Parents – Eastwood Neighbourwood Nursery

Preparing your child for nursery

‘Helping and supporting your child throughout their journey in nursery’.

Nursery is the next step on in your child’s life and this can be very scary for both you and them.

Examples of ways in which you can prepare your child are:-

Read books about nursery
Show them pictures of activities they may do at nursery i.e. painting, jigsaws, construction and so on.
Explain who will be taking them to nursery and collecting them.
Tell them the names of the staff who will be looking after (show them staff photographs on our website)

What will you need

Please bring into nursery a bag, rucksack or carrier bag with a change of clothes, spare underwear, spare pair of shoes or pumps.

You will be required to provide your own nappies, wipes and cream (if you use them).

It is not a good idea to send your child in their best clothes as you can imagine some activities are messy.

All items of clothing including your child’s bag should be clearly labelled with their name on.

When we are lucky enough to have some sun, please bring in a sun hat and sun cream for your child to safeguard them.

Key Person

A key person is that special person at nursery who has particular responsibility for your child and others in a group.

If you have any worries, concerns or questions that you may have, your key person is your first port of call. They will give you advice, answer any questions and put your mind at ease.

Everyone is understanding and approachable and will quickly get to know your child’s little ways and personality.

All the records of your child’s learning and development will be completed by their key person. You can ask them at any time how your child is progressing.

Routines

Children sleep in their own care rooms on low beds and have their own pillow, sheet and blanket.

Each room has their own individual time table which consists of singing the ‘Hello’ song when everyone arrives, registration time, activities time, snack and meals, lots more playtime, free flowing inside and outside, singing/ story time, circle time and singing the ‘Good Bye’ song at home time.

Meals

All our meals are healthy and nutritious, prepared and cooked on site and are all home-made.

If your child has any dietary needs or allergies don’t worry about this, we will meet their requirements and all staff are made aware of these needs.

The cook, cook assistant and all applicable staff are all trained in food hygiene.

We serve a healthy breakfast (7.30am to 8.45am), mid morning snack (9.30am to 10.30am), lunch (12.00pm), afternoon snack (2pm to 2.30pm) and tea (4.00pm).

Your child will enjoy eating their food at a table, with their friends in their care room. Milk & juice (no sugar) is given with food and water is available throughout the day.

We encourage independent learning at meal times i.e. pouring out their own drink, using a knife, fork & spoon

Our menus cover a 4 weekly period.

CLICK HERE

Induction

Once you have enquired about a place and we have availability you will be asked to come along to nursery with your child for induction with the Manager/ Deputy. We will issue you with a Welcome Pack, Registration form and any other relevant information.

We will go through the pack with you, informing you of everything that we do in nursery and this is your chance to ask any questions that you may be worried about.

We will then show you around the nursery and you will meet the staff. If you are happy with all that you have seen and heard a couple of trial sessions will be booked for your child (free of charge) to help them get used to us and nursery before they start and to put your mind at ease.

Transition

Room Moves

Once your child is ready to move to the next room you will be informed by a member of staff to ensure you are happy with this decision and discuss any concerns or worries you may have.

Transition notes will be completed by the previous key person to ensure that the staff in your child’s new room are informed of their needs, development and progress.

You will be introduced to your child new key person and short visits will take place for your child to visit their new room. This will enable a happy transition

Going to School

A leaflet on how and when you apply to school is available on the table in the entrance. We will support you with this procedure if you have any questions. The Manager and the Preschool Lead Practitioner attend a Transition event to talk to the teachers of their new school about your child.

Preschool staff will support your child for school readiness by changing the role play area into a school, using school uniforms for dressing up, reading books about school etc.

Safeguarding

Keeping your child safe is the most important thing to us and the staff will always protect your child indoors and outdoors.

The entrance to our nursery is looked at all times, access to our care rooms is via a secure entry system and CCTV is in place both in and out doors.

All staff are enhanced DBS checked and are trained in safeguarding.

All personal information and data about you and your child is confidential and stored securely following the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) guidelines.

Fire drills and evacuation procedures are carried out regularly.

All measure of safeguarding is set out in our policies & procedures.

Opening Times

The nursery is open from 7.30am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday, 50 weeks of the year, closing for one week at Christmas (dates to be issued) plus Bank Holidays (Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, Spring Bank Holiday & August Bank Holiday).

Holiday lists for All Year Care and Term Time are available on the table in the entrance hall.