Our Nursery
Admissions and Nursery Hours
All 3 year olds are entitled to 15 hours of funded nursery provision.
If you wish to come to Great Moor Infant School nursery you must apply through the Local Authority admissions team by following the link below:
www.stockport.gov.uk/maintained-nursery-admissions
Typically children start nursery in the September following their 3rd birthday. However, when you make your application for a nursery place you can select that you wish to be considered for an early intake if there are spaces available earlier in the year- usually these additional intakes take place following the Christmas and Easter holidays.
NB if your child is awarded an early intake space they will remain in nursery for more than a year. They will transition to reception in the September following their 4th birthday.
Session Choices
At Great Moor Infant School nursery your 15 hours of nursery entitlement can be structured in one of two ways:
Beginning of the week package
Monday 9-3
Tuesday 9-3
Wednesday 8:30-11:30
End of the week package
Wednesday 12:30-3:30
Thursday 9-3
Friday 9-3
30 hours funded childcare
Many families qualify for 30 hours of nursery provision based upon family circumstances.
You can check whether you are entitled to 30 hours funded childcare code by following the link below:
If you wish to take up 30 hours with us the sessions would be:
Monday 9-3
Tuesday 9-3
Wednesday 8:30-3:30
Thursday 9-3
Friday 9-3
Some families elect to split their 30 hours funded childcare between our nursery and other providers.
As a maintained nursery we would be considered the primary provider and, as such, the child's statutory entitlement of 15 hours would be with us. The top up 15 hours can be split more flexibly providing your preferred arrangement does not compromise statutory staffing ratios and/or prevent us from offering a statutory place to another family.
As a maintained school nursery, we have the same holiday dates as the rest of the school.
Wraparound provision
We are going to establish wraparound care for our nursery children in the very near future whereby parents can pay for additional nursery hours from 7:30am-6pm. The approximate cost will be £8 for a before school session and £17 for an after school session. Spaces will be limited. Advance booking and payment will be required to secure a place.
Food and Drink
On their full days in nursery the children bring a lunchbox and we all sit down for lunch together at 11:30.
All children bring a water bottle every day which they can access at any time.
The children can self-access free fruit from the national fruit scheme at the snack table.
All children are entitled to free milk until their 5th birthday. We have a communal milk time in the afternoon.
Staffing
Our nursery is led by the nursery teacher, Miss Eve May. She is also the Special Educational Needs Coordinator and Deputy Designated Safeguarding lead for the school. She has taught in early years (reception and nursery) for 14 years.
Also in nursery is Mrs Alison Hart, a level 3 teaching assistant with over 18 years of experience, more than 10 of these in nursery! As a teacher and SENDCo, Miss May gets a bit of time out of class to plan and prepare so it is wonderful for the children that Mrs Hart provides consistency of care and knowledge of the children. Mrs Hart is also a qualified paediatric first aider. The ratio for the age group is 1 adult to 13 children, though often we have more adults in the room helping out!
The Nursery Curriculum
In nursery, we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework which is based on the following overarching principles:
Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident, and self-assured.
Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
Children learn and develop well in enabling environments with teaching and support from adults, who respond to their individual interests and needs and help them to build their learning over time. Children benefit from a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers.
Importance of learning and development. Children develop and learn at different rates.
You can find the Statutory Framework by following the link below:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2
We track the children's progress across all areas of development and plan our learning using a variety of non-statutory guidance documents which detail what is "typical" development for the age group. These include Birth to 5 and Development Matters.
https://birthto5matters.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Birthto5Matters-download.pdf
Here are the topic information leaflets for each half term...
Remember- this only details the planned learning. The overwhelming majority of our learning is led by the children!
Nursery Classroom Environment
We have a large, well-resourced, safe and secure classroom with integral toilets, discrete changing facilities and our own beautiful garden.
We operate primarily a continuous provision environment which means there is a solid core of resources which remain out all the time so the children can self-access them throughout the year and gradually learn and develop how they are used with our help.
Some examples of our continuous provision are:
-Play dough and a variety of manipulating/shaping tools
-Paints and other mark making materials
-Small world vehicles and people
-Construction materials
-A domestic role play area
-A well-resourced and comfortable reading area
-An outdoor messy play area
-An outdoor climbing area
At times we add additional provocations to ignite interest and offer further opportunities relating to seasonal events and other planned learning eg pumpkins to dig into and explore in Autumn or story sacks/other resources related to our focus stories.
The children have sustained periods of self-directed play.
The Role of the Adults in Nursery
We tend to avoid lots of "production line" activities. This means that all the adults are in the environment free to supervise, play, and extend learning in self-chosen activities.
The majority of these self-directed times are also "free flow" meaning the children can choose whether they are inside or outside.
Nursery Garden
We are so fortunate to have a wonderful nursery garden which is very much an extension of our classroom.
