Prospectus
Tredworth Pre-School Nursery Prospectus
Our Approach
We aim to build positive relationships with all our children and their families so that every child feels safe, secure and confident. Our role as Early Years Practitioners is to support children’s ideas, encourage them to become independent thinkers and to build their self-esteem.
Our Facilities
In Nursery we have a large bright, attractive room for activities and designated areas such as the quiet area, the book corner and messy play area. We have secure outside spaces that are used solely by the Pre-School Nursery and acts as an extension to our indoor space.
Parents and Staff Working in Partnership
At Tredworth Infant and Nursery Academy, we recognise parents/carers as the first and most important educators of their young children. We aim to work in close partnership with parents and carers to ensure that every child has the best possible start in their early years. We ask that parents/carers support their child by looking at their online Dojo pprtfolio, comment and add their own pictures/photos.
All our Early Years Practitioners are fully qualified and experienced and hold regular parents meetings and open sessions giving parents and carers the opportunity to discuss and contribute to their child’s development.
Fees
We are registered for the Government’s Nursery Education Grant. From the term after your child is 3 years old they are entitled to five free sessions at any setting accepting the Grant.
Your child's Birth Certificate and proof of home address will be checked when applying for a Nursery place. Funding forms are completed on a termly basis - your National Insurance Number/NASS Number and funding code (if applicable) will be required.Your child's Birth cerificate and proof of home address will be checked
For 3 and 4 year olds requiring additions sessions a charge of £12.25 per session will be made.
Our fees are paid in advance, on a monthly basis. Payments should be made within a week of the invoice date and can be paid directly to the School Office or online. Please note we cannot accept cheques or card payments.
Late pick-ups will be charged at £12.00 per hour or part hour after the latest pick up time, 10 minutes after the session ends.
We always try to accommodate parent/carer requests, but we may not be able to offer first choice of places immediately
Any child who stays for lunchtime will need to pay £5.00 for lunchtime provision (this includes the option of a hot meal or a choice of sandwiches prepared by our onsite kitchen).
Fees must be paid if your child is absent and we would request that you telephone us to let us know if your child will not be attending for any reason - 01452 520411.
For your child to keep his/her place at our setting you must pay the fees due, otherwise your child's hours may be reduced to funded sessions only. Please note that fees apply where we are not in receipt of funding. Our sessions are very popular and we operate a waiting list for places at our setting. Sessions allocated for your child are reviewed regularly and if not attended may be withdrawn and offered to another child on our waiting list.
| SESSION TIMES |
|
Monday - Friday AM 8.30am - 11.30am PM 12.15pm - 3.15pm |
Help with the cost of childcare
Are you eligible for help toward the cost of childcare fees?
The government is introducing new ways to help parents with childcare costs. Whether you have toddlers or teens, you could get support.
FREE FOR 3 AND 4 - FREE EARLY LEARNING FOR 3 AND 4 YEAR OLDS
All 3 and 4 year old children are entitled to Funded Early Education and can use childminders, pre-school playgroups, nurseries or children's centers who are registered with Gloucestershire County Council to deliver nursery education.
The entitlement is for 15 hours per week over a minimum of 38 weeks in the year.
The minimum length of a session is 2½ hours and the maximum is 10 hours in any one day.
Children must remain in the provision for a minimum of 2 weeks in order to be eligible for the funding.
Please note that you if you remove your child before the qualifying period, you will be liable for all costs incurred. A member of staff will provide you with the relevant form for you to apply for the funding.
When is your child eligible?
You can start claiming free early education from the term following your child's 3rd birthday.
| Child's Birthday falls between | 3 and 4 Old Funding Available |
| 1st January and 31st March | April (Summer Term) |
| 1st April and 31st August | September (Autumn Term) |
| 1st September and 31st December | January (Spring Term) |
Can you use more than one childcare provider?
The funded entitlement can be taken with up to two providers, however the total funded hours cannot exceed 15. Most providers will allow you to take the provision flexibly to enable you to meet your needs.
Will there be any additional charges?
A parent/carer cannot be charged for any part of the funded entitlement, however, a provider may charge for meals, snacks or optional extras as they may not always be included within the free entitlement ie 45 minute lunch option. If you take more than 15 hours per week there will be a charge made by the provider for these additional hours.
