Consett Infant School Nursery Unit

Consett Infant SchoolNursery Unit Nursery Brochure Consett Infant School Nursery Unit Teasdale Street Consett Co. Durham DH8 6AF Tel/Fax: 01207 504464 Email: consettinfant@durhamlearning.net http://www.consettinfantschool.ik.org Head Teacher: Mrs L A Wallace Chair of Governors: Mrs J Davison

Dear Parent/Guardian, Welcome to Consett Infant School Nursery Unit. This brochure explains how our Nursery works and what kinds of activities you can expect your child to be doing whilst at nursery. We are a 26 place Nursery. Children between the ages of 3 and 5 are educated by a qualified teacher (Mrs Hall) and a qualified Nursery Nurse (Mrs Davison). Current adult : child ratios for nursery aged children are 1:13. In addition to this Miss Malpass works from 11am to 1pm. All members of staff have a significant amount of Early Years experience. We hope that you find this brochure interesting and informative. If we can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact myself or Mrs Hall the Nursery Teacher. Yours sincerely Mrs L A Wallace Headteacher Consett Infant School Nursery Unit

Welcome to our Nursery Nursery Aims We aim to provide a welcoming, caring environment in which every child is supported and encouraged to develop through play, to their full potential. In this secure environment each person is valued and respected. We aim to stimulate the children, and encourage their development by providing an enjoyable, challenging and interesting environment. We recognise each child’s individual needs and provide appropriate play experiences to aid development. We aim to give each child time and opportunities to acquire basic skills and concepts which will form a foundation for their mainstream education and future life. We aim to work in partnership with parents/carers acknowledging each other’s roles. We recognise that a child’s education does not begin when your child enters nursery. In previous years he/she has learnt much in the home environment from experiences you have provided. At nursery we try to build on these experiences and develop a partnership with parents which we hope will continue throughout your child’s school years. We aim to make every child feel wanted and important and to encourage them to be independent so that they can make their own decisions and care for themselves, their friends and their nursery environment.

School Times We provide 26 places for children to attend five sessions, either morning or afternoons. Morning Session - 8.45am – 11.45am Afternoon Session - 12.15pm – 3.15pm These session times are flexible for the first and last 15 minutes of each session. If your child is unable to attend nursery please phone and let a member of staff know or leave a message with Mrs Raine our school secretary. School phone number – 01207 504464 All nursery children must be brought to and collected from nursery by a responsible adult. If anyone other than the usual person is coming to collect your child, it is most important that we are informed and that this person is known to staff. This is to ensure your child’s safety. Would you please note that all children remain the responsibility of parents, grandparents, carers etc until a member of staff has opened the nursery door and invited the children in from the porch at the beginning of the session. Children should not be left unattended. Settling In Talk to your child about coming to nursery and reassure him/her that you will be back to collect them after the session. Don’t be too alarmed if your child does not want to be left as this is a totally new experience for them. If you do leave an upset child, please feel free to phone for reassurance. In most cases it only takes staff a few minutes to calm a child and involve him/her with an activity. Once your child is settled a quick, firm goodbye is best.

What happens in nursery Your child’s Nursery picture will be a -----------------------------------------. This picture will show your child where to hang his/her coat. After hanging up their coat your child should be encouraged to find his/her photo name card and place it on an activity card of their choice in the porch area. This activity will provide opportunities for discussion between you and your child as well as being a valuable daily name recognition exercise. Once the door into nursery is opened at the beginning of the session your child will come in and place his/her peg card in the ‘self registration board’ before choosing an activity of their choice. Please feel free to bring your child in and settle them to their activity if you so wish particularly in the early days until your child feels happy in the new environment and at ease with nursery staff. The first half hour of each session is an open session where parents and carers are welcome to come in and be a part of their child’s learning. Once all children have arrived and have settled in to nursery they will be encouraged to come to the carpet area for our daily register and ‘talk- time’. During this time there will be opportunities to listen to stories, join in with nursery rhymes and songs, share news with our friends, discuss daily activities available as well as topic related and child initiated learning. Following this is a free play session with a focused adult led activity either indoors or outdoors. The children have access to the outdoor area in all weathers and are free to choose where they would like to be. Snack time takes place around the middle of the session. Following our free play session is ‘tidy up time’ followed by story/group time. When your child leaves nursery we encourage you to share in your child’s achievements and talk to them about the activities they have been involved with during the session. Your child is encouraged to put any completed work in their home-time box to take home with them at the end of the session.

