NURSERY

Morning 8.45am – 11.45am
Afternoon 12.20pm – 3.15pm

Fridays am session ends at 11.15
And the pm session starts at 12.45

Nursery
Time Table
Curriculum
Milk & Fruit
Policy

Nursery

The nursery department offers 78 part-time places for children aged 3 – 4 years old. Children may start nursery soon after their third birthday.

In the school year that children turn 5 they are able to begin full-time school in the reception classes. The reception classes offer 60 full-time places. The Nursery and Reception class form the Foundation Stage.

The Foundation Unit

Children attending the nursery will work in the Foundation Unit.
The Unit combines both the Nursery and the Reception classes providing an excellent learning environment for children aged 3 to 5 years old.
The unit is split into 8 key learning areas that have been designed to promote
learning in all of the key areas of the Foundation Curriculum.
Equipment and resources have been carefully chosen and organised to stimulate and develop early years learning.

Staffing

Working in the Foundation Unit is a total of 3 teachers and a minimum of 4 qualified learning support practitioners.

For the benefit of continuity between children, and parents each member of staff will be based in a particular area of the Unit to meet and greet the children on a daily basis.

Times/Sessions

The part time nursery sessions are 9:00 – 11:30 in the morning session and 12:45 – 3:15 in the afternoon session.

Reception children attending school full-time begin school at 8:50 and may be collected at 3:20pm.

Nursery Time Table

Children can arrive at school up to ten minutes before each session
so as to be in good time.
Staff also supervise for ten minutes before and at the end of each session to see
them off the premises safely.

At breaktime, infant and junior children go into separate playgrounds and are
supervised by staff.
The Nursery children have their own playground and are always supervised by Nursery staff.

At dinner time the Principal Supervisor and her staff look after the children who stay at school either for school lunch or sandwiches.

Sometimes children have to leave school during school hours to visit the dentist, clinic etc. Please ensure the teaching staff are aware of this and who is coming to collect the child.

Daily Routine

9:00 or 12:45 Register/greet friends in their family group Sing action songs, talk about the day of the week, weather and learn our letters of the alphabet. 9:20 or 1:15 We learn about things to do with our topic in a small Focus group 9:35 or 1:30 We choose to play around the Unit doing lots of different activities. We mix with the reception children and teachers. 10:25 or 2:15 We meet back with our ‘family’ group to talk about what we have been doing and we show our work to the group 10:35 or 2:25 We eat fruit, biscuits or toast with a drink of milk or water 10:50 or 2:40 We play games indoor & outdoor to help us learn about friendship 11:00 or 2:50 We do some numeracy activities to help us learn about numbers, shape and measures 11;25 or 3:10 We get ready for hometime

Nursery Curriculum

The Foundation Curriculum is made up of stepping stones and Early Learning Goals. The stepping stones begin in Nursery and are further developed in the reception class where children are expected to achieve the Early Learning Goals in 6 areas known as:

• Communication Language and Literacy
• Mathematical Development
• Knowledge and Understanding of the World
• Physical Development
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Creative Development

The Foundation Unit is organised into areas for learning that will help children to develop many skills, concepts and attitudes in a fun and meaningful way.

The areas are mentioned in more detail below

Literacy Development

This area of learning is split into 3 main parts

• Speaking and listening (vocabulary/conversation)
• Reading (letters/words/books)
• Writing (handwriting/writing for a purpose)

The nursery children have many opportunities to develop the skills mentioned above through carefully planned play activities. Staff work hard to set up role-play areas of a car garage, home, aeroplane, jungle, hospital, building site and many others.
These imaginative role-play areas encourage children to develop and use a wider vocabulary and also encourages them to use ‘play’ writing for a real purpose e.g. make a shopping list, write a receipt or postcard.

Reading in the nursery is developed through a variety of ways that include: listening to stories, joining in with ‘big book’ reading sessions, singing rhymes, sharing take home books and playing games that introduce letters of the alphabet.

Numeracy Development

Children will be introduced to colours, numbers, shapes and size through planned play activities.
The Numeracy room is full of games, toys and equipment that help children begin to understand and learn about many mathematical concepts including: addition, subtraction, money, time and position.

Singing songs that include numbers, days of the week and counting also form part of our daily routine.

Knowledge & Understanding of the world

This area of learning includes: history, geography, science, RE and Information Communication Technology.

Carefully chosen topics and themes are studied throughout the year to promote this particular area of the curriculum.
Children at Ferndale are encouraged to look, smell, touch, discover, observe, experiment, explore and talk about different objects and events to help them gain an early understanding of the world in which they live in.
An excellently resourced sensory area and well planned activities aim to inspire and excite the minds of young children.

Personal, Social & Emotional Development

This particular area of learning is promoted throughout all aspects of the daily routine.
It involves learning to share, take-turns, build friendships, and encourages independence.
At Ferndale we place a particular emphasis on helping your child to settle in and be happy to come to nursery.

Physical Development & Outdoor Play

At Ferndale we believe that the outdoor area can extend children’s learning, as it offers experiences and opportunities that are not available in the indoor environment.
 All areas of the Foundation Stage curriculum can be enhanced through our outdoor environment.

This area complements the indoor environment by having different ‘zones’ which include: wheeled toys, large & small balls, hoops, skittles, gardening tools, large/small
climbing and balancing equipment, dressing up boxes, chalks/pens/paper, musical instruments and construction toys.

The outdoor area is available for children to use in all weather conditions except of course the most severe. The aim of this area is to provide first hand experiences of growing and living things in the natural habitat, to build and construct outdoor huts and dens and to explore changes in weather.

Weather boxes have been set up to provide some appropriate clothing and resources to enable children to experience a range of weather conditions. To support your child’s learning we would appreciate it if you could send your child with clothing in a weather
 bag that is suitable for outdoor play.

Milk & Fruit

Ferndale Primary School is part of the Healthy Schools Scheme and also participates
in the National Fruit for Schools Scheme.
This means that your child will be offered a piece of fruit daily as a mid-morning snack.

The Local Education Authority provides each child up to the age of 5 with a carton of fresh milk each day. If your child does not drink milk school will provide a drink of water.

At Ferndale we ask for a contribution of 50 pence per week to help buy many items such
 as cooking ingredients, play dough materials and many other expendable items.

The Foundation Unit Fund will also provide biscuits and/or toast at some snack times.
This fund is collected on a Monday.

Nursery Policy

The aim of the nursery is to provide a place where children can learn and develop, through play, many of the skills they will need in life. We aim to build on the foundations laid down by parents at home. We hope that they will find school a safe and happy place where they can practice their skills with success, leading to further achievements.

The Nursery has adopted some of the elements of the High/Scope Scheme, which aims to give children a sense of responsibility, purpose and the realisation that their decisions are considered and respected. The Nursery environment is planned to give the children access to most equipment and materials and to give them opportunities to plan and make choices. We encourage the children to be active learners, exploring their environment and learning from their experiences.

Each child is placed in a family group when starting in the Nursery. Each group will spend about 25 minutes at the beginning of each session when basic skills and topic knowledge are learned through group discussions.