Orchard
Nursery School
Prospectus
Learning
to play. Playing to learn
Orchard
Nursery School
Orchard
School
Tibberton
Gloucestershire
GL19 3AQ
Email amanda@petsbarn.co.uk
Head
Teacher Amanda Horniman
www.orchardnurseryschool.co.uk
Outstanding Education for your Child
Orchard
Nursery School
Tibberton
GL19
3AQ
www.orchardnurseryschool.co.uk
The Orchard Nursery School is set in the pleasant
country village of Tibberton.
The Nursery
School is managed by an Experienced Early Years teacher and qualified Early
Year’s staff, who instigate a variety of activities to stimulate and develop
your child's interest in learning.
The large
surrounding outside area, which is used daily for outside play and physical
education enhances the Nursery school.
The Nursery
is housed in a purpose built, modern, attractive building with a garden and
many areas for the children to explore and develop their knowledge.
It is set up
to include space for creative arts, physical play, reading and writing,
imaginative play, construction, ICT and investigating. These areas provide
choice and promote independence.
Our
setting aims to:
- To recognise and respect
the importance of play in children’s lives.
- To resource and support
children’s learning through adult provocation and
- spontaneous play.
- To support and encourage
children’s learning and development through imaginative and creative
activities and environments.
- To extend and develop
children’s language, communication, social, emotional and physical skills
- To enable children to feel,
included and secure at Nursery and in the wider community.
- To respect that parents are
the child’s first educators
- To involve and support
families valuing and respecting their home backgrounds
- To promote a healthy life
style.
Parents
Parents are regarded as members of
our setting who have full participatory rights. These include a right to be:
§
valued
and respected;
§
kept
informed;
§
consulted;
§
involved;
and
§
included
at all levels.
Parents are kept well informed of their child’s progress and
are invited at regular intervals to view their child’s work. At the end of the
year a written report on each child is sent to parents and discussion invited
if there are any problems.
Each child has a diary, which is a good source of
communication between parents and staff.
The staff write about the children in the diary daily. We find it very
useful if parents write in the diary too.
Please let us know if there is anything going on at home that
may affect your child. (New babies, death in the family, illness) so we can
handle your child sensitively at Nursery.
Parental communication is important. As a parent you know
your child best and the staff at the Nursery School respect this, happily
sharing any comments or problems with you.
The staff plan several ‘Open events’ during the year to get parents
involved in their children’ learning.
Please feel free to ring or talk to the staff before or after
Nursery School hours to discuss any concerns that you may have.
We aim to ensure that each child:
§
is in a
safe and stimulating environment;
§
is
given generous care and attention, because of our ratio of qualified staff to
children, as well as volunteer parent helpers;
§
has the
chance to join with other children and adults to live, play, work and learn
together;
§
is
helped to take forward her/his learning and development by being helped to
build on what she/he already knows and can do;
§
has a
personal key person who makes sure each child makes satisfying progress;
§
is in a
setting that sees parents as partners in helping each child to learn and
develop; and
§
is in a
setting in which parents help to shape the service it offers.
Children's
development and learning
The provision for children's
development and learning is guided by The Early Years Foundation Stage (DCFS
2007). From September 2008 the Early Years Foundation Stage became law. This
brings together Birth to Three Matters and the Curriculum Guidance for the
Foundation Stage. Our provision
reflects the four key themes and 16 commitments of the Early Years Foundation
Stage.
