FAQs

Joining The Nursery

How do I arrange a visit?

Use our Location tool to find your nearest setting. You can give them a call or send an email to find out more information or book a visit to look around the nursery.

Do I need to provide nappies and wipes?

Yes. Parents need to provide enough nappies and wipes for their child.

What will my child need to bring with them?

At nursery your child will play outside every day.  In the cold weather they will need to be warmly dressed with a coat, hat and scarf.  In wet weather they will also need wellies.  When it’s hot, please bring sun block cream and a sun hat to keep them safe while they explore. Please always provide spare clothes.

How do you support children with settling in?

Each child will be allocated a key person, the key person will get to know you and your child through small taster sessions, finding out your child’s likes and dislikes, styles of learning and age and stage of development, as well as medical and dietary needs. The sessions will be arranged to provide your child with opportunities to get involved in aspects of the day and develop a bond with their key person as well developing the trust that their parent/carers will return soon. You may be asked to bring in your child’s comforter if they have one, a favourite toy or photos of important people. These sessions are arranged prior to your start date to give your child plenty of opportunities to settle at the setting.

What happens on my child’s first day?

The first day is like any other nursery day. We welcome parents to call us as many times throughout the day as they wish to check on their child and hear how they are doing. You will also have access to our Famly app where you will receive real-time updates and images to show you what your child is doing throughout the day including notifications for mealtimes, nappy changes and more.

What activities will my child do?

Within our nurseries we have a huge variety of activities that are provided for the children. This can be anything from messy and creative activities such as painting, play dough sand and water to roleplay and going outside and playing within the nursery garden. We encourage lots of group activities too, and love to share stories and sing songs. Each nursery provides extracurricular activities such as boogie mites forest school activities, and we ensure we provide a wide range of activities to foster your child’s independent learning through adopting the curiosity approach within our settings. The nursery day is comprised of a mixture of adult led individually planned activities for your child and child-initiated activities based on their current interests.

Meal times

What will my child be given to eat and drink?

Snacks are generally cold and can include fruit, cheese and crackers, a toasted crumpet and much more. The children get a choice of milk or water.

For lunch the children have a hot meal and a pudding.

Tea can be anything from a pasta dish to sandwiches or quiche.

All our nurseries carry the menu check for Eat Better Start Better, indicating high quality and nutritious food offered. We aim to ensure mealtimes are a time for independence and foster a home from home environment with the children taking part in laying the tables, sitting in small friendly groups, and serving their own foods and pouring their own drinks, whilst providing opportunities for the children to talk about their day. You can learn more about our healthy food menus here.

Do I need to provide a packed lunch or snacks?

Generally, all meals are included within the price unless you are using the 30 hours free funding. For pricing and meal charges please refer to individual nursery settings, contact information can be found here.

How do you support children with dietary requirements or intolerance’s/allergies?

Our chefs have been trained on allergy awareness and regularly check products and all our menus have an allergen checklist which is available for parent/carers.

Updates

How will I know what my child has done throughout the day?

We use the Famly app to update parents throughout the day with photographs of the children’s day including notifications of nappy changes, meals, application of sunscreen, accidents and more. We will also do a verbal handover when you come to collect your child. Within the app there is a private message facility where you can speak to the nursery staff. Staff will add photographs, activities, and observations of your child with information on their planned next steps. You can find out more about our Famly app and parent communication here.

How will I be kept updated with any changes and news?

We provide updates through the Famly app but also send our newsletters, update our Facebook pages, and have parents notice boards within our nursery settings. You can find out more about our Famly app on our parent communication page.

Fees

Can I get help with nursery fees?

All parents of three and four-year-olds are entitled to the Education Grant, a contribution towards the cost of 15 hours of nursery education, you may also be eligible for additional 15 hours of nursery education. Further information can be found at www.childcarechoices.gov.uk Your two-year-old may also be eligible for government funding for an additional 15 hours per week. If you are working and meet the eligibility criteria, we can also help you to claim the childcare element of Working Tax Credit. (Contact the HMRC Tax Credits Helpline on 0845 300 3900 or go to www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits) We can also work with your employer to see if your company offer a salary sacrifice scheme or if you are a student, you may be entitled to help with childcare. You can read more information about funding choices here.

How and when do I pay for the nursery fees?

We charge on the 1st of each month for the month, in advance (unless you join mid-month, in which case we charge from the first day until the end of the month)

Nursery fees can be paid via the Famly app, childcare voucher, tax free childcare, college, or bank transfer.

Staff

What qualifications do the staff have?

We thoroughly support our staff team and have a robust learning and development program to ensure our staff reach their full potential and develop their careers with plenty of progression and development opportunties. The staff within our settings hold appropriate child development qualifications, as well as paediatric first aid, safeguarding, health and safety, and food hygiene. We also work with other providers to support staff gaining qualifications through apprenticeships, and additional roles such as PANCO, Forest school, Schemas, Makaton and more.

Support

How do you support children with additional needs?

All our settings have a named special educational needs coordinator who will support you and your child through their journey at our settings, we will support you with accessing additional funding, applying for educational health care plans, putting risk assessments in place, sourcing additional training plus much more.

How do you support children's learning and development?

All our setting delivers the Early Years Foundation Stage and provide activities that are based on your child’s interests and that help them to progress in their development, your key person will regularly observe your child and plan activities suited to their interest, developmental age, and stage of ability with clear aims and next steps to ensure they are fully supported with their learning and development. You can find out more information here.

How do you keep parents informed of their child's progress?

With the use of the Famly app, you will receive regular observations, developmental progress trackers and termly reports on your child’s development. We also provide regular parent/carers evenings too and opportunities to join us for stay and play sessions. Parent/carers are also encouraged to add observations of their child on their child’s learning journey. You can read more about our parent communication here.

How do I know my child will be kept safe?

Safeguarding is of paramount importance to us and an aspect that is highly regulated by Ofsted and the local authorities. All staff undergo safeguarding training every year and we have a Designated Safeguarding Person at every setting who audits all our safeguarding procedures. These procedures include everything from recruiting staff, greeting visitors at the door, ensuring passwords are in use to making sure the equipment is safe to use. Each setting has responsibilities in this area and the best form of safeguarding for children is always combined vigilance. If you have any concerns or issues, then please speak with the Nursery Manager in the first instance.

How do I increase or decrease days?

We understand requirements may change so we ask for 1 months’ notice if you decide to decrease days. A simple note to your nursery manager will be fine. If you want to increase your days, please speak to your nursery manager who will be able to tell you which days we have available.

What if I need an extra day?

We aim to provide flexibility where possible, please contact the manager who will do their fulfil your requirements, some sessions can be busier than others, however we will do our best to accommodate extra sessions.

What if my child has an accident at nursery?

Accidents do happen at nursery but of course we try our best to prevent them. If your child has an accident, you will receive a notification via the Famly app, we will also let you know upon collection. We will provide any first aid needed (all staff members are first aid trained). For any bigger incidents that we cannot deal with we will consult professional advice through 999 or 101. We will keep you up to date throughout this process by call, notification via the Famly app or face to face. We fill out paperwork to log all accidents and regularly monitor all accidents and incidents.

How do you deal with behaviour at the setting?

We help children to develop a sense of caring and respect for one another, we encourage the children to cooperate with each other and respect each other.

We encourage the development of social skills and help children learn what is acceptable behaviour, developing their confidence and self-esteem, whilst also supporting them to develop self-discipline.

The use of positive praise and reinforcement and working with the children to define acceptable boundaries supports their ability to develop self-discipline.