Children are eligible for places in our Nursery from their third birthday when sessions are available during term time, Monday to Friday and fees are payable. From the term after their third birthday Early Education Funding (EEF) is available up to the maximum of 15 hours. An additional 15 hours of Extended Hours funding (totalling 30 hours per week) is available for families who meet the HMRC Extended Hours criteria.
Sessions in excess of funded sessions will be charged at £5.00 per hour, and £1.25 per quarter-hour.
Session times are as follows:
(You may provide a packed lunch or purchase a school meal at a cost of £2.85)
Places can be booked for a morning session, afternoon or for the whole day.
Nursery children may stay for lunch between midday and 1pm which is offered at £5 for the hour plus £2.45 for a school lunch. Nursery children should wear school uniform.
Our main aim in Nursery is to ensure that the children enjoy their experience and get accustomed to the school routine. Almost all of their learning is through play in our dedicated Early Years area and outside. The nursery children share a classroom with the Reception children, and take part in worship, PE, lunchtime, snack time, singing and many other activities with the whole school. They flourish in this environment and thoroughly enjoy being like the older children! They also wear the school uniform and PE kit which we feel gives them a real sense of belonging. Children in Wagtails can access our out-of-school club, The Dove Hub where session fees apply.
Our fabulous, purpose-built Early Years area is available for children in our nursery and reception classes. Indoors the children have access to a spacious, calm environment which leads to our extensive outdoors area with access to sand and water play, large construction and activities that foster gross motor development such as climbing and wheeled toys.
From April 2015, nurseries, schools, childminders and other childcare providers have been able to claim extra funding through the Early Years Pupil Premium to support children’s development, learning and care.
National data and research tells us that children eligible for free school meals tend to do less well, e.g. in 2014, 45% of children eligible for free school meals achieved the expected level at the end of the early years foundation stage compared with 64% of other children. The Early Years Pupil Premium will provide us with extra funding to help close that gap.
We can use the extra funding in any we choose to improve the quality of the early years education that we provide for your child. This could include, for example, additional training for our staff on early language, resources to support home learning, investing in a partnership working with our colleagues in the area to further our expertise or supporting our staff in working on specialised areas such as speech and language.
The money is paid directly to the provider by the Local Authority. The school office has forms to enable you to apply for the funding or can give you the number of the Local Authority so that you can check your eligibility.
Families may be eligible if they are receiving any of the following:
It is well documented that high-quality early education can influence how well a child does at both primary and secondary school and so we want to make the most of this additional funding. This could make a real difference to your child’s learning and development.