|
A Unique Child Child Development: Skilful communicator,
competent learner. Inclusive Practice: Equality and
diversity, children’s entitlements, early support. Keeping Safe: Being safe and protected,
discovering boundaries, making choices. Health and Well-being: Growth and
developing, physical and emotional wellbeing. |
|
Positive
Relationships Respecting Each Other: Understanding
feelings, friendship, professional relationships. Parents as Partners: Respecting
diversity, communication, learning together. Supporting Learning: Positive
interactions, listening to children, effective teaching. Key Person: Secure attachment, shared
care, independence. |
|
Enabling Environments Observation, Assessment and Planning:
Starting with the child, planning, assessment. Supporting Every Child: Children’s
needs, the learning journey, working together. The Learning Environment: The emotional
environment, the outdoor environment, the indoor environment. The Wider Context: Transitions and
continuity, multi-agency working, the community. |
|
Learning and Development Play and Exploration: Learning through
experience, adult involvement, contexts for learning. Active Learning: Mental and physical
involvement, decision making, personalised learning. Creativity and Physical Thinking: Making
connections, transforming and understanding, sustained shared thinking. Areas of Development and Learning. |
How
we provide for development and learning
Children start to learn about the
world around them from the moment they are born. The care and education offered
by our setting helps children to continue to do this by providing all of the
children with interesting activities that are appropriate for their age and
stage of development.
|
The Areas of Development and Learning
comprise: §
personal,
social and emotional development; §
communication,
language and literacy development; §
problem
solving, reasoning and numeracy; §
knowledge
and understanding of the world; §
physical
development; and §
creative
development. |
For each area, the practice guidance
sets out the Early Learning Goals. These goals state what it is expected that
children will know and be able to do by the end of the reception year of their
education.
The practice guidance also sets out
in ‘Development Matters’ the likely stages of progress a child makes along
their learning journey towards the early learning goals. Our setting has regard
to these matters when we assess children and plan for their learning.
Personal,
social and emotional development
Our programme supports children to
develop:
§
positive
approaches to learning and finding out about the world around them;
§
confidence
in themselves and their ability to do things, and valuing their own
achievements;
§
their
ability to get on, work and make friendships with other people, both children
and adults;
§
their
awareness of, and being able to keep to, the rules which we all need to help us
to look after ourselves, other people and our environment;
§
their
ability to dress and undress themselves, and look after their personal hygiene
needs; and
§
their
ability to expect to have their ways of doing things respected and to respect
other people's ways of doing things.
Communication,
language and literacy
Our programme supports children to
develop:
§
conversational
skills with one other person, in small groups and in large groups to talk with
and listen to others;
§
their vocabulary
by learning the meaning of - and being able to use - new words;
§
their
ability to use words to describe their experiences;
§
their
knowledge of the sounds and letters that make up the words we use;
§
their
ability to listen to, and talk about, stories;
§
knowledge
of how to handle books and that they can be a source of stories and
information;
§
knowledge
of the purposes for which we use writing; and making their own attempts at
writing.
Problem
solving, reasoning and numeracy
Our programme supports children to
develop:
§
understanding
and ideas about how many, how much, how far and how big;
§
understanding
and ideas about patterns, the shape of objects and parts of objects, and the
amount of space taken up by objects;
§
understanding
that numbers help us to answer questions about how many, how much, how far and
how big;
§
understanding
and ideas about how to use counting to find out how many; and
§
early
ideas about the result of adding more or taking away from the amount we already
have.
Knowledge
and understanding of the world
Our programme supports children to
develop:
§
knowledge
about the natural world and how it works;
§
knowledge
about the made world and how it works;
§
their
learning about how to choose, and use, the right tool for a task;
§
their
learning about computers, how to use them and what they can help us to do;
§
their
skills on how to put together ideas about past and present and the links
between them;
§
their
learning about their locality and its special features; and
§
their
learning about their own and other cultures.
Physical
development
Our programme supports children to
develop:
§
increasing
control over the large movements that they can make with their arms, legs and
bodies, so that they can run, jump, hop, skip, roll, climb, balance and lift;
§
increasing
control over the small movements they can make with their arms, wrists and
hands, so that they can pick up and use objects, tools and materials; and
§
their
understanding about the importance of, and how to look after, their bodies.
Creative
development
Our programme supports children to
develop:
§
the use
of paint, materials, music, dance, words, stories and role-play to express
their ideas and feelings; and
§
their
interest in the way that paint, materials, music, dance, words, stories and
role-play can be used to express ideas and feelings.