30 Hours Funding
The Government also funds an additional 15 hours a week free childcare to some children aged three and four, this will be a total of 30 free hours a week. This will commence the term after their third birthday. However, not all 3 and 4 years olds will be eligible for the additional 15 hours funding, please see the following criteria :
To be eligible for the additional 15 hours:
• Two parent families: both parents in the household must be working the equivalent of 16 hours a week either at or above the national living wage or the national minimum wage, up to a maximum of £100k a year per parent.
OR
• Single parent families: one parent in the household must be working the equivalent of 16 hours a week either at or above the national living wage or the national minimum wage, up to a maximum of £100k a year per parent.
• Parents will be required to make an application directly to HMRC for the additional 15 hours, a code will be provided which is valid for 3 months.
• There will be a ‘grace’ period which allows the funding to be paid in certain circumstances, such as if a parent is temporarily out of work.
• Parents/carers will be required check regularly to ensure their child is still eligible to receive the additional 15 hours funding. If the code is not reconfirmed, the funding will cease.
Some Early Years settings will not be offering the additional 15 hours, however we do offer the 30 hours funding.
When is your child eligible?
You can start claiming the additional 15 hours funding from the term following your child's 3rd birthday. The code MUST be dated before: 31st March for the funding to start from Term 5, 31st August for the funding to start from Term 1 or 31st December for the funding to start from Term 3.
Tax Free Childcare
Tax-Free Childcare is a new government scheme to help working parents/carers with the cost of childcare. Parents/carers will be able to open an online account, which they can use to pay for childcare from a registered provider. For every £8 a parent/carer pays in, the government will pay in an extra £2. Parents/carers can receive up to £2,000 per child, per year, towards their childcare costs, or £4,000 for disabled children.
To qualify, parents/carers will have to be in work, and each expecting to earn at least £115 a week and each parent/carer must not have income over £100,000 per year. The scheme will be rolled out gradually to families, with parents/carers of the youngest children able to apply first. Parents/carers will be able to apply for all their children at the same time, when their youngest child becomes eligible.
Starting at Nursery
Our settling-in period depends on the experiences of the child. Some may only need parent support for 2-3 sessions whilst others need a longer settling-in period. Generally we suggest:
The children start 30 minutes after the session commences and finish before story time begins (little ones can find sitting still in a large group difficult so story time can be a challenge for them).
- If your child is not used to being left, a gradual separation maybe the answer.
- Always try to be the first through the door for the first few sessions. Your child may worry when they see other children collected and they are still waiting.
NB – Always check with the Key Worker before leaving. Talk to your child about leaving them before you get to the session. Say goodbye to them when you are ready - and then the hard bit, walk straight out the door. Most of us have been there and know how this can feel, so do not hesitate to call to find out if they’re coping, we really don’t mind. Always leave a contact number, if your child is unhappy we may need to get in touch quickly.
If your child is not out of nappies, we ask you to provide them with a bag containing:
- Nappies or Pull-ups
- Wipes
- Change of Clothes
- Nappy Bags
In the interests of reducing cross-contamination, all children are changed in the designated area away from the playroom.
Curriculum
Our Framework is the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum, which covers a child’s education and development from the age of 2 to the end of the Reception year at school.
The EYFS is the early years equivalent of the National Curriculum, and includes three primary areas and four key areas of learning.
These are as follows:
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Communication and Language
- Physical Development
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding The World
- Expressive Arts & Design
If you wish to have a more in depth look at what the EYFS framework entails, we have further information available in school and on the DFS website www.foundationyears.org.uk
A Typical Session
Each session is based around a routine. This quickly becomes familiar to the children helping them to become secure, confident, independent and able to try new things within a known structure.
A typical session is run in three parts; this means we stop half way through for healthy snacks, which along with water is provided by the school.
- Arrive and hang up coats (children have their own named coat peg/hook)
- Free Play
- Snacks (Generally milk or water, fruit or vegetables)
- Free Play
- Story Time
- Home Time
Free play involves a variety of activities including painting, puzzles, duplo etc, but there will also be some adult led activities. Children’s development is recorded in their on- line 'Tapestry' learning journey and parents/carers are at liberty to look at their child’s work whenever they wish.
