Nursery

 Welcome to Nursery!

Thank you for choosing Junction Farm Nursery as your child’s introduction to school life. We hope that this will be the start of a happy and successful journey for your child!

Our Team

ORGANISATION OF THE NURSERY

Our Nursery is part of an early year’s unit at Junction Farm School. This consists of one nursery classroom and two Reception classrooms. There are also three shared areas; an outdoor area, a canopy area and a quiet room. Nursery caters for 65 children in total; 39 in the morning session 26 in the afternoon You can choose to send your child for 30 hours or 15 hours. For those children accessing Nursery for 15 hours, your child will be offered either a morning or an afternoon place. All children are given a date to start Nursery sometime after their third birthday. Children stay in nursery for different lengths of time, depending on when their birthday is. Some children will have as long as 6 terms in Nursery. The September before they turn five is when they will start Reception. Please note that your child will not automatically be given a place at our school; you will need to apply prior to them starting school.

INDUCTION DAY

Your child’s first day at nursery is their induction day. You are invited to stay with them if you wish to as an opportunity for you to see how your child handles the setting and interacts with other children. The induction day is a perfect opportunity for you to observe the process of our typical nursery session.

On your child’s first day, you are welcome to wait outside the nursery door until a member of staff opens it. If, however, you are unsure where to go, please enter via the main reception area and you will be shown to the nursery

START & FINISH TIME

We have flexible start and finish times to our sessions in order to help children arrive and leave in a relaxed manner.

Morning Session	Time
Welcoming time	8:30
Going Home time	11:30

Afternoon Session	Time
Welcoming time	12:15
Going Home time	3:15

If your child is staying for the whole day with us, they will come into Nursery at 8.30am and go home at 3.15pm

SAFEGUARDING

You will be asked to provide us with a list of people who are authorised to collect your child from Nursery. Please note, that if a person is not named on the list, we will not be able to send your child home with them. Parents and Carers should be aware that the school has a duty to take reasonable action to ensure the welfare and safety of its pupils. In cases where school staff have cause to be concerned that a pupil may be subject to ill treatment, neglect or other form of abuse, staff will follow our school’s Child Protection procedures.

THE NURSERY PROVISION

Our Nursery is organised into provision areas to encourage the children to develop many different skills. The children are encouraged to explore the areas independently during child-initiated play. We offer the following areas to create a stimulating environment for them to use:

READING

We have opportunities around the Nursery for children to sit and enjoy a story. We regularly change story books in the setting in the hope that children develop a love of reading.

TECHNOLOGY

We have iPads, an interactive whiteboard and other forms of technology, which the children are encouraged to access. Children can take photos of work they are proud, use programs to develop their understanding of number and mark making. With the support of staff, children also use technology to find out more about the world around them. Junction Farm follows strict e-safety procedures to keep our children safe.

CONSTRUCTION

The construction area has a varied selection of building materials for the children to explore with. We also have large building materials which are used during outdoor play which support the development of both the children’s gross motor and balancing skills.

CREATIVE

Our creative area includes paints, glue, craft materials, glitter, boxes and much more! The children are encouraged to mix colours, explore materials and develop their use of tools such as scissors and glue spreaders. We always welcome donations of boxes, tubs, bottle lids and other craft materials. Please note that we cannot accept any food boxes which may contain traces of nuts.

STAGE

We love to hear the children sing and perform shows! Children are encouraged to play instruments, dress up and use their imagination or knowledge of stories to put on a show for their friends.

FINE MOTOR ACTIVITIES

The development of fine motor skills is important in young children and allows to build up the muscles that they will eventually use to write. We provide many stimulating activities such as wood work, salt dough, loose parts and cutting to support children with this development.

MARK MAKING

We encourage mark making in all areas of the Nursery. We do however, have a specific area that has been designed to promote this. Our area is stocked with writing tools, handwriting patterns, pencil control sheets and whiteboards. These early mark making skills are the first stages in the progression of writing.

MATHEMATICS

Mathematics is everywhere in our provision! Children count, measure, meet shapes and develop those fundamental early number skills across our setting.

CURIOSITY CORNER

We love to provide opportunities for children to explore objects, question and predict what objects are for, what they are made of, how they are useful and how we use them.

WELCOME HOME

Our main role play area is a home corner that is equipped with items that most children will be familiar with. This is to give them a comforting surrounding away from home. We find that the home corner is always a popular choice.

SAND

The sand area allows children to develop a range of skills. They can use their maths skills to fill and empty containers as well as use fingers and tools to make marks.

 

WATER

Our water area aims to support children in using mathematical language and knowledge. They are encouraged to pour, fill and empty various sized containers and tubs.