Learning through play
Play helps
young children to learn and develop through doing and talking, which research
has shown to be the means by which young children learn to think. Our setting uses the practice guidance Early
Years Foundation Stage to plan and provide a range of play activities which
help children to make progress in each of the areas of learning and
development. In these activities children decide how they will use the activity
with an adult helping the children to take part in the activity. In all
activities information from the practice guidance to the Early Years Foundation
Stage has been used to decide what equipment to provide and how to provide it.
Our approach to learning and development and
assessment
Assessment
We assess how
young children are learning and developing by observing them frequently. We use
information that we gain from observations, as well as from photographs or
videos of the children, to document their progress and where this may be
leading them. We believe that parents know their children best and we ask them
to contribute to assessment by sharing information about what their children
like to do at home and how they as parents are supporting development. We ask
that all parents add notes, photos, observations and family activities into
their child’s diary.
We make
periodic assessment summaries of children’s achievement based on our ongoing
development records. These form part of children’s records of achievement. We
undertake these assessment summaries at regular intervals as well as times of
transition, such as when a child moves into a different group or when they go
on to school.
Daily
Diaries
The setting
keeps a diary for each child. Staff and parents working together on their
children's diary is one of the ways in which the key person and parents work in
partnership. Your child's diary helps us to celebrate together her/his
achievements and to work together to provide what your child needs for her/his
well-being and to make progress.
Your child's
key person will work with you to keep this up to date. To do this you and
she/he will collect information about your child's needs, activities, interests
and achievements. This information will enable the key person to identify your
child's stage of progress. You and the key person will then decide on how to
help your child to move on to the next stage.
Working
together for your children
In our
setting we maintain the ratio of adults to children in the setting that is set
through the Welfare Requirements. We also have students and parents working
with the children. This helps us to:
§
give
time and attention to each child;
§
talk
with the children about their interests and activities;
§
help
children to experience and benefit from the activities we provide; and
§
allow
the children to explore and be adventurous in safety.
The staff who work at our setting
are:
Amanda Horniman Nursery
Teacher BAQTS Mont.Dip EYPS
Natalie Wallace Nursery
Educator CACHE level 3
Karen Hatcher Nursery Educator CACHE level 3
Kirstie Aitken Nursery Educator NVQ level 3
Mary Rutherford Nursery
Educator BA Art CACHE level 3
Katie Baker Teacher B.Ed
The staff at
the Nursery School are all dedicated to your child’s happiness and educational
development.
All
the Nursery staff are qualified to work with children and have several years of
experience. They believe in good quality education for young children and
understand children’s specific needs
|
We are open for |
38 |
weeks each year. |
|
|
We are open for |
3 |
days each week |
|
|
The times we are open are |
8.45am to 12 or 1pm |
|
|
|
We provide care and education for
young children between the ages of |
2 years and 5 Years |
||
How
parents take part in the setting
Our setting recognises parents as the
first and most important educators of their children. All of the staff see themselves as partners with parents in
providing care and education for their child. There are many ways in which
parents take part in making the setting a welcoming and stimulating place for
children and parents, such as:
§
exchanging
knowledge about their children's needs, activities, interests and progress with
the staff;
§
helping
at sessions of the setting and sharing their own special interests with the
children;
§
helping
to provide, make and look after the equipment and materials used in the children's
play activities;
§
taking
part in events and informal discussions about the activities and curriculum
provided by the setting;
§
joining
in with Fundraising activities in which
the setting takes part; and building
friendships with other parents in the setting.
Key
persons and your child
Our setting uses a key person
approach. This means that each member of staff has a group of children for whom
she/he is particularly responsible. Your child's key person will be the person
who works with you to make sure that what we provide is right for your child's
particular needs and interests. When your child first starts at the setting,
she/he will help your child to settle and throughout your child's time at the
setting, she/he will help your child to benefit from the setting's activities.
Learning
opportunities for adults
As well as gaining qualifications in
early years care and education, the setting staff take part in further training
to help them to keep up-to-date with thinking about early years care and education.
The setting also keeps itself
up-to-date with best practice in early years care and education.
From time to time the setting holds
learning events for parents. These usually look at how adults can help children
to learn and develop in their early years.
