Parents Information Pack
For Yarrow Valley Nursery

Introduction

On behalf of all of us at the Yarrow Valley Nursery School, I would like to thank you for your interest in our setting.  I hope that you will find this brochure both helpful and informative.

The information is intended to give you an insight into the life of our setting and, I hope, will encourage you to visit and  see us in action.  Visitors are welcome at anytime, so please feel free to call upon us at your convenience.  We are required by Ofsted to see identification.

Please do not hesitate to contact me, I will be happy to discuss any queries that you may have.


A Shepherd


Mrs Annette Shepherd
BA(hons), PGCE, MAed

Background

Miss Enid Jessop, Bed, Med, founded our sister setting, the Yarrow Nursery School in 1986.  Miss Jessop was a teacher of early years and a lecturer in reading development, she taught at the nursery until 2002.  The settings are now owned by Mrs. Annette Shepherd.  Mrs. Shepherd is an early year’s teacher and was the early years and literacy co-ordinator at a primary school before taking over the teaching at the nursery in 2002.  Mrs. Shepherd is currently employed by Lancashire Education Authority’s Early Years and Childcare Service as a Senior Early Years Foundation Stage Consultant, advising on early years practice. 
In 2009 this setting, the Yarrow Valley Nursery was established, predominantly for pre-school children.  The setting operates as a private business,  on the site of Balshaw Lane Community Primary School. 
We are completely independent from the school, and as such children who are attending a range of schools in the future attend our setting.  Please note, attendance at our setting will not influence the allocation of school places. 
The setting manager is Mrs. Brenda Foster, a fully qualified teacher with Early Years Professional Status, the assistant manager is Mrs. Joanne McManus, NVQ3 and the deputy managers are Miss Pamela Dooley, Foundation Certificate in Early Years and Childcare and Mrs. Wendy Brooks, NNEB.


Brenda Foster is a nominated lead practitioner, this means that we often have visits by other  providers who come to share in our good practice, particularly in the learning environment that we provide for the children on a permanent basis. 
To emphasise our commitment to constantly raising the quality of our provision we are currently undertaking Lancashire’s Quality Assurance Scheme, Step into Quality.  At our sister setting, The Yarrow Nursery School, we have successfully completed the full award.

Ofsted last inspected the Yarrow Nursery School in March 2007.  We received a judgement of good in both the standard of care and the standard of education that we provide.  Please ask if you would like to read the full report, we have included one or two comments that the inspector made during the visit:
·Relationships between practitioners and the children are extremely good, which contributes to the children’s well-being.
·All the children clearly enjoy attending the nursery because the practitioners create a fun and very interesting nursery ambience.
·Each practitioner working in the nursery school has a good knowledge and understanding of the foundation stage and of how children learn effectively.
·Practitioners challenge children in all activities.
·Children are motivated and make good progress.
·Children clearly benefit from the strong relationships that exist between parents and practitioners.
·The children all demonstrate a warm and caring approach towards each other.
·Practitioners consistently interact well with the children and are effectively deployed to give every child good support and encouragement.

Ofsted last inspected Yarrow Valley Nursery in October 2009 and we recieved a judgement of OUTSTANDING IN BOTH THE STANDARD OF CARE AND THE STANDARD OF EDUCATION WE PROVIDE. Please ask if you would like to see the full report.


Our Aims

The Yarrow Valley Nursery School has a caring family ethos where everyone works together to nurture and develop the whole child.  We aim to enable all children in our care to access and enjoy the curriculum, through following the guidance within the ‘Early Years Foundation Stage’.  We aim to take the children towards the early learning goals by supporting individual learning within a wide range of areas of continuous provision and through a variety of exciting topics that will fire the imaginations of the children.  We aim to provide activities, which will help your child to develop as fully as possible. 
The Early Years Foundation Stage

We follow the recommendations from the Department for Education for all of our children.  We look to particularly encourage and support the children in their own play by providing appropriate resources and encouraging collaborative play.

