NURSERY ADMISSIONS
Apply here for a place on the waiting list:
Welcome to our Nursery
At Rowlands Gill Primary School, we cater for children who have just turned three and pre-school aged children (4 years old). We are the very beginning of the Rowlands Gill Primary education journey and we work very closely with staff and children across the School to support pupil transition for later years but to also to provide a vast range of experiences from a young age.
We have a dedicated team of staff who pride themselves on driving each child’s individual development to reach the best outcomes. We challenge each child to extend their own learning and development by building on what they know and can already do. We encourage and teach children how to be independent and creative, critical thinkers, helping them to develop a love of learning. Teachers, and experienced Higher Level Teaching Assistants work closely with the children to enhance learning experiences in all areas of the curriculum. Whilst the whole team works with and care for all children, each child has a ‘’Key person’’ for small group time. We pride ourselves on working together in partnership with parents/carers, and external agencies, in order to provide the best possible start for each and every child in our care.
“Children in the early years are well looked after by warm, caring adults.” (OFSTED 2019)
‘’Children are outgoing and confident.” (OFSTED 2019)
We provide all children with opportunities for free flow play and exploration. This means the children can choose to be indoors, or outdoors, across the school day. We have been very lucky to secure a financial grant to help develop our outdoor area, and this is being constantly updated and tailored for the children to support all areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage framework. In addition to our outdoor area we are lucky to have access to our on-site Forest School area which the children access with our Forest School leader at designated times of the year as well as across the curriculum with the Nursery Team. The children are given the opportunity to take part in a ‘’plan, do, review’’ session in the natural environment. This allows the children to explore and develop their knowledge of the natural world through the use of all their senses. We encourage the children to be as independent as possible; from dressing themselves appropriately, to taking charge of their own and their friends safety.
“They have lots of opportunities to develop their physical skills.” (OFSTED 2019)
What will a Nursery session for your child look like?
Within our provision there will be resources and activities which will suit your child’s interests, addressing their next steps. We meet as a team daily, discussing the next day and how to enhance our provision.
At the start of each session, your child will sign in using their name card. Regardless of their developmental stage, each child has a name card which they will ‘’mark make’’ on, then move into welcome time. During this time, in the ‘’home base’’ areas with their key worker, they will discuss the day, weather, do some counting, share their own stories and ideas, take part in singing and phonic based activities depending on the group’s developmental stage. This may be represented verbally, pictorially, written or a mixture of all three. At the end of this group time children will plan where they are going to play, again this is developmental.
The session after this is free flow, indoors and outdoors, child-led with adults supporting play. Across this time, adults observe and interact whilst your child is exploring their interests. At this time, using prior knowledge of your child’s next steps, an adult will plan an interaction with your child for ongoing development. Please see below the different ways we enhance your child’s learning through our interactions.
At the end of the session children go back to their ‘’home bases’’, have stories and discuss their time at Nursery.
Our offer here at Rowlands Gill Primary school
Choosing Childcare to suit your needs.
Finding childcare to suit your family needs is often challenging and expensive. At Rowlands Gill Primary School Nursery, we have listened to parents and have adapted our curriculum and childcare services to be flexible enough to suit the needs of most families.
Nursery patterns we offer for your children:
- 30 hours in our School Nursery (Monday to Thursday all day and Friday morning)
- 32.5hours in our School Nursery (Monday to Friday all day with an additional charge for lunch cover)
- 30 hours split between ourselves and another childcare provider
- 15 hours in school which could be:
- Morning session: 8:45am-11:45am
- Afternoon session: 12:15pm-3:15pm
- 2 and a half days (Monday and Tuesday all day and Wednesday AM or Wednesday PM and Thursday and Friday all day)
Please contact us to discuss any individual/different pattern requests to see if we can accommodate your needs. Top up sessions can be bought, if there is availability.
Funky Monkeys offer additional, charagable wrap around care and details can be viewed on our webpage here are are available from the office.
Nursery Admissions
All children are entitled to 15 hours of free provision provided over 38 weeks. Some working parents can claim 30 hours of childcare with a validated code available through HMRC. Where a parent or carer chooses to take up fewer than 15/30 hours or chooses to split their entitlement with another provider the admissions criteria will be applied regardless. We provide and allocate nursery places at Rowlands Gill Primary School using the local authority Nursery Education Admissions Policy.
All children, subject to the availability of places, will normally be admitted to the nursery class no earlier than the start of term after their third birthday i.e. at the start of term in September, January or after the Easter break of the academic year.
Parents are always welcome to visit school with their children to see the nursery environment. Please contact the school office and we can arrange a time that is mutually convenient.