Further Information Record Keeping/Planning When your child enters nursery he/she is constantly having his/her development observed and monitored by nursery staff. Children are assessed on entry using ‘Flying From the Start 2’ – the Durham scheme for Foundation Stage Assessment. This gives us a ‘baseline’ from which activities are planned to ensure all children develop at the appropriate rate. This continues throughout his/her nursery experience and is passed on to Reception class teachers for continual assessment throughout his/her Foundation stage education. Each child has a learning journey folder which holds samples of work and photographs of activities he/she is involved with. We keep a record of when each child achieves particular goals. Each half term we follow a specific topic, but nursery staff are aware that children’s particular interests often motivate them the most so we follow their interests and develop them to get the best play and fun from them. A copy of the half termly planning is always available in the porch area for you to refer to if you so wish. All records we keep are used to ensure planning keeps pace with each child’s learning. Key Workers When your child begins nursery he/she will be allocated a key worker. This will either be Mrs Hall or Mrs Davison. The key worker is responsible for ensuring that every child’s care is tailored to meet their individual needs, helping your child to become familiar with the setting, offering a settled relationship for your child and building a relationship with you their parents. If you have any concerns regarding your child or wish to speak to us about your child’s development we are always happy to speak with you at a mutually convenient time. We encourage close links between home and nursery and are keen for you to share with us information about your child.

Snack in Nursery Here we promote ‘healthy eating’ – having milk (or water for those children who don’t drink milk) and fruit or vegetables. Milk is delivered to nursery daily and is supplied by the county free of charge. Although we try to keep to a healthy diet we have the occasional treat especially when a child celebrates a birthday or when we bake as one of our focused practical tasks. No child is made to eat anything they do not like but they are encouraged to taste and try. Water The children are encouraged to bring a ‘pull up and suck’ bottle of water to nursery each day which they may drink from whenever they so wish. If they do so, please ensure that it contains only WATER and not juice. Please ensure this is clearly named and that it is taken home at the end of every session to be washed thoroughly and filled with fresh water the following day. Library Please encourage your child to use our nursery library every Friday. We have a small selection of books available in the nursery office. If you would like to borrow a book please feel free to choose it with your child each Friday and return it the following week. Although your child may have lots of story books at home using a library gives access to a wider range of books and also teaches children to take responsibility for books belonging to others.

Nursery Fund We ask for a voluntary contribution of £1 which is collected each Monday. The money is used to enrich provisions for all children. It finances extra snacks and baking sessions etc. We use it to buy ‘treats’ for special events such as birthday cakes or Christmas presents. The fund money collected also helps to replace toys and books and to enable us to pay for educational visits. The Governing body audit the Nursery fund at the end of each financial year. Fund Raising Our main fund raising event is a ‘Sponsored Obstacle Course ‘ which is carried out alongside school in the Autumn term. The money raised over the past two years has been used to fund our on- going Nursery Garden project. We also choose to help various charities in order to develop the children’s awareness of the difficulties some people live with and to foster a caring and helpful attitude. Early in the Spring term we hold a Chatterbox Challenge which parents etc are invited to, to raise money for the ‘I Can’ charity which helps children with speech and language difficulties. In the Summer term we invite you to join us in our Barnardo’s Toddle, where we walk to the Junior school field and twice around it followed by a Teddy Bear’s Picnic. We also throughout the year have other fund-raising events which the Friends of the School organise. These events provide lots of fun for all participants e.g. raffles, book fayres, Summer term barbecue etc. If you have any new ideas for fund raising please let us know.