The Early Years Foundation Stage is divided into six areas of learning for children from birth until at least the end of their reception year in school, these are:-

1.Communication, Language and Literacy
2.Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
3.Knowledge and Understanding of the World
4.Creative Development
5.Physical Development
6.Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Each of the six areas of learning provides a set of Early Learning Goals.  It is expected that most children will have achieved these goals by the end of the first term in their second year at school.  There are several phases of learning and development that the children move around on the way to the early learning goals.  It is these phases that provide the basis for our curriculum provision at the nursery.  If you would like further information about our curriculum please ask a member of staff.


Learning Journeys

We track each child’s progress in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage by recording our observations of their learning.  We do this through individual records of achievement which we call the child’s own story.  This tracks the journey of learning that takes place whilst they are with us in session times.  These are available for the children and their parents to access at any time.

Daily Routine

8.15am - 9.15am  Nursery children are welcome to attend breakfast club along with the school children.  Nursery staff play alongside the children at this time and a range of breakfast cereals, milk, juice and water are available.

9.15am - 11.15am  Children choose to play in any of the areas of continuous provision  within the main room and outdoors.  During this time they are supported by adults who encourage them to consolidate their ideas or move forwards in their thoughts and actions.  Alongside this spontaneous play there will be a structured group activity that children can choose to participate in with members of staff, with regard to the learning and development grids from the early Years Foundation Stage.

10.00am - 10.30am During this time the snack bar will be open for children to help themselves to a healthy snack.  This could be milk, wholemeal toast, a range of breads, fruit or vegetables.  Organic produce is used where possible.  Children choose their own fruit and vegetables from the mobile green grocer who visits us once a week.  Water is available in this area throughout the day for children to independently access.

11.15am- 11.25am Tidy up time - we encourage the children to take responsibility for their own resources, whilst at the same time incorporating lots of language and maths work through matching and reading labels.

11.25am - 11.30am quiet time together, browsing through and enjoying books.

11.30am - 11.45am An adult leads a whole group session, usually working with number games, music, letters and early reading skills or a story. 

11.45am - 12.45pm wraparound care - children may bring a packed lunch if they wish to stay for the afternoon session or until 12.45pm

12.45pm - 3.15pm Afternoon session - this follows the same framework as the morning session.


Continuous Provision

The most important part of the session is the first part, where children choose which area of our setting to play in.  During this time the children move freely around nursery, developing their own interests, solving problems as they play, communicating with other children and adults, as the staff support and encourage them in their play.  It is during the children’s independent play that we can learn the most about their needs.  We can assess what stage they are up to, which informs us about what activities we need to plan in order to keep the children moving forwards.  We have planned our setting very carefully in order to meet every child’s needs and in order to ensure that every child has access to every area of the Early Years Foundation Stage.
We have several areas of continuous provision within the main room.  These are areas that are permanently available to enhance the children’s learning opportunities.  They are:
·Sand area
·Water area
·Painting area
·Malleable area which is permanently set up with clay and is enhanced at times with other materials such as gloop or shaving foam.
·Small world and construction area which includes small people, vehicles and animals for children to pretend with as well as blocks and a range of construction sets.
·Workshop area where children can make their own models from junk materials, collage, or design and make using the carpentry tools and workbench.
·The office is set up as a mark making or writing area as well as a computer area.  Children can independently use the computers throughout the day.  This area doubles up as a ‘gaming’ area for the out of school club children.  The games consoles are not available during nursery session times. 
·Kitchen and utility area - for children to role-play within the fitted kitchen.   This area is permanently set up with playdough to support the children’s pretend play.
·Bedroom area - set up as a nursery for the dolls and incorporating dressing up opportunities.
·The lounge is set up as a book area - complete with a wide variety of books, puppets, story cd’s and heuristic treasure baskets for the children to explore. 
·Music - a range of instruments and microphones, are available for the children to explore, as well as cd players and a variety of music, songs and rhymes.
·Emotion station - a small area for children to play games in order to support the recognition of a range of emotions.
As we encourage the children to choose between inside and outside as much as possible, many of these areas, or suitable alternatives, such as gardening instead of sand, battery operated remote control resources instead of the computer, are also permanently available outside.  The outside area also provides the children with the opportunity for large physical play too.  If you would like further information about the value of play within continuous provision and the opportunities that it offers to support learning and development, please ask a member of staff.

