Our Nursery for 3-4 Year Olds
Our Nursery is called Red Squirrels and is run by Mrs Tracy Willoughby, our Nursery lead, who is supported by Mrs Pike, Mrs Ladds and Mrs Haigh.
Our Nursery is for 3-4 year old; it provides up to 48 places*.
All children can attend; every morning, every afternoon, two and a half days or full time (you may be eligible for 30 hour funding). *Based on all children taking the 15 hour offer.
We will discuss the pattern of attendance you would prefer for your child when you first visit us.
Your child can start Nursery the first term after their 3rd Birthday.
Why choose us?
We believe that children learn best when they are following their own interests. Our environment is designed to support every area of your child's development and our staff are trained and experienced in supporting child development through play, as we largely follow the 'In the Moment' planning model, which enables us to spend the majority of our day engaging with the children in high quality interactions with them as they play.
The vast majority of children in our Nursery progress to our Reception unit, which follows the same child centred principles.
Click here to download a copy of our Early Years Vision.
What to expect...
Once your child starts with us, we will allow them time to settle before assigning them a 'key worker'. Soon after, we will arrange a 'focus child' meeting with you. The focus child approach helps us ensure we are working together to support your child in achieving their next steps.
Our team will also be available during drop-off and pick-up times. We also have a dedicated team working behind the scenes to help support you in times when you might need it.
We completely understand the challenges of raising a family, so please do not hesitate to speak with us if you have any concerns.
If you are interested in your child joining?
If you would like to apply for a Nursery place, all you need to do is arrange a visit in person. This is usually after school during term time, but we may be able to arrange visits during the school day too.
Following your visit to Nursery, you will complete an admission form and additional forms including applying for 30 hour funding. We are happy to help with completing them. Prior to your child starting, we also like to arrange a home visit. The home visit is not for us to inspect your home, but gives us a chance to get to know you and your child better before they start.
Admissions
If you would like to arrange a Nursery visit, please contact our main school office. All contact information can be found on our ‘contact us’ page.
Please check to see if your child is eligible for the following:
Valuing Reading
At Seathorne, we highly value reading as an important skill and gateway to a world of fun and self fulfilment. We believe that ALL children really do enjoy sharing books with grown-ups and that YOU play a key role in supporting your child to become a fluent reader when they are older... and it starts with us here in Nursery!
There are three very important things you can do to help support your child with their journey to becoming a fluent reader:
1. Share books with your child. Look at the pictures and talk about them. Read them stories and find out which books they enjoy the most. Join the library and borrow books from us to share with them too.
2. Talk to your child. Talk about the world around them, their family, pets, favourite things... talk about anything and everything. Fill their little brains to bursting with words. Teach them new words when out and about and enjoy listening to what they have to say.
3. Sing songs and rhymes with your child. How many songs and nursery rhymes does your child know? 5? 10? 50? HERE is a link to a HUGE selection of FREE nursery rhymes videos.
In Nursery, we deliver the Little Wandle Foundations for Phonics programme. We deliver short, daily sessions to help your child learn to recognise rhyming words, syllables in words, the sounds that words begin with and the sounds within words e.g. knowing that cat is made of c-a-t. We focus ONLY on letter sounds, we do not teach them the letter shapes (graphemes); they will learn that in Reception.
Don't worry, if all of this is a bit confusing, we hold sessions at school for parents to help explain about phonics, what we do in Nursery and what you can do to help at home.
You can download a 'parents guide' to the Foundations in Phonics' programme here.
