Nursery at Holy Trinity

LITTLE BEARS

Our ‘Little Bears’’ provision for two year olds first opened its doors in April 2024.  ‘Little Bears’  offers early education provision for two year old children, many of whom will take their first steps into education with us. We offer up to 10 (15 hour) places for 2 year olds who will then move on to nursery (the term after they turn 3 years old).  Children will enjoy 15 hours of playing, painting, reading, cooking, climbing, singing, dancing, dressing-up, running around, building, gardening, scooting and cycling, sharing stories, making jigsaws... whatever your child likes doing! Little Bears is staffed by experienced teaching assistants and teachers in our school’s Early Years Unit, meaning transition to Nursery, Reception and main school is seamless.  There are appropriate sized toilets (for when your little one is ready for it), changing facilities, a two year old snug, access to a larger stimulating indoor environment and exciting garden, hard surface and woodland outdoor area. We aim to provide the children with a safe, caring, engaging and stimulating environment where they will have vast opportunities to develop, grow and learn at their own pace whilst developing important social skills.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at school if you have any questions, or contact us if you would like a look around.

We offer termly open afternoons, so keep a lookout on our social media pages.

NURSERY

Our teacher led nursery provides all day high quality early years' education.  In line with our whole school vision and values, we aim to develop a love of learning and use our designated outdoor space to develop curious, independent, confident and active children.  The Nursery is situated within our Early Year's Unit and enables the children to grow and develop, providing a great foundation for school readiness.  Children from our Nursery have the opportunity to be involved in all aspects of school life and the move from Nursery into full time school is a natural step for the children.

We can offer -

• 15 hours universal nursery provision for all 3 year olds (Monday - Friday 8.45 - 11.45).
• 30 hours extended provision, free for eligible families (Monday - Friday 8.45 - 3.15). 
• Parents who do not receive 30 hours funding have the option to pay for additional afternoon sessions, please contact the school office for details.
• For children in receipt of Early Years Pupil Premium Funding, funded afternoon sessions may be available.
• School lunch is available at £2.40, or a packed lunch can be brought in and free milk is available daily.
• Breakfast club each morning from 8.00am run by nursery staff (£2 per session).
• After school provision is available from 3.15 - 6pm on site.

For more detailed information about our whole school please read our prospectus.   A prospectus is however no substitute for a personal visit to see our school in action, we are always happy to show off our school to visitors so please telephone our school office on 01289 306142 or email admin@holytrinity.northumberland.sch.uk to make an appointment.

The Curriculum in Nursery

Our aim is to give all Nursery children an exciting, challenging and meaningful start to their learning journey with us at Holy Trinity First School.  We plan the children’s learning experiences in accordance with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum guidance and principles. The Early Years is made up of seven areas of learning that are inter-connected.  The three prime areas are Communication and Language, Physical Development and Personal and Social Development.  There are an additional four specific areas which are Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding of the World and Expressive Arts and Design.

We provide a creative, discovery and play based curriculum, which uses the children’s existing skills, knowledge and interests.  The children are encouraged to make choices about their own learning.  The children become active and independent learners, who ask questions, explore and enquire.  We provide a calm but busy, well-organised and stimulating environment for the children to explore and develop both indoors and out.  Our friendly, experienced staff are there to lead, support, enable, challenge and encourage the children.  There are opportunities to build, create, imagine, develop, learn, explore and play.  We have bikes and scooters for active play, sports equipment and resources the children can use to create their own challenges and obstacles each day.  We also have a firepit, woodland circle for the cold, bright winter days.  The children enjoy toasting marshmallows and singing songs around the fire.

Whole school activities allow for a varied and enriching experience, such as whole school performances and sporting events.

We communicate with parents every day through a notice board, at pick up and drop off and through our online learning journal through the Seesaw platform which enables staff and parents to communicate directly every day and continues to be used through the whole school.

We have a whole school weekly newsletter, a half termly Nursery Newsletter and termly parent consultations.  Children are tracked using the School Readiness Passport, designed by Northumberland Early Years, supporting their development and progress into school.

A short report is given at the end of the learning journey in Nursery.

Uniform

We believe that getting ready for school by dressing appropriately is an important part of being in the right frame of mind for the school day. We expect our children to work hard and to come to school in the correct uniform. Our uniform isn’t expensive and can be bought locally. We also encourage parents to donate good quality uniform that their children have grown out of and we sell this in school for 50p an item.  Uniform with the logo can be ordered from Fantasy Prints.  Other items may be purchased from any school uniform provider.  Please make sure everything is named.