Parents As Partners
Children learn more in the first five years than they do for the rest of their lives.  They spend the vast majority of this time with you as parents.  It is essential then, that if we are to provide the best for your child, which is our aim, that we work together and share information.  We make parents feel very welcome and we encourage them to be involved with their child’s learning at nursery.  We send newsletters home each half term as well as holding an annual open evening and parent’s evening.  Parents are free to discuss their child’s learning and development at anytime with either their child’s keyperson or any other member of staff.

General Information
·Children who stay for lunch bring a packed lunch with them.  This is stored in the kitchen.  Any items that you would like refrigerating can be put into a plastic bag, labelled with the date and the name of your child, and handed to a member of staff at the beginning of the session. Please see advice at the end of the brochure about preparing packed lunches.
·ALL children are automatically entitled to fifteen free hours a week so lond as these are taken over at least 3 days, otherwise this reduces to 13 hours a week , from the term AFTER their third birthday for each of the 38 weeks we are open throught the year. Any additional hours over the free 15 will be charged at an hourly rate of £4.50
·Each child must attend for a minimum of two sessions per week.
·Fees must be paid on the first day that the child is in attendance for the whole of that week.  Where possible we would appreciate payments in cash, or cheques for the month or half term as we are charged by the bank for each cheque that we pay in.  This will help us to keep session fees down.
·Any missed sessions or wraparound care sessions that are missed must be paid for.
·Nappies and toilet training - Children who are attending in nappies must bring a bag with nappies, wipes and a spare set of clothes to hang on their pegs.  We will follow parent’s wishes regarding toilet training where possible. Children develop at dramatically different rates and we cater for all of these needs. Please ensure plenty of underwear and spare clothing is provided when toilet training.  Accidents are inevitable and will be dealt with very kindly and discreetly. 
·Car parking - Please park on the Bredon ave estate but please be careful not to block peoples drives   or access to thier homes.  There is then a path leading to our back door.  This is the main entrance for nursery children.
·Collecting and dropping off children - Please ensure the gate is closed and bolted each time you go through it, even if you are only popping into nursery for a second.  When collecting your children please wait near the gate until all of the children have been safely seen out of the building.  Staff are available to talk to parents at the beginning of sessions and when all of the children have been safely seen to their carers at the end of sessions.  Please keep the doorway  clear at collection times.
·Policies and procedures - A copy of all of the nursery’s policies and procedures are available for parents to read either in the entrance or on our website. www.yarrownursery.co.uk
·We are required to establish parental responsibility. Parental responsibility was established in the children Act 1989 and updated 2003.  Not all parents have parental responsibility. These people have parental responsibility; the natural mother of the child; the natural father of the child provided he was married to the mother when the child was born, or registers the birth of the child alongside the mother, or subsequently marries her; anyone who has a residence order which is currently in force in respect of the child.  Consent forms can only be signed by parents with parental responsibility. 
·We are required to inform you of our responsibilities regarding data protection.  Please see the fair processing notice on the setting website or in the entrance hall.

Ten top tips for preparing packed lunches from the Environmental Health Department

1.Take chilled and frozen food home as quickly as possible
2.Keep cooked meats in the refrigerator
3.Cover  foods to protect from contamination
4.Check dates on food products and use within the recommended period
5.keep the kitchen clean
6.Prepare food on the day of consumption
7.If lunches are made the previous night, keep refrigerated until the next day
8.Always wash hands with hot soapy water before preparing food
9.Keep lunchboxes clean
10.Where possible use insulated lunchboxes with a frozen ice pack to keep the temperature as low as possible.

Parental Responsibility Information Sheet

Parental responsibility was established in the children act1989 and updated in 2003.  Not all parents have parental responsibility.

These people have parental responsibility:
·The natural mother of the child.
·The natural Father of the child provided he was married to the mother when the child was born, or registers the birth of the child alongside the mother, or subsequently marries her.
·Anyone who has a residence order which is currently in force in respect of the child.

The people who do not automatically have parental responsibility:
·The father of the child if he and the mother have not been married and he has not registered the birth alongside the mother.
·Grandparents or relatives
·Step- Fathers
·Guardians of the child appointed by will.

What does this mean for my child in nursery?
·This means that at nursery, consent forms can only be signed by parents with parental responsibility.
·That children can be collected by parents who do not have parental responsibility, But staff should have written consent om the parent who has parental responsibility.