Welcome to Urafirth Nursery

Welcome to Urafirth Nursery

Nursery Handbook

Welcome to the nursery class at Urafirth Primary School. We hope you enjoy the time you spend with us.

This handbook provides essential information about our nursery as well as informing you of some of the things your child will experience during his or her time with us. We hope you find it useful.

The Nursery Team

Head Teacher: Mrs Wilma Missenden

Nursery Teacher: Miss Anne Margaret Laurenson

Early Years Worker: Miss Julie Balfour

Early Years Assistant: Mrs Jayne Stove

Contact phone number: 01595 807460

E-mail:

Of course, you and your child are also part of the team!

Our Nursery Vision and Aims match those of Urafirth School:

Our vision is to “See our individual stars shining brightly!”

* We aim, in partnership with pupils, their families and the wider community, to provide a quality, challenging and fun education, which embraces Curriculum for Excellence and which recognises and celebrates the achievements of our bairns.

* We aim to develop and maintain a culture of respect for ourselves and others, which fosters positive relationships and promotes effective teamwork.

* We aim to do this within a caring, stable environment where the health and wellbeing of all members of our school community is nurtured and supported.

Starting Nursery

Prior to your child starting nursery, the school will contact you to arrange a visit day for you and your child. This will allow you to visit the nursery, meet the staff and children, and to ask any questions you may have. You will be given a copy of the nursery handbook to take away and read. If your child is due to start nursery in the term following the summer holidays, then a letter will be sent to you before the start of the holidays with your child’s starting date for nursery. Where more than one child is due to start the same term, their starting days will be staggered to allow staff to provide support and time for each child to settle into the nursery routine.

Attendance

All children benefit from a regular routine. To benefit most from the learning opportunities we offer, all children should attend nursery on a regular basis. In the pre-school year this also aids transition from morning nursery sessions to full day primary sessions. If your child is going to be absent, please inform us by phone or in writing.

Term dates for 2013/14

Term 1Mon 19 Aug to Fri 11 Oct 2013

Closed for in-service: Mon 19 and Tue 20 Aug 2013

Pupils resume Wed 21 Aug 2013

October Holidays: Mon 14 Oct to Fri 25 Oct 2013

Term 2Mon 28 Oct to Fri 20 Dec 2013

Closed for in-service: Mon 28 and Tue 29 Oct 2013

Pupils resume Wed 30 Oct 2013

Christmas Holidays: Mon 23 Dec 2013 to Fri 3 Jan 2014

Term 3Mon 6 Jan 2014 to Fri 28 Mar 2014

Pupils resume Mon 6 Jan 2014

Closed for occasional holidays: Wed 29 Jan, Fri 21 and Mon 24 Feb 2014

Easter holidays: Mon 31 March 2014 to Fri 11 Apr 2014

Term 4Mon 14 Apr 2014 to Fri 4 July 2014

Closed for in-service: Mon 14 Apr 2014

Pupils resume Tue 15 Apr 2014

Closed for occasional holidays: Fri 23 and Mon 26 May 2014.

Summer holidays: Mon 7 July to Fri 15 Aug 2014

Term dates for the following school year can be found on Shetland Islands Council’s website.

The direct link is:

Transportation of Children

Transport to and from nursery is the parents’ responsibility. In the event that you are unable to collect your child yourself from nursery, please make nursery staff aware of who will be collecting them (must be over 16 years of age).

The Nursery Classroom

We are very fortunate to have the use of two classrooms for our nursery sessions. This has allowed us to set out more equipment with more space as well. One room consists of the snack/baking area, computer and interactive whiteboard, table top games and jigsaws, project book area and play-doh. The other room holds construction toys, dressing up, role play area, painting area, sand and water trays and floor toys. We also have the use of the school library area between the two nursery rooms. The children are encouraged to be involved in choosing resources for each area. We also have a small outdoor play area outside the nursery, with sit on cars and bikes, and a larger play area and football pitch around the other side of the school. We try to use these areas as much as we can, regardless of the weather. Each child has their own peg in the classroom for their jacket and a tray in the blue area for those precious pictures they will make and any letters and information from school.

Transition into Primary One

Our nursery serves the whole of the Northmavine area and has close links with Urafirth Primary School, as well as North Roe Primary School and Ollaberry Primary School. Your child’s transition into primary school will be structured, with appropriate transfer of information. Visits by primary staff to nursery, and your child to their relevant primary school, take place in the summer term before your child moves into primary one. These visits hopefully aid the smooth transition your child will make into the primary school.

The Nursery Day

The nursery session begins at 9.15am and ends at 11.45am. You are welcome to come into the nursery in the morning and settle your child in their play. We ask that, for safety reasons, you stay with your child until 9.15am, as staff may be preparing resources elsewhere in the building until then. At the end of the session, can we ask that you please wait in the area outside the nursery classroom. Please be patient as the children may be engrossed in a story … they won’t be long! We encourage each child to be more confident and so they take turns to invite the parents into nursery. Please let us know if you are going to be late as we can ease any worries your child may have.

The Nursery Week

Our weekly timetable is flexible but we do try to keep our routine as follows:

Monday:Hall/Outside, with Assembly every second week

Tuesday:Show and Tell

Wednesday:paired activity with Primary Class every third week

Thursday:Baking and Hall/Outside

Friday:Library

Assembly – We enjoy visits from Rev. Bob MacGregor every second week, when we listen to stories and sing songs.