Uniform in Nursery – 

Light blue polo shirt.                                                                                                                                                                                  Burgundy v-necked jumper or cardigan with the school badge.                                                                                                            Burgundy tracksuit bottoms.                                                                                                                                                                            Grey socks.                                                                                                                                                                                                          Black Velcro school shoes.                                                                                                                                                   

Outdoor Clothing -                                                                                                                                                                                              Wellington boots.                                                                                                                                                                                      Waterproof suit or trousers.                                                                                                                                                                                 

A waterproof coat (should brought to school every day).

Optional Summer Uniform –                                                                                                                                                                                Blue and white checked summer dress to be worn with white socks.

Footwear
All children should come to school wearing plain black formal shoes - no boots, high heels, canvas/trainer style, sports brands or platforms.  During cold weather children may come to school in boots which they can wear outside, if your child does wear boots to school, please bring in a pair of school shoes or black plimsolls that they can wear indoors.  Your child should be able to run safely in their shoes, please avoid ballet pumps; they are unsafe in a busy playground. 

When your child is young, fastening shoes can be really tricky. Velcro fasteners are the answer to a teacher’s dream!

Hair                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Our base line is that hairstyles must be sensible and the school does not permit children to have haircuts that could serve as a distraction to other children. We are very proud of how our children look in their uniform and wish them to look their best. Longer hair should be tied back for safety reasons (and to prevent the spread of headlice) and children should not wear large hair accessories to school.

We do not expect children to come to school with hair gel, skin head cuts, lines or shapes cut into the hair or Mohican styles. 

Jewellery
Please do not send your child to school wearing  any jewellery, including earrings.

Transition to Reception and Full Time School

Children enter the Reception Class in the September of the school year in which they reach the age of five.  Most of our children attend our Nursery provision which is housed in our Early Years Unit which has a shared indoor and outdoor space with Reception Class.  The majority of our children are therefore very settled and familiar with the environment and the Reception Staff.  For those children coming to us from other settings we have a programme of induction, which includes a chance to meet the staff and the invitation for children to visit school before the summer holidays.  The children meet their new teacher and become familiar with the school and class environment.  We hope that they become confident in their new surroundings.  The Foundation Stage Unit is bright and welcoming and furnished with child appropriate equipment. 

 We work closely with all of our families to make the move from Nursery to full time school in Reception as smooth as possible and our team are very skilled at enabling this to happen, for the vast majority of our children they do not realise that a major change has happened.   When children first come to school in September, if together we feel they are not ready for a full time start straight away, we can be flexible about this for the first few weeks.

Special Educational Needs and Difficulties (SEND)

Our whole school aim is to ensure that we meet the needs of all individuals within our school, see our SEND page for greater detail.  Occasionally some children experience greater difficulty than others in their class and our Nursery team  play an important role in the first steps of identification to ensure that our children get the help and support that they deserve and need.  Children are identified as early as possible and staff use a graduated response to meeting their individual needs. The school implements the SEN Code of Practise and adheres to guidance from the Local Authority using First Concerns, Pupil Passports and SEND Support Plans which are regularly reviewed.

 We use the First Quality Teaching approach and target classroom support to help each child be the best they can be.  In some cases, we may involve outside agencies for specialist advice and support. At this point children will be placed on our SEN register which is confidential.  We engage with parents from the outset, taking into account their views and concerns. We monitor the impact of actions taken and review targets set with parents regularly

Useful Information

Northumberland Early Years Home Learning Padlet

HM Government Childcare Choices

Admissions

The governing body of Holy Trinity Voluntary Aided Church of England School is the Admissions Authority for the school and they intend to admit up to 30 pupils to our nursery year group in September each year. The school is open to receive applications for admissions from the parents of all children and to apply for a place please contact our school office on 01289 306142 or email admin@holytrinity.northumberland.sch.uk 

You can apply for a place at any time from when your child is born.  For our September intake we will offer places in the early Spring Term of the previous academic year.

If there is then greater demand for admission than there are places available, the governing body will apply the same criteria as in the main school admissions policy.

If there is less demand for admission the governors may accept children at the start of term two or term three depending on the number of places available.

It should be noted by parents that Nursery admissions are entirely separate and attendance at the school’s Nursery does not guarantee a place in the Reception class.