The
setting's timetable and routines
Our setting believes that care and
education are equally important in the experience which we offer children. The
routines and activities that make up the day in the setting are provided in
ways that:
§
help each
child to feel that she/he is a valued member of the setting;
§
ensure
the safety of each child;
§
help
children to gain from the social experience of being part of a group; and
§
provide
children with opportunities to learn and help them to value learning.
The
session
We organise our sessions so that the
children can choose from, and work at, a range of activities and, in doing so,
build up their ability to select and work through a task to its completion. The
children are also helped and encouraged to take part in adult-led small and
large group activities which introduce them to new experiences and help them to
gain new skills, as well as helping them to learn to work with others.
Outdoor activities contribute to
children's health, their physical development and their knowledge of the world
around them. The children have the opportunity, and are encouraged, to take
part in outdoor child-chosen and adult-led activities, as well as those
provided in the indoor playroom.
Forest School
We are very fortunate to have a fully qualified Forest School
leader on our staff. She has attended
the National training and is able to lead children with in a Forest School
curriculum.
This involves getting children outside to play in the natural
environment around them. They are
learning about nature and their influence on it as well as conservation and
social skills. They often get muddy and
dirty but enjoy the experience of exploring and investigating.
We have two forest school sites, one on the school field and
one in the village which we use regularly.
The parish council have supported the Nursery with a grant for clothing
and equipment. The children who go onto
Tibberton School continue to use the forest school area.
Snacks
and meals
The setting makes snacks and meals a
social time at which children and adults eat together. We plan the menus for
snacks and meals so that they provide the children with healthy and nutritious
food. Do tell us about your child's dietary needs and we will make sure that
these are met. We are fortunate to have
hot meals delivered from a local restaurant, so your child can have ht lunches
or packed lunched from home. Cost of
lunches is £1.85 (Sept 09)
Policies
Copies of the setting's policies and
procedures are are available for you to see at the setting or online. You may have a copy of all polices on a cd
ROM.
The setting's policies help us to
make sure that the service provided by the setting is a high quality one and
that being a member of the setting is an enjoyable and beneficial experience
for each child and her/his parents.
The staff of the setting work
together to adopt the policies and they all have the opportunity to take part
in the annual review of the policies. This review helps us to make sure that
the policies are enabling the setting to provide a quality service for its
members and the local community.
Safeguarding
children
Our setting has a duty under the law
to help safeguard children against suspected or actual ‘significant harm’.
Our employment practices ensure
children against the likelihood of abuse in our settings and we have a
procedure for managing complaints or allegations against a member of staff.
Our way of
working with children and their parents ensures we are aware of any problems
that may emerge and can offer support, including referral to appropriate
agencies when necessary, to help families in difficulty.
Discipline
and Behaviour
The staff at the Nursery School follow a sensible moral code
and expect the children to show respect for each other and property. Any
behaviour problem will be discussed with parents. See behaviour policy.
Pre-School Children
The children who are due to start school in September will be
covering various activities, which will prepare them for the Reception Class.
These children are introduced to pre-reading and pre-writing
skills. They will take part in lots of number games and learn to count sets of
objects. We strive for good interaction between the Nursery and the child’s new
School with reports and records being sent with the child to the new Reception
teacher.
Reception teachers are encouraged to visit the child at the
Nursery School to ease the start of school life.
Entrance to the Nursery School
As a matter of safety your child should be brought and
collected from the Nursery School by a named Parent or Guardian. Children will not be released to anyone
under the age of 16.
If for any reason another adult is collecting your child,
please let us know as soon as possible.
Please park your car carefully on the road; the car park is
for staff only.
When bringing your child into the Nursery School please use
the pedestrian green gates only or the primary school entrance and avoid the
car park area as we are trying to foster a safe and secure environment.
Walking safely into School is
important.
Special needs
As part of
the setting's policy to make sure that its provision meets the needs of each
individual child, we take account of any special needs a child may have. The
setting works to the requirements of the 1993 Education Act and The Special
Educational Needs Code of Practice (2001).
|
Our Special Educational Needs
Co-ordinator is |
Natalie Wallace |
Your
Child’s Health
On admission you will be asked to declare any medical or
physical concerns including allergies.