The nursery garden provides a wealth of learning opportunities:
We develop our sensory systems, which in turn builds our ability to self-regulate
We explore nature and seasonal change in real time, including the fruits growing on the fruit trees!
We learn how to care for the planet including plants and animals
We develop our physical control and coordination using the climbing equipment, heavy building materials, bikes and scooters, and a variety of tools
We develop our cooperation and turn taking skills with the tools and equipment
We learn to recognise and calculate risks, for example learning how to climb trees safely
Planned Group Learning
We also have planned group learning sessions at various points in the day in order to:
ensure all children are exposed to a breadth of new vocabulary, knowledge and skills
gradually build up the ability to listen and attend in a group in preparation for reception
These group times include:
group greeting time to learn one another's names
early maths (following the Master the Curriculum scheme of learning)
language building sessions including explicit teaching of new vocabulary, and the use of colourful semantics (something that is used school wide) to build up grammatical competence and the ability to answer a variety of questions
sound awareness activities learning to tune into similarities and differences in sounds- using musical instruments, identifying syllables, rhyme, alliteration
active group times to develop physical skills including scarf dancing, rhythm sticks, dough disco, and later in the year PE supported by Stockport Shapes Alliance.
planned story times including pre-teaching and over learning of vocabulary, drama activities, use of story maps to learn stories, understand their structure, and change them to create our own stories, Tales Toolkit to understand story structures and invent our own stories
Zones of Regulation (something used school wide) a curriculum designed to promote empathy, self awareness and self-regulation
When the children demonstrate readiness they also start doing Read Write Inc phonics. The Read Write Inc phonics scheme is used school wide in the teaching of reading and writing.
Inclusion
We recognise that our children develop at different rates and have different strengths, needs and interests.
Therefore, Great Moor Infant School nursery is inclusive by design.
We have skilled, experienced staff with a wealth of knowledge around child development including developmental differences
Staff play in the environment with the children to develop a holistic understanding of all our children's strengths and needs, identify their personal next steps and provide the right support to reach them
We have a spacious environment which is well-ordered and free from excessive stimulus
We use consistent, language and hand signals for regular instructions to avoid excessive language use
We use visuals to teach, praise and remind the children of the rules and expectations
We have a clear, predictable routine to ensure our children feel calm and secure
The routine is communicated with the children regularly using a visual timeline which includes "objects of reference" (objects that represent the activities) and visual symbols which are consistent with the symbols used throughout the school
We explicitly pre-teach, teach and over learn vocabulary, and support this teaching with visuals and Makaton
All storage is labelled with supportive visuals to enable children to find and put away what they want and need with independence
We ensure the day has an appropriate balance of physical activity, time outside, regulatory activity, self-directed play and pre-planned group learning
We explicitly teach the children about their emotions and the emotions of others so they become both self-aware and empathetic
We actively teach the children about their sensory systems and how to self-regulate
We explicitly teach about social understanding so they learn the skills they need to forge and sustain positive peer relationships
ALL teaching is supported with practical experiences and visuals
We have supportive tools throughout the environment which the children can self-access including:
-a wealth of opportunities to holistically develop the children's sensory systems
-supportive cushions to enable children who have difficulties with trunk stability to sit unaided on the floor
-chunky grip mark making implements to develop an effective pen hold and easy use scissors
-move and sit cushions and fidget tools to provide sensory feedback when seated
-weighted blankets to provide calming deep pressure
-a designated, low distraction space for focused learning
-communication mats to enable children with limited language to communicate their wants and needs
-visual checklists and visual instructions to enable the children to manage their belongings and self-care processes with independence
-toilets and wash basins of an appropriate size for the children to manage their own needs with independence
-a discreet changing space
Parent/ Carer Involvement
Nursery staff have face to face contact with parents and carers every day as they drop off and collect their children.
Parents and carers can make an appointment for more detailed conversations with the class teacher at any point in the year.
We have recently introduced the communication app, See Saw to enable us to share planned learning and photos with Parents and Carers.
We have a variety of induction events and open evenings.
We have two parents evenings per academic year and you will receive a written report in the Summer term.
We have a variety of special events to give families opportunities to come into nursery eg Stay and Play sessions, Easter Eggstravaganza and Sports day.
Nursery families are invited to whole school PTFA fundraising events such as the Summer/Christmas Fair and Halloween disco. They are always looking for new families to get involved in any way they can!
External support
We work closely with colleagues across all sectors including:
health visitors
social workers
speech and language therapists
occupational therapists
Early Years Improvement team
Early Years SEN team
Need more information?
We hope this overview gives you a good feel for our nursery but if you have any other questions please do not hesitate to ask.
You can contact the nursery teacher by emailing:
eve.may@greatmoor-inf.stockport.sch.uk
The headteacher regularly shows families around the school, including nursery. You can arrange a visit by emailing:
admin@greatmoor-inf.stockport.sch.uk
Please find below a child-friendly guide to our nursery...