Parents In Partnership We firmly believe that parents are valued partners in the education of their children and as you are the most important people in their lives, to achieve success we need to work together. Always remember, your child is our prime concern, so any information concerning changes at home, health, moods and the like, will always assist in our approach to him/her. Never feel that any problem is too small to discuss with us. We aim to work with you in partnership to ensure that you and your child are happy. Half termly newsletters are sent out with your child in order that you are kept informed of nursery matters. Up to date information is displayed on the nursery notice board in the porch area and planning and policies are available for your information. Each term we have an open session when you are invited into nursery to see what we do and to acknowledge and celebrate your child’s achievements. There is also an opportunity on this occasion for you to informally discuss your child’s progress. A comprehensive end of year report is sent out at the end of each academic year with an opportunity to discuss this. Parents/Carers are always welcome to join in the fun of being in nursery by coming in as a helper. You can help in so many different ways – talking with the children, joining in activities, sharing books with the children, baking, working on the computer with them, playing games, creative activities or general help such as cutting paper and photocopying. In addition to these adult help is often needed on visits or during fund raising events. If you would like to help please speak to nursery staff who will provide you with the relevant CRB forms.

Clothing and Independence Please dress your child in comfortable, practical clothing – play is a child’s work and is often messy. As access to outdoors is always available in all weather’s children should be dressed according to the weather although we do have a selection of waterproof clothing and footwear for the children to wear when necessary. Please label all outdoor clothing, including wellington boots with your child’s full name. We would be grateful if you would encourage your child to take off and hang up his/her own clothing on his/her peg. When in nursery your child will be involved in many creative, wet and messy activities. We do have protective aprons for the children to wear and encourage them to help each other fasten and loosen them and eventually become independent. Although aprons are provided accidents will happen so don’t worry if your child comes home wearing something different. We expect children to cope with their own toilet needs as much as possible and hope you will tell them to ask for help whenever it is needed i.e to loosen buttons on jeans etc. Where toilet accidents do occur we do have a good supply of spare clothes to lend to the children. We do request that you launder these and return them to nursery as soon as possible. Jewellery – if your child has his/her ears pierced please make sure they wear small sleepers or studs. No other jewellery should be worn as loss or breakages cause distress and it can also cause injury. If your child has pierced ears, please sign an indemnity form available from nursery staff.

Health Matters If children are not well they are better off at home for their own sake and that of others. Childhood Infectious Diseases There are lots of common infectious diseases whish your child will invariably have at some time, perhaps during his/her time at nursery. Please let us know if your child has an infection so that we can alert other parents. Sickness and/or Diarrhoea In the case of sickness and diarrhoea pupils must be excluded until 48 hours after the illness has stopped. Headlice Should you find any signs of headlice please inform nursery. In the interests of all concerned, it is advisable to check hair regularly. You will be informed if there is an outbreak. Earache This is very common in young children. Ear infections should not be treated lightly as the ears can be damaged permanently if not treated. They are also very painful and children should be kept at home. Conjunctivitis This requires prompt treatment and as it is extremely contagious children should be kept at home until completely clear. Medicines We do not administer medicines in nursery except in special circumstances. Children who have been prescribed medicines are recovering from an illness and need to recover at home. Allergies If your child has an allergy please inform nursery staff.

Asthma If your child needs to use an inhaler at nursery, please inform nursery staff and fill in the required form. Accidents Staff are qualified to carry out first aid. We normally clean minor bumps and grazes with clean water only. Please inform us if you do not wish your child to be given plasters. If your child has an accident in nursery you will be informed and given an accident note completed by nursery staff to sign. You will also be given a copy of this. Please keep us updated of any change in telephone numbers for home, work, child minders etc. This is important should we need to contact you in an emergency. Holidays If your child has a holiday during term time, please send a note with the dates he/she will be absent from nursery. School Discipline We are firm but fair in our approach and encourage children to be aware of an acceptable standard of behaviour. Where this does not happen staff will intervene and explain what is required to encourage the child to make amends. Continuation of this behaviour will result in a child being removed from the particular area or activity for a short period of time. To assist us, it would be helpful if you could encourage your child to go to a member of staff whenever a problem occurs. Similarly, if your child comes home and reports an incident which occurred in nursery we would appreciate being informed. We strive to deter physical retaliation and do not tolerate ‘bullying’ of any kind.

