Nursery

Nursery General Information and Admissions

The government currently provides 15 hours of free childcare per week for all three and four year olds. From September 2017 three and four year olds, whose parents work, could be eligible for up to 30 hours of free childcare per week during term time. Click here for more information on Childcare Choices for more info.

Camblesforth Nursery runs two sessions per day. Our nursery children join ‘Team Pandas’ which is made up of Reception and Nursery children. Please note there is a maximum of 9 places to be offered on a first-come, first served basis for Nursery children. It is parents’ choice to which 3 hour sessions they wish to attend. This is available during term time only.

Nursery times

• Morning session 9:00am – 12:00pm.
• Afternoon session 12:00 – 3:00pm. 

We offer an optional Late Pick-Up Session from 3:00 PM to 3:30 PM.  This session costs 0.5 hours of your child’s standard hourly rate,  alternatively, you may cover the cost using any remaining unclaimed government funded hours.

Nursery children are welcome to attend our Wrap Around provision. Please see the Wrap Around page on our website for more details. 

If you choose to use some of your entitlement with another provider e.g. a child minder, another nursery you will need to specify this on your declaration and also complete a form with them. Should you become eligible mid-term – funding will begin at the start of the following term. Funding is then awarded term – by – term and a new declaration will need to be made. School will advise when this is due.

Fees

Sessions are £16.08 for 3 hours, (£5.36 per hour) which includes a snack. 

Children staying for a full day can book a hot school dinner for £2.80 per day. Please contact the school office for the link to the school lunch menu.  Alternatively they can bring a healthy packed lunch from home. (nut-free, please)

You may also qualify for free school meals. Please see the link below.  (Free School Meal entitlement is only applicable when your child attends full days) 

• Free School Meal Checker

Funding eligibility criteria

Please click on the link below for a useful guide to establish your eligability for 2-year-old childcare funding.

Early Years Entitlements – Helping to pay for childcare

Application Links Below

• Free Childcare If You Are Working 

The term before your child starts in the Nursery we invite you to visit us for a ‘Stay and Play’ visit. The nursery teacher and assistant teacher will also arrange to visit you and your child at home. The home visiting procedure provides a wonderful opportunity for staff to get to know your child a little better in the relaxed and familiar atmosphere of their home. The visit gives parents and staff the opportunity to discuss relevant information concerning your child and helps to bridge the gap between home and school.

Admissions

The school keeps a waiting list of applicants for Nursery places and children’s names can be added from the age of 2 years. Children are admitted at the beginning of September,January and April of each year. Priority is siblings and then proximity to the school, should we be oversubscribed.  While many of our children enter the Reception class of our school before their 5th birthday, attendance at Camblesforth Primary Academy is NOT a guarantee of a Reception place. A place in Camblesforth Nursery is similarly not dependent on an application having been made for a Reception place in the school.

We warmly invite you to visit our Nursery and experience our nurturing environment firsthand. Please contact us to arrange a convenient time to explore our facilities, meet our dedicated staff, and discover the exciting equipment and resources we offer.

To register your child for Nursery, please complete our enquiry form below. A member of our team will then be in touch to discuss your specific needs and requirements.

Nursery Enquiry Form

We will then get in contact with you prior to your child starting Nursery to arrange a home visit and invite you to our Stay and Play sessions.

Nursery Routine

Each session follows the same routine: 

• Welcome and self-registration
• Self-chosen activities inside
• Free-flow play (inside and out) alongside adult-led small group activities. Snack time will be offered during this time.
• Whole class teacher-led carpet time – singing, circle times, phonics, specific activities.
• Tidy Up time
• Story and rhyme time
• Home time

The Learning Journey

All nurseries follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). The EYFS sets out the standards for learning, development and care of children from birth to five. The main objective at Camblesforth is for your child to be happy and develop a positive attitude towards learning. We aim to develop the whole child – therefore each part of the curriculum is as important as the next.

The EYFS curriculum is split into seven areas; the first three prime areas underpin everything within the nursery and are crucial for the future development of the remaining four specific areas.

