of their time at Primary School.