Gomersal St. Mary's CE(A) First & Nursery School

Children must be brought and collected by an adult.

Admission To The Nursery

Gomersal St Mary’s serves a wide catchment area centred on Gomersal. We take children from the age of three and aim to support these children within the warmth of our Christian ethos. The decision regarding a child’s admission to the Nursery is made by the governors. Parents have a choice of a morning or afternoon session, subject to availability.

Age Of Children On Admission To Nursery

We try to make sure that all children can have up to three terms of part-time education prior to full-time school. The available places are allocated in two stages:

• Children applying up to three terms before admission to full-time school
• Any remaining places are allocated to eligible children four or more terms before admission to full-time school.

All children should be toilet trained prior to starting in Nursery.

There is an opportunity for parents of new children to attend an informal meeting to hear about the exciting learning experiences and activities we offer in the Nursery. Parents will meet staff and look around the Nursery and the main school building.

Prior to their first day in Nursery a home visit will be arranged for children to meet the Nursery staff in their own home. Parents and children are encouraged after the initial meeting, in the term prior to admission to come to Nursery for ‘informal’ integration i.e to come and paint a picture etc.

Our aim is to ensure that you and your child will enjoy coming to the Nursery. We provide a safe and attractive environment where your child is encouraged to become independent, cooperative and develop socially.

In the Nursery our school aims are fulfilled by providing an environment that offers exciting and varied opportunities for continuous learning through play.

The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum

The Foundation Stage provides each child with a balanced curriculum based on their individual needs. Staff plan for these learning experiences using the Foundation Stage Curriculum Guidance. This covers six areas of learning:

• Personal, Social and Emotional development. Children learn how to work, play and co-operate with others through group activities that demonstrate the importance of sharing and working with others.
• Communication,Language and Literacy. Children are given lots of opportunities to develop skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing. We encourage children to share our love of books. We have a selection of library books and language packs available for children to take home to read with their parents.
• Mathematical development. The structured play environment of the Foundation class offers endless opportunities for learning about many aspects of mathematics. We aim at all times to deepen each child’s awareness and understanding. We have a variety of maths packs available to use at home.
• Knowledge and Understanding of the world. We aim to develop children’s natural curiosity to help them to explore and learn about the world around them. We take advantage of our beautiful and spacious school grounds and use them as a valuable resource, where children can learn about the natural and built environment.
• Physical development. Many activities target the healthy development of each child. We are keen to encourage a love of the outdoors, exercise and personal fitness. Children learn how to move in different ways, play games and have fun.
• Creative development. We encourage children to use their imagination, express their ideas and feelings using many creative approaches e.g painting, modelling, sculpture and movement to music.

As a Church aided school we also see spiritual and moral development as a priority. Our ethos conveys our Christian values of caring for others and our environment and for the beauty and wonder of the world in which we live. We aim to show children how to behave in a way that shows consideration for themselves and others. We hope parents will support us.

Nursery Organisation

The Nursery is organised into areas, with each area providing specific learning opportunities. Information about the areas is displayed for parent information. Children are free to choose from these activities and are encouraged to plan in advance which activities they would like to partake in for that session. We also provide outdoor play each day.

Children are encouraged to self register on a board at the beginning of the session. This helps to develop children’s sense of responsibility. Staff also keep an official register.

Milk is provided free of charge by the LEA for every child. We also provide a healthy snack.

Towards the end of the session, children have the opportunity to join in a small group for a focused activity before going home. This could be a numeracy, literacy or music activity.

We ask for a voluntary contribution of £1 per week to put in our nursery fund. This helps to pay for the cost of fruit, baking materials and other costs that enable us to provide the best for your child.

School Uniform

We encourage children to wear a jade green school sweatshirt and gold polo shirt, however this is not compulsory. We do provide aprons but it is best if children wear clothing that are suitable for a play environment, as some activities can be messy and we don’t want children not taking part because they are fearful of getting their clothes dirty.

Record Of Achievement

Throughout their time in the Foundation Stage children are observed and their progress is assessed and recorded. This record is continued through into the reception year, your child’s first year in school. At the end of that time the record of achievement is yours to keep.