Nursery

Mrs Sherlock (3 Year Olds)

Welcome to our Nursery

Before we tell you more about our Nursery, we thought it would be useful to explain the following for those who are not already familiar:

The EYFS curriculum sets standards for the learning, development, and care of children up to 5 years old. At Acre Hall this includes our Nursery and Reception classes.

What is Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)?

Key stage	Abbreviation	Classes	Child’s age
Early Years Foundation Stage	EYFS	Nursery and Reception	Ages 3 to 5
Key Stage 1	KS1	Year 1 and 2	Ages 5 to 7
Key Stage 2	KS2	Years 3 to 6	Ages 7 to 11

Our EYFS vision and ethos

At Acre Hall Primary school we want the time your child spends in our nursery to be happy!

Our EYFS school ethos is: At Acre Hall we are passionate about our children being happy and well-rounded learners. We celebrate each child’s individuality and take a holistic, nurturing approach. We work in partnership with parents to provide stimulating learning experiences, through high quality interactions, in play. As your child embarks on their school journey, we strive to foster in them a lifelong love of learning.

Our Outdoor vision and ethos is: Messy, loud, curious explorers of nature.

Our intent

Our main focus in Nursery is to develop children’s ‘Prime Areas’ of development, enabling them to become socially aware and able to play and learn alongside others. Children become familiar with the rules and daily routines of school life and their continuous provision learning environment. The learning environment both indoors and outdoors is set up to be open ended, developing children’s characteristics for effective learning by building their independence to learn and explore. Adults support this development through modelling language, demonstrating, exploring, recalling and providing a narrative. We also plan activities and provide opportunities for children to develop their fine and gross motor skills, such as painting, gluing, dough, chopping up their snack, which are essential for early reading and writing as they enter Reception.

We follow the statutory guidance for the EYFS and complete EYFS Baseline assessments, as well as the EYFS Profile at the end of the Reception year. The EYFS Curriculum is organised into seven areas of learning:

Educational Programmes	Early Learning Goals
Three PRIME areas:
Communication and Language	Listening, attention and understanding Speaking
Physical Development	Self-regulation Managing self Building relationships
Personal, Social and Emotional Development	Gross motor skills Fine motor skills
Four SPECIFIC areas:
Literacy	Comprehension Word reading Writing
Mathematics	Number Numerical patterns
Understanding the World	Past and present People, culture and communities The natural world
Expressive Arts and Design	Creating with materials Being imaginative and expressive

The importance of a play-based learning curriculum for children

In play a child develops physically, intellectually and emotionally. Play develops key communication and social skills such as negotiating, discussing plans and sharing resources. Play underpins all development and learning for young children and it is essential they have opportunities to play both indoors and outdoors.

How we monitor and celebrate your child’s progress

Our EYFS team observe your child daily during independent self-initiated play and guided learning. As well as celebrating achievements in class, the team make written, photographic and electronic observations of each child’s achievements. These observations are linked to and assessed against the EYFS curriculum they are also uploaded to a secure online system to which you will have access.

When in Reception we use both your child’s writing books, their self-initiated learning and our observations to actively track their progress. This information helps with future planning and in identifying where additional support or interventions are required.

Progression from Nursery to Reception

In Reception children still have access to a language rich learning environment with extended periods of continuous provision, in order to develop their knowledge and understanding in each of the prime and specific areas, and they continue to build on their characteristics of learning through the same observe-assess-plan cycle. However, there is more focus on guided group and teacher led learning to develop children’s basic skills, for example learning how to read and write. Enhancements in areas and home learning opportunities are often linked to children’s understanding and development in Literacy and Numeracy. Within Reception we also follow a systematic approach to developing the children phonic and early reading skills by using the phonics programme Little Wandle.

If you would like to enquire for a Nursery Place please complete the Nursery Application Form and return this to admin@ahps.bright-futures.co.uk

Fees

Nursery Sessions & Free Entitlement

Universal 15 Hours Free Entitlement – All 3-year-old children are entitled to 15 hours free childcare.

At Acre Hall Nursery, this is equivalent to either:

5 Morning Sessions: 8:45am – 11:45am OR
5 Afternoon Sessions: 11:45am – 2:45pm

30 Hours Working Parent Entitlement

Eligible working parents may be entitled to 30 hours free childcare. At Acre Hall Nursery, this is equivalent to:

Monday to Friday 8:45am – 2:45pm

Parents accessing 30 hours funded childcare must provide a valid eligibility code and continue to reconfirm eligibility in line with government requirements.

Extended Day Provision

Parents who wish for their child to remain in Nursery until 3:30pm may book an additional extended session.

Extended Hours Charge:

2:45pm – 3:30pm
£4 per day
£20 per week

Top-Up Sessions

Parents accessing a 15-hours funded place may choose to purchase additional sessions, subject to availability.

Additional Session Charges:

Full additional AM or PM session: £19 per session
Extended day session (2:45pm – 3:30pm): £4 per day

Meals

Please note that free entitlement funding does not include meals.

Parents may: Provide their child with a healthy packed lunch from home OR purchase a school meal via School Food United (SFU) at a cost of £2.80 per meal, per day.

Important Information Regarding Payments

To ensure the smooth running of the provision:

Nursery fees and additional charges must be paid promptly via ParentPay.
Outstanding balances may result in additional sessions or extended hours being withdrawn until payments are brought up to date.