If your child requires medication, the staff can administer it. The
dosage needs to be stated and the medication named. A letter signed by the
parent is required for consent. If your
child is ill and away from Nursery please inform the Staff. Children must be kept away from Nursery
until 48 hours after a bout of diarrhoea or sickness. There is a nominated
first aider.
Health
and Safety
The Nursery School has to comply with health and safety
regulations. An accident book is kept to monitor accidents and action taken. In
the unlikely event of a serious accident or illness the child’s Parents will be
contacted immediately. If contact cannot be made medical assistance will be
sought. Please ensure that we have a current contact telephone number.
Equal
Opportunities
Every
child will be valued as an individual regardless of race, background or gender.
All activities and resources provide equal opportunities for all of the
children.
The
management of our setting
|
The setting is owned and governed
by |
Amanda Horniman |
(name of owner) |
The setting has a parent support
group called The Friends of Orchard Nursery School. This group is made up of
parents and community members and supports fundraising for the children. It runs sevarl social events during the
year. To get involved telephone Sheila
Johnson 01452 790184
Fees
The
fees are £4 an hour payable termly in advance.
Fees
must still be paid if children are absent without notice.
Children over 3 years old receive
government grants for 15 hours free education.
This may be spread between two
preschool groups and additional hours are charged at £4 an hour. Please see Fees
Policy attached.
As the building is used by other
groups after Nursery sessions prompt collection of your child is
requested.
Fees will be charges at £1 per 15
minutes after session times.
For your child to keep her/his place
at the setting, you must pay the fees. We are in receipt of nursery education
funding for three and four year olds; where funding is not received, then fees
apply.
Admissions
Policy
The Nursery school will follow the following Admissions
policy.
When the Nursery is oversubscribed the order of initial
admission will be,
·
Children who are cared for,
·
Children with siblings attending Nursery already,
·
Children on the waiting list.
You may enrol your child by filling in an admissions
form.
Pre-admission visits are encouraged.
If you wish your child to follow through to Tibberton CP
School you will need to register them separately and follow their admissions
procedure.
Starting
at our setting
The
first days
We want your child to feel happy and
safe with us. To make sure that this is the case, the staff will work with you
to decide on how to help your child to settle into the setting. The setting has
a policy about helping children to settle into the setting. We encourage parenst to vist with their
child and then with the staff we put together ideas for induction to the
setting. This may be leaving your
settled child for ½ hour and extending the time over several sessions.
Each child is individual, but we do
ask you to set aside tiem for the settling in process. It is something that should not be rushed.
Clothing
We provide protective clothing for
the children when they play with messy activities. Please send your child in
old, easy to wear clothes. They will
get messy!
We encourage
children to gain the skills that help them to be independent and look after
themselves. These include taking themselves to the toilet and taking off, and
putting on, outdoor clothes. Clothing and shoes that are easy for them to
manage will help them to do this.
We provide
all waterproofs and wellies and also PE clothes. Your child will need a warm coat and gloves in the winter and a
sun hat and suntan cream in the summer.(Please apply suntan cream before
attending, we will top up if necessary.)
We hope that
you and your child enjoy being members of our setting and that you both find
taking part in our activities interesting and stimulating. The staff are always
ready and willing to talk with you about your ideas, views or questions.
We look forward to providing your child with exciting new
experiences for learning in a safe and secure environment.
Orchard Nursery School
Tibberton
Gloucestershire
GL19 3AQ
Email amanda@petsbarn.co.uk
01452 790469 During Nursery session
times.
Head Teacher Amanda Horniman
Orchard Nursery
School
Fees Policy.
December 2008
This policy outlines the way fees are charged and handled
at Nursery.
Introduction
Please ask the Nursery Manager for current details of
rates. Fees are not charged for Staff
Training days or School and bank holidays
Fees are reviewed twice a year.