SNACK

Each child in Nursery is provided with a piece of snack each day. At Junction Farm, we have a ‘rolling snack’ which means the children access their piece of fruit when they feel they want it. The children sit around our snack table where they can chat with their friends whilst eating together. Water and milk are available all day which children can also access independently.

OUTDOOR AREA

The outdoor area is equipped with resources to give the children the opportunity to practise gross motor skills such as climbing, cycling, throwing, catching and building. The children are encouraged to share and take turns as well as work cooperatively together.

PE

The children will take part in a weekly PE session which will take part in the school hall or the outdoor area. The children will be taught various skills which promote the development of their gross motor movements.

ACTIVITIES

Each term we focus on a different theme and activities are planned to support those topics. During each session the children are encouraged to work independently and with an adult. The children take part in phonics and mathematics sessions throughout the week, alongside other topic-based tasks. Story time is an important part of our day, we love to listen to familiar texts as well as new stories linked to our theme.
Children will be engaged in learning and exploring around the themes of;
Autumn 1 – Marvellous Me – Families
Autumn 2 – The Great Outdoors
Spring 1 – Wonderful Water
Spring 2 – Living Things
Summer 1 – Journeys
Summer 2 – Watch Me Grow
Throughout each half term, we celebrate festivals and events which are important to our children and the local community.
We ask that you inform a member of staff of any allergies your child suffers from or any food that your child is not to eat prior to them starting nursery.

TOILETING

We appreciate that some children may not be fully toilet trained by the time they start Nursery however this would be our preferred choice.. We will work alongside you to support this. You are encouraged to work with your child to make them as independent as possible. We ask that you provide your child with spare clothes, nappies/ pull ups and wipes. There are circumstances owing to medical issues, when children cannot be toilet trained, we will work with families and other medical professionals to support children and ensure they are comfortable and happy whilst in the setting.
From time to time, children who are mostly independent with their self-care can have accidents at Nursery; especially when they are engrossed in an activity. Please send spare clothes in a bag which can be kept in our Nursery cloakroom, so that we may change your child as soon as possible and they can return to playing and learning!

TRIPS AND OUTINGS

As part of our Nursery curriculum, we aim to provide children with lots of lovely experiences. We will be going to the local shops, going for walks, taking trips and inviting in visitors to the setting. We ask that each family complete a consent form to allow staff to take children on walks in our local area. Each time we plan to take the children out of Nursery, we will let you know via Marvellous Me. Information about longer day trips will be sent out on Parent Mail. We are extremely fortunate to have our own Forest School at Junction Farm. We will be visiting Forest School on a regular basis. (You do not need to provide consent for Forest School)

PARENTS AS PARTNERS

We have regular Stay and Play sessions throughout the Nursery year which you will be invited to attend. These are the perfect opportunity for you to come into the setting, spend time learning and exploring with your child. We endeavour to provide a list of dates and activities for you at the beginning of each half term in order that you can schedule these events in your calendar. We fully understand that many parents work during school hours. Please be assured that there are always staff in the setting during these events who will play with and support your child.

FINDING OUT WHAT IS GOING ON IN NURSERY

SeeSaw-
Staff will use SeeSaw as a tool to record evidence of children’s learning and to inform parents of all the amazing learning the children are engaging in.
Arbor-
A school newsletter containing important information and dates will be sent out weekly. Parent Mail is also used to inform parents of information such as trips, special days and consent requests.
Facebook-
Junction Farm Primary School does have a Facebook page which is updated regularly with photographs from the various events which take part across school.

WHAT TO WEAR:

Although there is no expectation for children to wear school uniform in Nursery, we do have some suggestions:
Please provide your child with suitable outdoor wear (coats etc for the winter and sunhats etc for the summer). Please provide a pair of wellington boots which can be kept in Nursery for our trips to Forest School and for those rainy days!
Please do not bring your child to Nursery in open toed sandals as we have many vehicles which we use during outdoor play.
Please do not bring your child to Nursery in their very best clothes as they will get messy
In line with school policy we ask that long hair styles are tied back. We discourage the wearing of jewellery, if children wear earrings then only small studs are allowed.

KEEPING THE PEACE:

The aim of our Nursery is to for every child to be happy and successful. We do however, have one or two rules to keep a calm and peaceful atmosphere.

Please do not bring sweets or snacks into Nursery. Cakes for birthdays or treats from holidays are not allowed unfortunately owing to a number of children suffering from serious allergies.
Please do not bring toys into Nursery. There are plenty of toys in the setting and things can easily get lost or broken.
Thank you. We hope your child has an enjoyable experience here at Junction Farm.