Southey Nursery

We would like to welcome you and your child to our Nursery and hope that you will be very happy here.

Nursery Session Times

Morning Session - 8.30-11.30

Afternoon Session - 12.15-3.15

All day session - 8.30-3.15

Nursery Contact Details

Nursery Manager: Kerry Hughes

Nursery Admin: Susan Frudd / Charlotte Chapman

Tel: 0114 2326879

Meet the Staff

We appreciate you taking the time to learn our names and using them with your child. This helps them within our setting instead of calling us: ‘teacher’. Any questions please feel free to chat to any of us.

Our Aims and Vision

We aim to provide a stimulating learning environment for your child through structured play activities and focused groups, according to the age and needs of the children.

In line with the early learning goals, we also aim to realise the potential of every child regardless of gender, race and culture, in all aspects of learning and development. In partnership with parents and carers we are all working towards helping each child to achieve the following:-

· To listen carefully

· To communicate with others confidently and with understanding

· To develop early reading and writing and numeracy skills and to use these as appropriate

· To develop an interest and awareness in his/her environment

· To develop a positive self image and meaningful relationships

· To develop tolerance, respect, care and understanding of others and the environment

· To develop independence eg dressing, toileting, washing, eating etc

· To develop confidence

· To acquire a sense of enjoyment, and to have a positive attitude to learning.

Sessions we offer

We offer 15 hours over:

5 am sessions

5 pm sessions

or 2 1/2 days - Monday to Wednesday or Wednesday to Friday

We also offer 30 hours for those children who are eligible.

30 hours runs as 10 am/pm sessions and lunch is not included.

Our Opening Times

AM sessions: 8.30– 11.30 (Gates open at 11.15 for parents to begin to pick up. Gates will close at 11.35)

PM sessions: 12.15-3.15 (Gates open at 3.00 for parents to begin to pick up. Gates will close at 3.20)

Children attending all day will stay 8.30-3.15

Costs

There is a charge of £1.75 per day if your child stays for lunch. This cost covers supervision only. You will need to provide a healthy packed lunch.

This must be paid in advance for you child to be able to stay.

Southey Super Six

In FS1 your child will have the opportunity to take part in the following activities across the year.

• Create a felt animal
• Make a friendship bracelet and give it to a friend
• Hunt for mini beasts and build a house for them
• Go to the library
• Have a teddy bear’s picnic and try a new food
• Grow a flower

**** We will also dance in the rain!****

The Early Years Curriculum

In FS1 we focus on the prime areas of learning to help create strong foundations ready for school. These are areas you can work on with your child too at home. They form the foundations to be able to achieve well in the specific areas of learning.

Communication and language is a very important strand and one we work lots with our children. You can help this at home, by taking pictures and encouraging the children to talk about them. Encouraging the children to  talk about what they can see. Singing FS1 rhymes with your child. Reading stories together and also by modelling vocabulary that may seem difficult to them.

Learning Journey's and Home School Books

Your child’s progress will be tracked through their learning journey. This is a red book and it will have observations, snapshots and paintings showing what your child has been doing throughout their time with us.

We also have a home/school book, this is a black book. We will put pictures and actual work from what your child has been getting up to in setting. We ask you fill in the happy and proud sticker and add any photographs of things they have been getting up to at home. This helps us to track learning at home and at school.

Starting in FS1

FS1 may be the first time you have left your child in another person’s care. We understand that this can be a worrying time for parents and as a staff team we try to make the transition from home to FS1 as smooth as possible. We welcome parents to stay in FS1 and work with parents on an individual basis to help each child to settle in. We visit the children at home prior to starting FS1 and give each child a starting date. Children start on different days each term so they can be welcomed gradually. As they are very young, we also try to build up children’s hours gradually, depending on individual need.

Visiting Us

You and your child will be invited to their first session for just one hour. This enables children to explore the new environment for the first time with their parent/carer and meet other new children. We also offer stay and play sessions in the term before starting for children to come and play with you. If you have been at our 2 years old provision the staff will liaise with us to arrange for some sessions to be at our setting.

Security / Collecting your child

FS1 needs to feel safe and secure for young children. To ensure your child’s safety please make sure that he/she is escorted to and collected from school by an adult and that a member of staff is informed if on any occasion another adult will be collecting your child from FS1. Please be patient with us when we release your child as it may take a while, but we are also ensuring your child is given to the correct parent.  Also please make sure you collect your child on time as children get  worried if parents / carers are late. If someone comes to pick up your child and you haven’t informed us that it is someone else we will call you before letting them go. We also ask for identification from the person collecting.

Snack Time/ Lunches

Milk is provided free for children up until their 5th birthday. Each day we provide a free healthy snack with milk. Please let us know if your child has any special dietary needs.

If your child attends full days they will need a packed lunch. To help with our schools healthy eating policy, we would request that you do not bring sweets or fizzy drinks to school. We also ask for nothing with nuts in as we have nut allergies.

Toys

We ask that children do not bring their toys to school as they may get left behind, lost or damaged. Children are however welcome to bring items of special interest, such as shells from a visit to the seaside to share with the group. Sometimes, children accidentally take items from school home in their pockets. It is quite natural for young children to put small things in pockets, so please do not worry about this. All we ask is that you return items to us as we often lose important items such as small cars this way!

Clothing

In FS1 uniform is optional. Sand, water, clay and paint etc., provide valuable learning experiences which children enjoy. We provide aprons to protect clothing but it is a good idea to send your child to school in play clothes rather than ‘best’ as this will allow them to participate more readily in these activities. Outdoor play is part of the curriculum and the children use the outdoor space in all weathers, so please always send a named coat, sun hat or warm hats and gloves to suit the season. It would be very helpful if a spare set of clothes could be kept on your child’s peg in a named bag in-case of emergencies and little accidents. Please remember to label all items of clothing with your child’s full name.

Toileting

We expect that most children will be toilet trained and you can help with this by taking your child to the toilet on arrival to help them get used to the facilities. Please talk to staff if your child has any particular toileting needs. The expectation is children come in pants.

Absences

If your child is going to be absent from FS1 for any reason please let us know before the session starts by phoning the school office on 0114 2326879. The school policy is to monitor attendance to encourage good habits at the earliest stages of their school life. If your child has sickness or diahorrea, please allow 48 hours clear before returning to school to prevent the spread of infection.

Child Protection

It is the duty of all people who work with children to safeguard their welfare. In the event of this involving child protection issues, we have a duty to liaise with relevant agencies eg social services. Whilst we would always try to work in partnership with parents to ensure that they are fully involved, the welfare of the child must be the paramount consideration.

Applying for school

When your child is nearly 5, he/she will be eligible to start school. This will be in September for children becoming 5 between 1st September and 31st August of the following year.

Admission to Nursery does not guarantee a place in school as you need to apply separately for a school place. Please register with the Local Education Authority by completing a form obtainable from the class or the school office.

Finally, the staff are here to help your child settle in and have a happy time in order to achieve his or her potential. If you have any questions or worries however small, please talk to any of the staff who will do their best to help.

We hope your child will be very happy at Southey Green Primary.