Nursery

Welcome to Roseberry Academy Nursery

 

Roseberry Academy is a family. We know our children well and care for each of them. We feel privileged to be able to guide and nurture them, along with their parents and carers, to enable them to celebrate being lifelong learners and beautiful people. Our child centred curriculum cultivates a love of learning for children of all abilities, ages and backgrounds, inspires curious minds and constructs the foundations upon which children’s future knowledge is built. 

 

Learning opportunities within Early Years are exceptionally well planned to ensure an effective balance between whole class, group and individual learning opportunities. The environment and organisation of teaching and learning reflects rich, varied and imaginative experiences, incorporating play and effective adult modelling and timely intervention. The emphasis upon enhanced provision across all areas of learning allows children to lead their own learning and develop independence and resilience. This provision is based upon regular and precise assessments of children’s achievements so that every child undertakes fun, yet challenging, activities.

We have a highly effective team of professionals who are proactive in developing a safe, exciting, well-equipped and welcoming environment to successfully stimulate children to be creative, independent and imaginative learners.

 

Opportunities are provided for children to cooperate and share with each other, make friends, respect each other’s differences and build their understanding and respect for different families, people and communities beyond their immediate experience. Children are also guided and encouraged to develop a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe.

 

Nursery

 

Who will look after my child during their time in nursery?

Our Foundation Stage, which consists of a nursery and Reception class, is staffed by Mrs Barker and Miss Capes -  professionals with experience within Early Years and a passion for the holistic development of our youngest children. Teaching Assistants, Miss Charlton and Mrs Dawson, who are equally enthusiastic about Early Years, ably aid them in providing high quality care and learning opportunities for all.  Lesley Duffy is our Family Mentor, who supports children and families from nursery to Year Six. She’s a great person to ask for advice on a number of parenting topics, or just to offer a supportive ear when you need someone to talk to. 

 

Your child will have a key worker who will take responsibility for supporting your child with their learning and development. Although your child will have a key worker and this person will know your child best, all staff within the setting will play with and support your child with their development. This ensures that we quickly get to know all of the children in our care as unique individuals and can share our understanding of them and their learning journey with one another.

When your child starts nursery, it will help us if you can tell us about your child’s interests and strengths and the things that they may need help with or be worried about. We will give you a form to complete with any information you think it would be useful for us to know. We also need to know what you are worried about! We know that it can be daunting when your child starts nursery, or a new setting, and so we are always happy to talk things through, either in person or on the telephone. In supporting you, we support your child, too! Even if you think something may be trivial, if it worries you, please let us know. We pride ourselves on our positive relationships with families and look forward to working in partnership with you.

 

The curriculum                                                                                                                         

Our curriculum is based upon the Cornerstones curriculum, which is planned with reference to the Foundation Stage 0-5years curriculum, and adapted to meet the needs of our children. We also use the Power of Reading in Early Years (and across the school) to ensure that children have access to high quality texts and develop a love of books from a very early age! The development of language also takes high priority at Roseberry and so ‘Time to talk’ is planned to enable children to talk, listen, and enjoy playing with language.

We know that all children learn and develop at different rates and in different ways and so ensure that children are able to access activities and teaching that meets their next steps of development, whatever their chronological age. Our nursery consists of 2, 3 and 4 year olds and so offers opportunities for children to act as a good role models for one another. It encourages them to be caring and nurturing, helping each other when things are tricky. We know that children not only learn from adults but also from their friends and we find working together in this way really supports the children to learn from one another. We also recognise that the developmental needs of a 2 year old and a 4 year old can be very different and so resources and learning areas, including our beautiful outdoor areas, are used flexibly depending on the needs of the children.

 

What is the daily routine?

Children will be brought by you to the nursery entrance door at the start of the session. Due to current Covid restrictions, we are unable to welcome adults into the building at the moment – this is something we hope to be able to do once restrictions are eased in the future. Children will be taken to hang their coat on their peg and put their name card on the board. They will then be encouraged to go into the nursery classroom to play in their favourite area. The more times that children come into nursery, the quicker this process will become.

After our morning group time the children then have ‘free flow play’. This means they can choose what, where or who to play with. They may play indoors or outside and, at times, an adult will join in with their play to encourage them to develop their ideas and try new things.

Towards the end of the session the children will be encouraged to tidy away the things that they have been playing with and join in with their ‘story group’. This is a short group time where we can share what we have been learning today, sing songs and rhymes, read stories and learn to talk with, and listen to, others.

At the end of their session you may collect your child from the nursery entrance door and there will be a chance for you to talk to their key worker about what they have been doing during the session.

If your child is staying for the whole day, they will have lunch with their friends and key worker, going into the lower hall to eat at a dining table. You may choose to provide a healthy packed lunch (no chocolate, sweets or fizzy drinks, please) or opt to purchase a school meal. Initially, we will offer the option of a school grab bag, consisting of a healthy packed lunch. We are looking into providing hot meals as time goes on. Water and fruit will be provided throughout the day, too.

After lunch, children will continue to learn and play with their friends and Key Worker. Should they need to have a little sleep or relax for a while, a quiet and comfy area will be available. If you would like to provide a small pillow/cushion and blanket for your child, labelled with their name, they may find this comforting whilst settling down for a quiet time.

 

How will my child be learning?                                                                                                                                                    

We follow the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage Framework which echoes our belief that children learn and develop best through purposeful play. We plan a wide range of opportunities, inside and out, that will help your child to learn through a wide range of different experiences. We try to plan activities that are linked to your child’s interests as this helps them to become more involved in their play and develops their concentration. It is really helpful if you can keep talking to your child’s key worker about the things that your child is enjoying as this helps us to meet your child’s needs much more closely.

