Illness

If your children are not well, please keep them at home until fully recovered (a clear 48 hours after a stomach virus), or until antibiotics are completed.

If a child is ill during the school session parents will be contacted and asked to take the child home. Please make sure that emergency contact numbers are kept up to date.

In the event of an accident every effort will be made to contact parents, if this is not possible the Headteacher will take responsibility for procuring medical treatment until parents can be reached.

Medications

Please notify the staff if your child is receiving any medical treatment or attending any specialists or clinics, so that we can update medical records.

Some children may require ongoing medication whilst in school. Parents must discuss this with the Headteacher and complete a consent form (to be reviewed on a termly basis).

Children using asthma inhalers should have a spare one to be kept in school, clearly labelled and stored in the first aid station.

Children with Special Educational Needs / or Disabilities

Birchfield nursery has a highly inclusive ethos and welcomes children with additional needs, long term medical conditions or disabilities. We aim to
1) Provide all children with a broad, balanced curriculum, which is differentiated to meet individual needs.
2) Provide for early identification of any Special Educational Needs.
3) To ensure that any child with Special Educational Needs or disabilities take as full as possible a part in the curriculum.
4) To ensure that pupils are as fully involved and informed as practicable.

Birchfield Nursery School recognises that many children will have a special educational need at some time and that they can be helped to overcome their difficulties. The school will have regard for the S E N code of practice when carrying out it’s duties towards pupils with special needs. It will ensure that parents/carers are notified when special educational provision is being made for their child.

Children with identified special needs are admitted to the nursery according to Halton's admission procedures. The school monitors all children with additional needs, parents are always kept informed of their child’s progress and their permission is sought before any specialist support is offered.

Parents are encouraged to discuss with the school any concerns they may have about their child both prior to entry and once they are in school. Children’s individual profiles are sent home several times a year and the school has open evenings where parents can meet staff and governors. Working parents may telephone out of teaching hours or make an appointment to discuss their child.

Parents and carers with disabilities are asked to notify the school to discuss their needs and access.

The school receives support from the sensory impaired services (vision and hearing), learning support and psychological services. Links are made with speech therapy and other health services.

As a result of individual profiles kept on each child, individual needs of a child may emerge. These will always be discussed with parents and appropriate support will be sought from relevant agencies once parental consent has been obtained.

USEFUL INFORMATION

1. Please let us know of any changes, which may affect your child, information is always treated in confidence. It is most important to notify school if your address, telephone number or emergency contacts change.

2. For the safety of all our children, please ensure that when you leave the nursery to close both the door and the gate. The front door will be locked during session times. Please ring the bell or come to the door at Room 3.

3. Please do not drive into the nursery grounds or park in the entrance to the nursery or high school. There is ample parking across the road in Lockett Road, on the park side. Careless parking can obstruct emergency vehicles and vital deliveries or access for local residents, particularly in Victoria Ave.

PLEASE NOTE there is no access or parking in the drive of WADE DEACON SCHOOL. This is private land and parking or waiting could prevent access for emergency vehicles.

4. Please notify us of any other adults who may collect or bring your child to nursery. (Who must be over 16 years of age.)

5. Please provide your child with a pair of black PE pumps to be kept in school and worn each day. These must be clearly named. Please also put your child's name into coats, wellingtons etc. and help them to learn how to put them on. Permanent markers are available in school, please ask.

6. Please send your child to nursery in clothes that are practical, easily washed and easy to manage, i.e. no tight cuffs or buttons, belts and braces or all-in one suits.

7. For health and safety reasons jewellery should not be worn in school. Please remove watches, earrings and rings before your child comes to school.

8. Contributions to school fund cover mid-session drinks and snacks, baking and food tasting, parties, outings and additional equipment. Currently £1 per week collected on a Monday. Money boxes are located in each story. Alternatively snack money is payable by cheque for the term.

9. If children climb or play outside before or after the session it is the parents responsibility to supervise.

10. If you have any materials which you think we may be able to use or recycle please bring them in, i.e. educational toys, outdoor toys, fabrics, paper, cartons and boxes, dressing up materials. etc.

11. All parents are encouraged to help to support the work of the school. If you feel you could help by working with small groups in a wide variety of activities please let us know. Parents and carers may help with baking, art work, reading stories or supporting children on the computer. All staff, governors and voluntary helpers must be police CRB checked.

12. Social events are arranged for parents each year, as is an Annual General Meeting with the governors. All parents with children currently at the school are invited to attend. A report will be distributed two weeks prior to the meeting.

13. A wide range of events and training for families of pre-school children are available at local children’s centres. Please see information leaflets in school reception.

14. A coffee club is organised once a month for parents, carers and younger children. Please come and join us. Visiting speakers to this group will be advertised in the newsletter.

If you have a query or problem you wish to discuss with a member of staff, please make an appointment at the beginning of the session. We are all here to help your child enjoy their stay with us.

Child Protection

Please note "Because of the daily contact with children, schools and nurseries are particularly well placed to observe outward signs of abuse, changes in behaviour or failure to develop. Parents should be aware, therefore, that where it appears to a member of staff that a child may have been abused, the school is required, as part of the Child Protection procedures, to report their concern to the Social Services Department."

Complaints Procedure

The Education Act 2002 Section 29 requires every LA to make arrangements for the consideration of complaints against governing bodies or the LA on matters relating to the curriculum (but not to the actions of individual teachers).

As far as possible any concerns expressed by parents or others should be resolved by informal contact with teachers and headteachers. Where such discussions do not resolve the problem, the matter will need to be considered as a formal complaint under Section 29 of the Education Act 2002 and referred to the governing body. If after this the complainant is still dissatisfied, the matter should be referred to the LA.

Places are free, children attending the term after their third birthday will be eligible for a nursery grant entitling them to 5 morning or afternoon sessions per week (subject to availability). This grant is deducted at source by the education authority. If parents wish their child to have an additional place at another provider, that place must be paid for by the parent.

We hope this information will provide you with a greater insight into the work of the school. We recognise that parents and carers are the child's first educators and realise achieve their greatest potential when home and school work closely together for the benefit of the child.