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development (Prime) This strand of the Foundation Stage curriculum provides children with experiences and support to help them develop a positive sense of themselves and others, and a positive disposition to learn. They are encouraged to develop warm and caring relationships with others, develop independence and self-confidence and are given time and space to develop their own interests. Children are given the freedom and appropriate support to learn how to express and manage their own feelings. Through play children learn to cooperate with others, to share and take turns and form friendships.
• Communication and Language (Prime) We aim to support and extend children’s competence and confidence in speaking and listening. Children are encouraged to communicate and build relationships with both adults and their peers through play situations such as role-play and by simply playing alongside one another.  We share news from home through small group discussions and weekly circle times. We encourage children to listen attentively in a range of situations, including daily story and rhyme time.
• Physical Development (Prime) We provide opportunities for children to be active and improve their skill and coordination, control, manipulation and movement. These activities take place inside and outside. Fine motor control develops through small scale manipulative play, including dough, threading and using a range of hand held tools. Gross motor development is encouraged through the use of the outdoor play equipment and weekly sessions in the small hall where we move to music or play parachute games. Through praise, encouragement and games, we motivate the children to be positive about being active and build their confidence to take manageable risks in their play.
• Literacy (Specific) The nursery is a language rich environment, both written and spoken. Children will have daily opportunities to share and enjoy books, rhymes, poetry and stories. Simple games are played to encourage the children to tune into sounds, including those in the environment and to identify similarities and differences. Children will take part in many ‘pre-writing’ fine motor activities to develop their coordination and will experiment with purposeful mark making and conventional script
• Mathematics (Specific) To develop a mathematical understanding, children have opportunities to work with numbers and to develop accurate counting skills. They will sort, match and build with shapes and use measures for comparison purposes. Through number games, rhymes and songs the children learn to recite numbers in order and to compare amounts. These activities are all very practical, using mathematical terms which the children come to understand and use within their play.
• Understanding the World (Specific) This area provides opportunities for children to make sense of the world. They will use simple tools safely, encounter creatures, plants and objects in their natural environment and explore and experiment with a range of materials. We learn about different places, times and cultures, exploring the traditions and celebrations around us. We encourage children’s interest and curiosity and use open ended questioning, such as ‘what could happen if…’ ‘I wonder why…’ and ‘how can we…’ The children use computers, interactive whiteboards, cameras and CD players with increasing independence.
• Expressive Arts and Design (Specific)Creativity comes as children become absorbed in exploring their own ideas, through dance, music and movement, making and transforming things using media and materials or sharing their ideas in imaginative play activities. We have role play areas throughout the year which are directly linked to our topics such as Polar world, Space station and Building Site. Inside we have free access to our technology bench where the children can cut, stick, draw and make with a range of materials and tools. All of these opportunities are available daily. We encourage children to ‘have a go’, learn new things and be adventurous!

 During their year at our Nursery the children will experience many activities, all with their own learning intentions. We know that children learn through play and plan a balance of child self-chosen and structured, adult-led activities across all seven areas of learning and development. There will be opportunities to learn individually, as part of a group and as a whole class. The children will also learn from each other through their play and social interaction. The Nursery also takes part in whole school events such as arts week, science week and Language days. We join the school community to celebrate Christmas, Diwali, Chinese New Year and Sports Day.

Monitoring Progress

Throughout the year, we will record the children’s ‘Wow moments’. These will be using a system called See-saw. You will have access to your child’s account and you will be able to make comments on your child’s learning. 

To keep you informed of your child’s continuing development, informal parent/Teacher consultations are held in both the autumn and summer terms, where you will be invited to discuss your child with a member of staff.

Enabling Environment

The environment plays an important part in supporting and extending children’s development. At Camblesforth the nursery is part of our EYFS unit which changes throughout the year to meet the needs of children in both Reception and Nursery. We aim to provide a safe, secure and stimulating environment within which children are happy to explore, discover and learn through play. Children are encouraged to be independent, making their own play choices and selecting appropriate resources. We provide opportunities to develop social and communication skills through team work challenges such as den building. During the session children will be encouraged to use both the indoor and outdoor areas.

Inside Area: Whilst inside children can take part in a wide range of activities including:

• Imaginative play in our role play area
• Stories and puppets in the book corner
• Mark making and early-writing activities
• Manipulative area – dough, threading, pegs and other malleable activities
• Sand/water tray
• Art and Craft activities
• Construction and small world carpet area
• Puzzles
• Messy play – including corn flour, bubbles, shaving foam and jelly.
• Science based investigation activities
• Cookery
• Counting activities
• Singing, action rhymes and music sessions.

The Outdoors:  Our outside area provides opportunities for children to take part in activities such as:

• Riding bikes, trikes and scooters
• Building using community construction wooden blocks
• Imaginative play in the role play area
• ‘Magic’ water writing/painting
• Gardening
• Exploring the bug garden and observing mini-beasts
• Large sand and water play
• Balancing on stilts
• Ball games
• Large-scale mark-making using chalks
• Small world play including trucks and dinosaurs.
• Counting activities and number recognition
• Den building

Forest Schools

Depending on the sessions your child attends they will get the opportunity to attend ‘Forest Schools’. We value the importance of outdoor learning at Camblesforth and more information can be found  here.

Parents and Children

Parents as Partners

At Camblesforth Primary School we aim to provide a happy, stimulating and secure community for every child. Camblesforth strongly values the partnership between home, school and the community and understands that effective communication is key to your child’s learning and development. We aim to build a close two-way partnership with each parent, exchanging information on the children’s achievements, interests and concerns.

Parents are encouraged to talk briefly to the EYFS team at the beginning or end of a session and are always welcome to make an appointment for a longer discussion should they have a specific concern. We keep parents informed of our curriculum topics and provide links to develop and continue specific learning within these areas at home.

How parents can take part in nursery or the wider school

We want to involve families in their child’s education and value all contributions parents make to the partnership.

There are many ways in which parents can take part in their child’s nursery experience such as:

• Informing us about their child’s likes and dislikes during our home visits.
• Celebrating and sharing progress, efforts and achievements from outside of nursery
• Becoming a parent volunteer/governor
• Joining us on special occasions in school, on visits and outings
• Coming in to read a story to the class
• Sharing their own special interest/profession or hobby with the children
• Joining in community activities in which the nursery takes part
• Attending parent consultations
• Ensuring they are on parent hub for weekly updates
• Sharing news of special family celebrations or occasions with the nursery
• Take an active part with See-Saw by talking to their child about the photos and making comments to share with staff
• Join the PTA more info here here

If you would like any further information please contact Mrs Jackson via the school office on 01757 616374 or admin.cam@ebor.academy