KINMYLIES PRIMARY SCHOOL NURSERY BROCHURE 2021 – 2022 Contents Welcome to Kinmylies Primary School Nursery Page 3 How to Get In Touch With Us Page 3 The Nursery Staff Page 4 The Aims of the Nursery Page 4 The Nursery Curriculum Page 4 What is Nursery Education About? Page 5 Nursery Hours Page 5 Flexible Hours Page 6 Term Dates 2016-17 Page 6 Enrolments and Admissions Page 6 Transition Page 6/7 Allocation of Places Page 7 Clothing Page 8 Toilet Training Page 8 Illness and Attendance Page 9/10 Nursery Closure Page 10 Visits Page 11 The Nursery Day Page 11 What Will Children Learn in the Nursery? Page 12 Snack Page 12 Parents and the Nursery Page 13 Reporting to Parents Page 13 Additional Support Needs Page 14 GIRFEC Page 14/15 Child Protection Page 15 Emergency Planning – Major Incident in Schools Page 15 Comments & Complaints Page 16 2 Kinmylies Nursery Welcome to Kinmylies Nursery Thank you for expressing an interest in Kinmylies Nursery. We very much hope that both you and your child enjoy your time with us at Kinmylies Primary School. Our Nursery is the main provider of pre-school education for the children in the Kinmylies area. Play is central to a child’s life in the Nursery. The Nursery is managed and operated by the school. Your child is at a very crucial stage of his/her development as it is now accepted that children learn more rapidly in the first seven years of their lives than at any other time. Therefore, it is really important that your child is given every opportunity to fulfil their potential. As a parent you play a vitally important part in the process. We in the Nursery will play our part by treating your child as an individual. We also aim to offer him/her a variety of experiences and activities which we hope will be both enjoyable and create valuable learning opportunities. How to Get in Touch with Us We welcome meetings with parents or enquiries about the Nursery. We can be contacted as follows: Kinmylies Primary School Assynt Road INVERNESS IV3 8PB Telephone 01463 239720/01463 257756/Fax 01463 242618 Mrs Faye Lingard (Headteacher) 3 The Nursery Staff The staff work as a team to plan and deliver the best provision for the children. We are here to help and assist you and your child. Please do not hesitate to speak to us at any time. The Nursery Team consists of Head Teacher: Mrs Faye Lingard Depute Head: Mrs Julie Fraser Childcare Manager: Miss Morven MacDiarmid Nursery Early Years Practitioners: Mrs Lorna Fair Mrs Devon Grieve Mrs Heather Hayes Mrs Leanne Mackay Miss Rebecca Marsham Ms Geraldine Gill Mrs Florica Stewart Miss Jacqueline Stocks Miss Claire Borthwick Mrs Tracy Urquhart Mrs Lorna Ross Mrs Gulmira MacDonald Miss Christine Jarvie School Administrators Miss Sarah-Jane Hood Mrs Adele Jobes Nursery Aims At Kinmylies Primary School Nursery we aim to: • Provide a safe and stimulating environment, in which children could feel happy and secure • Encourage the emotional, social, physical, creative and intellectual development of children • Promote the welfare of children • Encourage positive attitudes to self and others and develop confidence and self-esteem • Create opportunities for play • Encourage children to explore, appreciate and respect their environment • Provide opportunities to stimulate interest and imagination • Extend the children’s abilities to communicate ideas and feelings in a variety of ways • Offer parents / carers opportunities to become involved in their child’s pre-school learning and development and provide regular information about their child’s progress and development • Arrange appropriate professional development and training for all staff. 4 The Nursery Curriculum The Nursery Curriculum is all about the development of the individual child and is based firmly on play and active learning. Staff currently plan activities and experiences that promote and extend the children’s learning in all eight of the Curriculum for Excellence areas: • Literacy and English • Numeracy and Mathematics • Health & Wellbeing • Social Studies • Technology • Science • Religious and Moral Education • Expressive Arts Since August 2009 Kinmylies Nursery has been delivering experiences and outcomes from Curriculum for Excellence. These guidelines provide a flexible and enriched curriculum for all Scottish children aged 3-18 years. By providing structure, support and direction to their learning A Curriculum for Excellence should enable the children to become: • Successful Learners • Confident Individuals • Responsible Citizens • Effective Contributors We will continue to further develop the nursery curriculum according to Curriculum for Excellence, Building the Ambition and the National Standards guidelines during 2020-21. What is Nursery Education All About? We work with each child at their individual level building on the skills which they have learned and continue to learn at home. In the Nursery we hope to promote your child’s ability to: • Develop