Safety Guidelines Please observe the following safety guidelines • To ensure the safety and security of all nursery children, would you please check that ALL gates are bolted after arrival at nursery and again when you leave. • In the interest of safety, would you please ensure that you do not leave plastic carrier bags on children’s coat pegs. • It is the policy of Durham County Council that nursery equipment both indoors and outdoors is to be used only when qualified staff are supervising nursery children. In the light of this policy please do not allow any child in your care to use OUTSIDE NURSERY EQUIPMENT either on your way in or when leaving nursery. • Please refrain from parking on the yellow zig-zag lines outside the school gates. • Dogs are not allowed on the school premises. • We would be grateful if you would not bring prams and pushchairs into the porch area due to space restrictions. • Would you please note that all children remain the responsibility of parents, grandparents, carers etc until a member of staff has opened the nursery door and invited the children in from the porch at the beginning of the session. Children should not be left unattended. • All nursery children must be brought to and collected from nursery by a responsible adult. If anyone other than the usual person is coming to collect your child, it is most important that we are informed and that this person is known to staff. This is to ensure your child’s safety.

General Curriculum Information The Early Years Foundation Stage is the statutory curriculum used in all Early Years settings for children aged from birth to 6 years. The Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum is organised into six areas of learning and six stages of development: • Personal, Social and Emotional Development • Communication, Language and Literacy • Mathematical Development • Knowledge and Understanding of the World • Physical Development • Creative Development We aim to ensure that the experiences we offer in our nursery cover all six areas of learning. Learning Through Play Play is a very important part of every child’s development, in fact play is a nursery child’s work. In nursery a child will be encouraged to learn in a variety of ways. • By having fun and enjoying being a young child. • By ‘hands on’ experiences playing with real materials. (Water, clay, sand, dough, wood) • By discovery and being encouraged to have a go with new activities and solving problems. • By listening to others (adults and children) and following instructions.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development Successful personal, social and emotional development is critical for very young children in all aspects of their lives and gives them the best opportunity for success in all other areas of learning. We aim to: • Create a happy, safe and secure environment where every child feels valued and gains the confidence he/she needs to explore and enjoy a variety of new experiences. • Be consistent with discipline so that each child knows what is expected of him/her. • Encourage children to form good relationships with peers and adults by providing activities that require co-operation and the need to develop communication through language. • Encourage the children to be sensitive to the needs and feelings of others and develop a caring attitude. • Encourage the children to learn to take turns and share. • Provide opportunities for the children to learn how to concentrate and start to work as part of a small group and independently. • Develop an understanding of right and wrong. • Encourage the children to be able to dress themselves and be responsible for their own personal hygiene. • Praise every child for his/her achievements in order to raise self esteem.

Communication, Language and Literacy This area of learning includes: • Speaking and listening in a variety of different situations and for different purposes The ability to communicate gives children the capacity to participate fully in their society. We aim to create an atmosphere where the children feel at home, and encourage each child to talk about their experiences. They will be given plentiful opportunities to engage in quality conversations with adults, to tell their news publicly and to interact with each other in a variety of situations. We provide interesting role play opportunities where the children can communicate with each other in imaginative play. They will be encouraged to ask and answer questions. The children are encouraged to listen carefully to instructions and follow them. We provide a listening area where children can listen to stories, songs and rhymes on tape and CD. • Developing an awareness and love of books The children will have plentiful opportunities to listen to stories, poems and rhymes in a variety of contexts. They will be encouraged to share books and stories with an adult or their peers. They will have access to a wide range of books in our Reading area. It is our aim to provide the children with interesting and exciting opportunities to develop their interest in reading and to promote a love of books. They will be encouraged to handle books carefully and understand how they are organised. They will be shown how words and pictures carry meaning. Every Friday the children are encouraged to choose a book from our nursery library to borrow for the week.