Allocation of Key worker
As part of our practice, the staff at Tredworth Infant & Nursery Academy are continually assessing and recording the children’s achievements. These records are always available to parents and carers. Each child has a “Key worker” who will be happy to discuss your child; we would just ask parents/carers to refrain from discussing issues with their child’s Key worker, if the Key worker is involved in manning the doors or gate at the end of a session as this leaves the door vulnerable.
Clothing
Coats and other removable items of clothing must be clearly marked with your child’s name. Children should wear play clothes since some of the activities can be very messy. A loop to help your child hang up their coats would be appreciated. Clothes that are easy to pull on/off make it easy for everyone when the toilet is urgently needed!
Please note outdoor play is available every day, so always bring suitable clothing for your child including warm clothes, coat, hats and gloves in the winter, waterproof clothing for the rain and sunscreen and sunhats in the summer. Would you please supply your child with a bag containing a change of clothes in case we need to change them, also nappies, pull-ups and wipes if appropriate.
Transition
Our Pre-School children have opportunities to mix with the Reception children to ensure smooth transitions into the Reception year, old children have the same opportunities within Pre-School, thus ensuring children are happy and confident to move on to the next step of their learning journey.
Accidents and Illness
For minor incidents, first aid will be given at Pre-School. In an emergency, parents will be contacted immediately, so please ensure we have up to date contact numbers.
Please let us know if your child has any on-going conditions such as asthma, diabetes, allergies or if he/she has particular dietary requirements.
We require parents to complete a medical and emergency treatment permission form on registration.
If your child is ill, please let us know as soon as possible if the illness is infectious, and please keep him/her away from Pre-School until the risk of infecting other children is past. Children suffering with diarrhoea and vomiting should be kept at home for 48 hours. For further details, please refer to our Health and Safety Policy.
Safety
We are always safety conscious at School and we ensure that we meet childcare, health and safety as well as educational standards.
We take great care in monitoring the safe arrival and departure of all our children, one of strategies for ensuring safety is to have a member of staff at the door when you arrive at session. They are not there in the role of ‘meet and greet’ so please could you avoid engaging them in lengthy conversations. If you need to talk to a member of staff could you please speak to one not engaged in this duty. This may sound unduly harsh but the safety of our children is of paramount importance to us.
When you collect your child at the end of the session, for security reasons we are unable to release children to a person for whom we do not have the appropriate authority, so please inform the key worker if there are to be any changes to your child’s collection.
Safeguarding Children
We intend to create an environment in which children are safe from abuse and in which any suspicion of abuse is responded to promptly and appropriately. We cannot undertake to keep anything confidential, which may be detrimental to the welfare of the child. It is our policy that only staff with appropriate checks will take the children to the toilet, change their clothing or supervise activities in a separate room.
Special Needs
The number of adults present in our Nursery and Pre-School enables us to provide individual attention to each child. Every child is able to progress, at its own rate, in all areas of development. This is true for children with or without disabilities or learning difficulties. We are experienced in working in close liaison with professionals across a range of special needs.
Notices
Notice boards are situated within the entrance where you will find details of any forthcoming event or important information so please check regularly. Regular Newsletters are also given out to all parents and information can be found on ‘Class Dojo’
Photographs
Photography now plays a significant role in day-to-day activities within Pre-School. These images may then be used for publicity material (online or print) or just kept for Pre-School records. In order to publicise what is happening within the Pre-School we also invite the press to come along from time to time and children’s pictures may appear in newspapers.
In order to comply with new GDPR guidelines and the Data Protection Act 2018 we must obtain written parental consent before we take photographs. If you prefer your child not to be photographed, please inform a member of staff.
Complaints Procedure
We hope you will be happy with the excellent service we offer, but if you feel you would like to make a complaint then please speak to the Pre-School staff in the first instance. We will then endeavour to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, but if this is not the case then please refer to our complaints policy.
Our Policies
If you would like to read our policies they can be found online at http://www.tredworthinfantschool.org.uk/gloucs/primary/tredworth
or alternatively, Nursery staff for copies. We are happy to discuss any comments you have regarding their contents so please speak to a member of staff to discuss your suggestions further.