Notice
of changes
Staff are employed on a termly basis and
as such a full terms notice (13 weeks) is required if your child is leaving or changing hours at nursery. If less
notice is given, we still require payment for the notice period and/or nursery
grants claimed.
Invoices
Fees will be invoiced at three periods in the year,
September, January and April. These
invoices will cover the child’s regular hours.
Any extra hours will be invoiced at the end of a term.
Fees are charged in advance, to allow management to
employ and Rota staff appropriately.
Nursery
Grants
Parents can apply for Nursery education grants to give
their child up to 15 free hours of nursery education a week at preschools. The
nursery will automatically sort this out for you.
The Nursery grant will be used to give children their
entitled free hours. The Nursery will
not take the amount off of your child’s invoice total, but will actually
allocate the free hours and then charge at the fee rate for the rest of the
hours not covered under the free entitlement.
Fees
unpaid and arrears
Any fees unpaid after the invoice date will be charged at
£1 a session/week.
We hope you will appreciate that we are unable to allow
fees to slip into arrears. Failure to pay the fees on time will result in the
loss of your child's place. If fees are outstanding, and if no payment is made
within 7 days, the nursery will refuse the entry of that child to nursery and
start debt collection procedures.
Any fees unpaid by the end of term will result in debt
collection, and any expense this incurs will be added to fees.
Fees during Absence.
If your child is absent from the nursery during term time
due to sickness or holidays the full fee must be paid for the place. Under exceptional circumstances arrangements
will be made to reduce fees to a holding amount only.
Nursery Holidays and Closures.
We are open for 38 weeks per year. The holidays are fixed
and fall within the local school holidays at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun and
in the summer.
We will notify you each September. Each year we hold five
staff training seminars. You will be given advance notice of these closures.
Fees are not charged for staff training days. In extreme circumstances
nurseries may be closed at short notice due to floods, staff shortages, failure
of services, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, pandemics etc. and fees will
not be refunded in these circumstances.
Session times
Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 8.45am
to 12. Lunch 12 to 1pm
Fees £4 an hour
Parents' guide to funded nursery education
for three and four year olds
The
Government's Nursery Education Funding scheme means that children aged three
and four can have funded nursery education sessions until they start school.
What is nursery education?
Children receiving nursery
education will be working towards the Foundation Stage Curriculum. The
Foundation Stage is about learning through play and aims to promote children's
development, wellbeing and interest in learning. It is the first stage of the
National Curriculum. Children follow the Foundation Stage until the end of
their reception year at infant or primary school. Any childcare or nursery education provider approved to deliver
nursery education under the Nursery Education Funding scheme. This could
be a day nursery, playgroup, early years centre, school-based group or a
childminder approved to offer nursery education. If you would like help
in finding an approved nursery education provider, phone the
Family Information Service on 0800 542 02 02.
When can my child get funded
nursery education?
Children in Gloucestershire
qualify for funded nursery education sometime after their third birthday.
The point at which your child qualifies depends on the date of their birthday,
but this could be up to five months after their third birthday. Your
childcare or nursery education provider will be able to tell you when your
child qualifies. Your child will be able to have up to fifteen hours each week
during school term times. The amount of nursery education that is funded
changes from time to time. Your childcare or nursery education provider
will be able to tell you what is currently available.
How do I claim the funding?
Claiming the funding is
simple. Your childcare or nursery education provider will be able to tell
you when your child qualifies and what you need to do. The funding will
be paid directly to your childcare or nursery education provider.
Next steps and more
information...
Your childcare provider will
be able to tell you when your child qualifies for Nursery Education Funding and
will deal with the relevant paperwork. Parents do not need to download
any of the nursery education funding forms on this website. The County Council's Family Information
Service can tell you more about nursery education funding. They can also
help you find a registered childcare or nursery education provider. Phone
0800 542 02 02 or email familyinfo@gloucestershire.gov.uk.
You can also search for childcare and nursery education providers through the Family
Information Service [Opens in New Window] website.
This policy will be reviewed annually and sent out to
parents with registration forms from January 2009
To be reviewed January 2010