ctd • Writing for a variety of purposes We encourage the children to see the connection between spoken language and written language. They are encouraged to write for all kinds of purposes. Activities to promote the fine manipulative skills needed in preparation for writing are provided daily and the children have access to a wide range of writing tools such as pencils, crayons and paintbrushes both indoors and outdoors. They are encouraged to make marks confidently before they are expected to produce real writing such as their name however they will be encouraged to recognise their name then later to write it. Writing is all around the Nursery on displays, pegs, pictures etc so that the children gain an understanding that print conveys meaning. A wide range of writing equipment is available at all times in our Writing area and the children are encouraged to use this independently and when working on focused activities alongside an adult. The following is the letter formation we use throughout school. When teaching your child how to write their name, please remember to use a capital first, followed by the lower case letters. a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Mathematical Development Our main aim of this area of learning is for children to regard mathematics as something which is enjoyable and pleasurable so that we are establishing firm foundations for future mathematical learning. We aim to provide a wide range of experiences through which the children can develop skills, concepts and appropriate mathematical vocabulary. We believe that first hand experiences enable children to develop mathematical concepts in an interesting way which is relevant to their own lives. We build as many maths opportunities into the children’s play as we possibly can using activities such as baking, gardening, building, role play experiences etc both indoors and outdoors. We also spend a lot of time using simple board games to develop mathematical understanding. We learn and act out a wide variety of number rhymes to help reinforce ideas about number and a basic awareness of simple addition and subtraction. Mathematical displays in and around nursery constantly reinforce the children’s mathematical development. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Knowledge and Understanding of the World In this area of learning, children are developing the crucial knowledge, skills and understanding that helps them make sense of the world. This forms the foundation for later work in science, design and technology, history, geography and ICT. In nursery we aim to provide activities based on first hand experiences that encourage exploration, observation, problem solving, prediction, critical thinking, decision making and discussion. The children are encouraged to ask questions about why things happen and how things work. In all the activities the children are encouraged to use their senses. Much of the children’s time in nursery is spent outdoors and the nursery garden enables us to provide a wide range of activities to stimulate the children’s interest and curiosity. We are currently in the process of developing our outdoor area in order to extend the range and types of activities available. The children are encouraged to make their own models using a wide range of construction kits in the ‘block area’ and from collectable materials available in the ‘creative workshop’. Many other skills are practised in this area such as cutting, joining, folding and building and the children are encouraged to use a variety of different tools and equipment. ICT skills are encouraged in a variety of ways. The children have access to a range of simple programs on the computer and are encouraged develop their skills by working alongside an adult or accessing the computer independently. They have daily opportunities to use the interactive whiteboard to extend their learning. They are also encouraged to control other equipment such as the CD Player in the listening area and Roamer and Beebot our controllable robots.

Physical Development Physical Development in the Foundation Stage is about improving skills of co-ordination, control, manipulation and movement. Physical development helps children to gain confidence in what they can do and enables them to feel the positive benefits of being healthy and active. This also helps the children develop a positive sense of well being. Plenty of fresh air and space is important for young children and our outdoor area provides opportunities for a wide variety of physical skills to be developed. The children access the nursery garden on a daily basis in all weathers and therefore the children should always have appropriate clothing. As well as using the outdoor environment we have the use of the school hall and plan a weekly PE lesson as well as movement and ring games using our ‘Sticky Kids’ CD’s. This helps the children develop an awareness of space, of themselves and of others, as well as developing confidence and imagination. We also provide lots of activities which help to develop fine manipulation skills such as construction kits, building blocks, threading and lacing toys, jigsaws, malleable materials, pencils and scissors. The children are encouraged to practise these in order to increase self confidence in their own abilities.

Creative Development Creativity is fundamental to successful learning. Being creative enables children to make connections between one area of learning and another and extends their learning. This area of learning includes art, music, dance, drama and imaginative play. We offer a wide range of activities that children can respond to by using their senses. We encourage the children to enjoy the beauty and wonder of the world. They are encouraged to develop their use of colour, shape and texture to represent events and objects in their own lives, express their ideas and explore feelings using a variety of tools and different techniques. The children have the opportunity to explore musical instruments independently and weekly music lessons are taught to compliment the children’s learning. We aim to develop a child’s natural sense of rhythm and encourage him/her to listen and respond to a variety of different types and styles of music. The children are also are encouraged to make their own musical instruments. The children are encouraged to learn a variety of songs and rhymes which helps to create and foster an interest in music. Our role-play area plays a big part in the children’s learning. The children use their imagination when playing in The Home Corner, The Bear Cave, The Toy Shop, The Garden Centre, Santa’s Grotto etc where they are encouraged to create their own little worlds in Nursery and outdoors.

And finally! We hope that this brochure answers any questions you may have but please feel free to contact a member of staff if you still have any queries. Thank you for taking time to read this brochure. We are looking forward to getting to know you and hope your child’s experience of nursery is a happy one. A copy of the complaints procedure is available on request.

Consett Infant School Nursery Unit