We also plan short, fun, practical group activities that support developing specific skills such as phonics (reading/writing), maths and physical development. These activities are planned with reference to each child’s needs and help them to progress.

If you would like more information about the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum please talk to us -  we will be more than happy to talk to you and try our best to answer your questions. You can also find more information at http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/parents/   (Early Education Section)

 

Uniform                                                                                                                                                                 

Our school uniform is designed to be comfortable, practical and promote independence.

Children wear:

Roseberry Academy sweatshirt or cardigan, available to order from Motif8 www.motif8.co.uk or from our used uniform shop, where items cost as little as £1.  *Please note that your child is welcome to wear a different sweatshirt whilst you wait for your Motif8 order to be processed and uniform to be delivered

White polo shirt

Black joggers or leggings

Plimsolls for indoors

Wellies for outdoors

All in one outdoor overalls

Outdoor coat

The only items of uniform we prefer your child to have with a school logo are sweatshirts and cardigans.

 

Children need to bring:

Changing bag with nappies and wipes (if appropriate)

A bag of named spare clothing (including pants and socks). This is in case they get wet when playing or do not get to the toilet on time.

Snuggle blanket and cushion / pillow for quiet time

Packed lunch if staying for a full day and not having a school meal

 

Supporting your child

How can I help my child to be ready to start nursery?

Starting nursery is an opportunity for your child to continue to learn and develop in a new environment, learning new skills, developing friendships and independence. It is a new opportunity for them and it may be both exciting and worrying at the same time. There is nothing that your child must be able to do to be ‘ready’ but there are skills that will help them when they start.

At nursery there are often more people than your child may be used to, many of them unfamiliar. Taking them to places with other children and encouraging them to socialise, albeit safely during these difficult times, will help.

All young children can find sharing and turn taking a challenge. Playing games that encourage turn taking and sharing will help. Sometimes when playing with a favourite toy ask for a turn and try to make your child wait for a short time before reinforcing ‘your turn now’. Creating opportunities within game playing to allow other family members to win is helpful in allowing children to realise they may not always be ‘the winner’, thus learning how to accept losing with a smile!

Encourage them to be independent and to have a go at doing things by themselves. Let them try to put on their own coat or shoes if they are not too tricky and encourage them to ask for help when needed, ‘help please’. If they are ready, then help them to become toilet trained. Speak to your health visitor for advice about when and how to start this. All children develop at different rates and we are happy to support you with toilet training. If your child is still wearing nappies this does not prevent them from starting nursery.

Talking, sharing stories and singing songs and rhymes are a brilliant way to help to develop your child’s language and communication skills. These skills are essential to help support them when playing with other children. The BBC website https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people has some great ideas and resources for parents to use with their children to develop language skills.

 

Positive behaviour

Learning to get along with other people and how to cope with difficult feelings such as anger and frustration are vital skills for all children to learn and enable them to develop friendships and be successful with the things that they choose to do. We have a clear behaviour code that is easy for the children to understand and outlines the behaviours that make everyone happy, rather than focusing on the things that we don’t want to see. Children know that the following things make us all smile:

Being gentle and sharing

Being a good friend

Being good speakers and good listeners

Telling the truth

Being tidy

Children learn by making mistakes and learning about how to be a good friend means that sometimes children get it wrong and may snatch, shout or hit. We support children to see why this is not acceptable and help them to find ways to put things right. Please support us by encouraging your child to use their ‘good speaking’ and say ‘Stop it’ or get help from an adult. Please don’t tell your child to hit back, as this teaches them that hitting is okay.

 

Contacting Us

Please feel free to contact us on 01642 722883 if you have any questions or wish to talk about your child starting nursery. We are always happy to help in any way we can.

 

Too much information? Here’s a summary!

Here is a brief summary of the key information.

Hours of opening:   Full day 8.30am* – 3pm Morning session 8.30am* – 11.30am Lunch 11.30am – 12.00 Afternoon session 12.00 – 3.00pm   *Please note that siblings of nursery children who attend Roseberry Academy may access morning school provision from 8.30am until 8.45am when they will go to their classroom

Cost:   £4 per hour   Full day: £26                                                     (+£2 for lunch cover + £2.20 if a school meal is requested. Please note that children eligible for Pupil Premium do not have to pay this charge.)   Half day: £12

 

Half or full day sessions are available. You can usually pay for extra sessions.

 

Uniform

Roseberry sweatshirt or cardigan, available to order from Motif8 www.motif8.co.uk

White polo shirt

Black joggers or leggings

Plimsolls for indoors

Wellies for outdoors

All in one outdoor overalls

Outdoor coat

 

Children need to bring:

Changing bag with nappies and wipes (if appropriate)

Spare set of clothes (including pants and socks!)

Snuggle blanket and cushion / pillow for sleeps

Lunch if staying for a full day and not having a school meal Your child needs a comfortable and practical school uniform.

 

Your child will be learning through play, following their interests and developing their skills, ideas and understanding.

 

Talk to your child’s key worker about their interests and strengths, look at the nursery blog on the school website www.roseberryacademy.org and our nursery Microsoft Teams page (we will give you access to this once your child has joined the nursery) to find out what they have been doing at nursery.

Encourage your child to socialise with other children, share and take turns.

Help your child to develop their independence by encouraging them to have a go at small tasks like putting on their shoes, tidying away toys or putting on their coat. Help them to know how to ask for help when they need it.

Talk to your child, share stories, songs and rhymes and support their developing language by extending what they say. Child. ‘look a car!’  Adult: ‘Yes … it’s a fast red car!’

 

Please talk to us rather than being worried, stressed or anxious about things, as your child will pick up on these feelings. We will do our best to answer questions and arrange things to ensure that you feel really confident and positive about your child starting nursery with us.

Useful information about Roseberry Academy Nursery