Nursery

Our Day at Little Learners

Nursery Hours

Our Nursery is open from 8.45am-11.45am and from 12.30pm-3.30pm Monday to Friday. All 3 and 4 year olds are entitled to 15 hours funding (once the form has been completed from the office). Your child may also be eligible for 30 hours funding if you are working and fulfil the criteria (you can find out more about this at https://www.gov.uk/30-hours-free-childcare).  If your child is 2 they may also be entitled to free 15 hours funding. Your child’s hours can be taken flexibly across the week, either as full days (with a small charge for lunchtime cover) or as 5 sessions (all mornings, all afternoons or a combination of both). You can also pay for additional hours if you would like your child to be with us for more than 15 hours and do not qualify for 30 hours funding.

If your child is 3 and you are using funded hours or topping up with paid hours, they can join us as soon as they are 3. If your child is 2, and you are using funded hours, they can join us in the term after they are 2. If you are paying for their hours please speak to us about when they can start. Please see our admissions policy for more information.

Starting the Day

At the start of the day we will open the gate at the side of Little Learners so you can bring your child into our outside area and they will then be able to find their apple with their name on to put on our tree so we know they are here. This is a chance to catch your child’s key person in the morning if there is anything you need to talk to them about before you leave your child.

What do we do in the day?

During our time together we enjoy singing the hello song to each other as well as taking part in an activity together- we have lots of exciting experiences here including tasting different foods, exploring new sights, sounds and textures and finding out more about the world. We have visitors in to help us (a fire fighter came to visit us this year!) and we talk about lots of new things and share news. We read lots of different stories and sing lots of songs too! After this the children choose where they would like to ‘learn through play’ for the session. They can free flow between inside and outside and access any of our areas. The adults work with them to help them learn through their play. At the end of the session we always enjoy a story and singing!

Supporting Your Child

Snack Time

We have a snack time in Little Learners where children can have fruit and milk. We offer the children free fruit every day and children can also have free milk. If you would like your child to have milk you will need to complete the form in your welcome pack.

Clothing and Jewellery

At Little Learners, we would like children to wear our school uniform or a red plain jumper which you are happy for them to have fun learning in- this might be painting, mud play or messy play! In Winter children will need to bring warm coats as they can use our outside area all year. In Summer, they will need a sun hat and shoes (no open-toed sandals please).

It would be really helpful for them to have a waterproof coat and wellington boots all year round- we are happy for you to leave these with us.

Please can you make sure that your child doesn’t wear any jewellery except stud earrings.

Your Child’s Key Person

Every child in Little Learners has a member of staff who is their Key Person. After your child has been with us for a short while we will let you know who they have formed a particular bond with and this adult will then be your child’s key person. Whilst every adult in Little Learners will work with your child and you can talk to any member of the team, you child’s key person is:

• a named member of staff who has more contact than others with your child
• someone to build a relationship with your child and you
• someone who helps your child become familiar with the provision
• someone who meets your child’s individual needs and care needs (e.g. dressing, toileting etc)
• someone who responds sensitively to your child’s feelings, ideas and behaviour and the person who acts as a point of contact with parents.

Working with you as parents

Before Your Child Starts

At Little Learners, we really value working with you and involving you in your child’s learning whilst they are with us. We are keen to find out as much as we can about your child both before they start and during their time with us. Before your child starts, we will organize a home visit with you- this is an opportunity for us to talk to you about your child, find out more about them and also meet your child in their own home.

Talking with Us

Whilst your child is with us, we are always there for you to talk to about anything you feel we need to know. There is always an adult at the gate in the morning and at the main door to Little Learners. If you need a longer time to talk to us please do ask, we are more than happy to meet with you. We also have regular parent meetings each term where we invite you to come and talk to us about your child’s learning and experiences with us.

Opportunities to Work with Us

In Little Learners, we like to invite parents and carers in to share in different experiences with us when we can. We enjoy involving you in activities such as shared reading, picnics and lots of other opportunities- we will let you know about these via Parentmail.

Tapestry

At Little Learners we use Tapestry, an online learning journey, to record your child’s experiences and learning in school. We share photos, videos and notes about your child’s learning- you can log on to Tapestry and see what your child has been learning and you can also add any photos and notes about your child’s learning from home and make comments on their learning.

All Nursery and Reception children at our school have a personal online Learning

Journey where we record photos, observations and comments, in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage, to build up a record of your child’s experiences during their time with us.

We use Tapestry, a system, which is hosted in the UK on secure servers. It is a very secure online Learning Journey. It also conforms to new EU data protection laws. You can find our Tapestry policy on our website. This tells you about what happens to your data.

We would like to share your child’s learning journey with you. Tapestry will send you an email to explain how to log on to see your child’s learning journey. You will have secure access to it and will be able to see pictures, videos and notes about their learning in school. You can also add any photos and comments about your child and what they do at home.

Once you have filled in the form below, we will be able to set you up with an account and give you further information about using Tapestry. If you do not have access to e-mail we will print out their journey for you to see. Your child will receive a CD with their Learning Journey on at the end of the Reception Year.

You will be asked to confirm you have read this information and to Tapestry use on the school admission form.

We do need to ask that you will follow some e-safety rules when using Tapestry. Each child’s learning journey is completely private and can only be accessed by school staff and you. There will be photos with other children in the same photographs so it is very important that you do not share these images with any third parties including social networking sites such as Facebook. Please sign the box on the admission form, we will not add your e-mail to Tapestry until this is completed.

If you have any questions or queries about the on-line Learning Journeys please do not hesitate to ask.

Facebook

We have a Little Learners Facebook page- please like it to see information and pictures of the setting.

What If…?

What if your child is unwell?

If your child is unwell on a day they would usually be at Little Learners you can let us know by ringing the main school number, 01522 880071. If your child is away as they have sickness or diarrhea please keep them at home for 48 hours after the last time they were unwell. If your child has a contagious illness please let us know.

If your child is unwell whilst they are with us, we will contact you to let you know and to ask you to come to collect them- please make sure your emergency contact details for your child are up to date so that we can reach you straight away.

What if someone other than you needs to collect your child?

Please let us know either when you drop them off, or please ring the main school telephone number to let us know before it is time to collect them. We cannot let your child leave us until we know the adult who is collecting and have your permission.

What if you have any questions or queries?

We are always there for you to talk to at the beginning and end of every session- please do speak to any of the team! If it is at a time when your child isn’t in Little Learners, please ring the main school and leave a message for us, we will get back to you as soon as we can!

Helping Your Child at Home

Borrowing Books/ Story Sacks

We have a range of books and story sacks in school which we are happy to share with you at home. Please ask if you would like to borrow a book or one of our story sacks- they have lots of activities and games in linked to a story for you to enjoy with your child at home.

Out and About

When you are out and about you can really help you child by looking at the world around them with them! Pointing out numbers on buses, houses, signs.. in fact anywhere you see numbers, helps your child begin to recognize numbers. Looking at shapes in the environment such as the shape of windows, road markings, toys and objects at home helps them learn about shape in a real-life context.

As they start to develop an interest in writing around them, you could point out and read signs, labels and other writing to them too.

When you are at home with them sharing stories, reading to them and enjoying books with them really helps them to develop a love of reading and gives them lots of experiences through stories.