Fun Fit – All children are supposed to take part in at least 15 minutes of physical exercise every day, to help ensure this, we follow an exercise pack called Fun Fit.

Library/Storysacks – We encourage the children to choose a book from the school library to take home for a week. By reading to your child and encouraging them to talk about the text, you are helping them form early reading skills. The children also get the opportunity to choose a story sack to have at home for a week. Each sack contains a storybook and other related books, toys, games and activities to use and do together.

Baking – We bake a variety of foods eg. fairy cakes, bread, biscuits – occasionally we decorate/change the baking according to the topic or time of year.

Show & Tell – We share and talk about our favourite toys and items from home.

Hall/Outside Activities – Different activities are done depending on the nursery topic, time of year and the weather on the day. If venturing outside then wellies and waterproofs are supplied by the nursery.

Paired Activities – Activities are done with the Primary class every third week. The activities are chosen to cover a wide range of skills and learning, often topic-related.

Snack

Snack is supplied at a cost of 50p per day, £2.50 per week: this covers the cost of the snack and any baking ingredients. The snack menu is wide and varied and is based on healthy choices. The children help to plan the snack menu each week. No child is forced to eat snack, although we do encourage the children to try new foods. Milk and water are provided for drinking. All children are encouraged to help prepare the snack, set the table, serve themselves, wash their own dishes and clear the table.

Birthdays

If your child’s birthday falls on a nursery day we celebrate by singing to them. If you would like us to help celebrate your child’s special day, you could provide a shop-bought cake.

Clothing

We encourage the children to be involved in all areas of play in the nursery. Overalls are supplied for water and messy play but accidents can happen, we would suggest that your child wears old and comfortable clothes to allow them to fully participate. Clothing which allows easy toileting is also preferred, as sometimes speed is of the essence! As we have children aged 3 and over in the classroom, it’s not unusual for a child to have a toilet accident. Sometimes it’s because they are having too much fun! Staff are happy to help the children get changed. It would be helpful to have a change of clothes for your child. It would also be useful to have a t-shirt under jumpers, so that jumpers can be removed if your child gets too hot. All children in the school have wellies and waterproof jackets and trousers, allowing us to use the outdoor areas in all types of weather. To ensure the children are warm, we ask that you take hats, scarves and gloves to nursery on the cold, wet and windy days - these can be left in the nursery if needed. If it is a wet day, could you please try to make sure your child has a change of footwear with them to avoid muddy shoes/boots being worn in the classroom. Occasionally, we do get a few hot and sunny days as well, so could we ask that you put sun hats and possibly sun cream to nursery for your child should that unlikely event occur!

Toothbrushing

The nursery children take part in the Childsmile Scheme, and enjoy regular visits from Clare Balfour, who helps show them how best to brush and look after their teeth. Your child is provided with his/her own toothbrush and is supervised in brushing his/her teeth after eating snack every day.

The nursery curriculum

In the nursery we aim to plan the children’s learning in line with Curriculum for Excellence. Various topics are explored to help meet the learning outcomes and experiences included in the curriculum. Topic plans are readily accessible outside the nursery classroom, so that you can see what your children have been learning about. Where possible, local and cultural events and traditions are celebrated as well – Halloween, Guy Fawkes, Christmas, Up Helly Aa, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Chinese New Year. The children are involved as much as possible in choosing and planning the topics, with staff making sure all children are heard, and individual needs and interests are covered. For the most part, the nursery learning is based on play, as this is the way young children learn about the world. Play allows the child to explore the world from a secure basis. Personal Learning Stories regularly go home to allow sharing of the details of your child’s experiences.

Numeracy and literacy

During each nursery session, the children are expected to sit down and listen to a short story. At this time we also learn simple songs and nursery rhymes and children are encouraged to join in. The use of numbers is encouraged and number rhymes are an important part of this.

The Nelson Handwriting Scheme is used at Urafirth Primary School. At the back of this handbook is an example of the script used, along with the formation technique. This is important to use from the beginning so that good habits are encouraged. If you are helping your child to write their name before starting school, it would be useful to use this form of script. The arrows show where the letters start. It is important that capital letters are only used at the beginning of their name. Children should be encouraged in all their attempts at early “writing” and every opportunity should be taken for adults to model writing. A child learns a lot by watching adults write in everyday situations eg. shopping lists, notes, etc.

Learning Stories

Each child has his/her own learning story folder. This contains photos, writing and pieces of work that have been done in the nursery. These are sent home regularly throughout the year. Please feel free to look through your own child’s folder at any time with your child; if you can add anything from home into the folder eg. Certificates and achievements that would be great. The aim of the story is to follow the learning and progress of each individual child through his/her early experiences, both at home, and in the nursery.

Help from home

To help your child fully develop, we encourage their independence through different tasks and activities. Here are a few examples which you could encourage your child to do by themselves – get dressed/undressed, put outdoor clothes on/off, wash/dry own hands, help set the table, go to the toilet, wash dishes, try new foods/tastes, tidy up after a game or activity. We understand that it can be quicker to do things for them, but a little patience will soon be rewarded. Be prepared to help where necessary, but also to stand back and allow your child to complete tasks by him/herself. If, at any time, there is something you wish to discuss with staff about your child or the nursery, please do not hesitate to come and talk to us.

Conclusion

We hope that this booklet has been useful. Feel free to let us know if anything was left out or should be added, all comments gratefully received!

Finally, we hope that your child’s nursery experience with us is a happy one and we look forward to working with you and your child.