strategies for learning • Seek out and respond to learning opportunities • Choose and plan their own activity and take control of their own learning • Collaborate and reflect with others • Think and share ideas • Acquire knowledge, skills and understanding to use in situations • Communicate with peers and adults 5 • Express themselves through the medium of art, craft, music, drama and movement • Develop self esteem and be more tolerant of others • Have fun and enjoy themselves Nursery Hours From August 2021 it is proposed that the Nursery will be open Monday to Friday 8.00am – 6pm, however, we will need to look to see if a demand for usage during these times is financially viable. This is for three and four year olds and is part of the flexible hour’s scheme, which entitles your child to 1140 hours per academic year. At present the footprint for the possibility of Kinmylies Nursery offering 1140hrs over the course of a full year is under review as we move to accommodate 1140hrs. This may mean that we are open all year and only close for public holidays, in-service and Christmas break. You will be advised in due course of what this is going to look like. Flexible Hours From August 2021 there will been the opportunity for you to take up the 1140 hours per academic year – with a maximum in any one day of 8 free hours. You can therefore tailor your child’s free entitlement to better match your own working pattern, if you wish. You may also purchase additional early learning and childcare if you need to and if spaces are available. Once you have decided on a pattern of hours, and this has been fitted in with the Nursery sessions available, then this must be stuck to for the whole year (unless there are exceptional circumstances which require it to be changed). Any changes must be discussed and agreed with the Childcare Manager in advance so that staff can be deployed appropriately. It is important that you try to be as punctual as possible to your allocated session times, both in delivering and collecting your child, as all parts of the Nursery day contain valuable learning opportunities for your child and it would be unfortunate if your child missed an important part of their session. 6 School Term Dates Enrolment and Admission Procedures Nursery enrolments usually take place in February. Adverts will be placed in the Local Press, the local shops, Charleston community complex and Kinmylies Medical Practice prior to that date. Parents are required to produce their child’s Birth Certificate when they register. Transition from Home to Nursery Children are invited to attend Nursery during a session in June, or the month prior to starting as a 3- year old, to meet with staff and children and become familiar with the Nursery environment. Parents and carers are involved in the ‘settling-in’ period. This can vary considerably for different children. Initially the parent/carer may stay to support their child for a short time building up gradually to a separation. However, due to current restriction’s with Covid this is currently not possible. Please see end of Handbook. Transition from Nursery to Primary One The excellent relationship between the Nursery and the main school makes the transition as smooth as possible: • Nursery children have many opportunities for contact with Primary 1 including open play sessions and topics. Nursery children also participate in many whole school events. • Pre-school children follow a structured transition programme carefully designed to ensure their transition to Primary One is a very positive experience. • Pre-school children are paired with Primary 6 children as buddies. • In June, each child’s Learning Journey, progress report and any documentation relating to contact with another agency, is passed to the child’s Primary One teacher along with a verbal report. 7 Deferred Entry to Primary One An additional nursery year may be recommended by staff or requested by parents. Consultations between parents, the Principal Teacher and the Early Years Practitioner will be arranged. An amicable consensus based on what is believed to be best for the child should be reached. A deferred entry request may be made on behalf of a child whose birthday occurs between the commencement of the August session and the last day in February. Allocation of Nursery Places Priority of Nursery places is for children living within the catchment area. If our nursery is oversubscribed the criteria for prioritising allocation of places is as follows: • Catchment children • To those with siblings in school • To four year olds • To three year olds Allocation of School Places Parents of children enrolling from outwith the school catchment area will be required to make a placing request to the Local Education Authority in the following year if they wish their child to transfer into Primary One, Attendance at Kinmylies Nursery is no guarantee that a placing request for this school will be granted.