Norton Fitzwarren Pre-School forms part of the early years provision at Norton Fitzwarren Church School. 

The pre-school is located within the main building with a secure, covered outside area.  Toileting and changing facilities are located within the setting.

The pre-school offers quality provision for children from 3 years to school age and works closely with the reception classes to ensure a smooth transition into school.

Early Years Curriculum

The pre-school follows the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum (EYFS) which offers all children the opportunity to learn a range of skills in a play based environment suited to their individual needs.  Your child will be allocated a keyworker who will ensure that activities are planned to specifically meet the needs and interests of your child and to support and challenge them to move forward in their learning.  Your child's keyworker will also be your primary point of contact at the pre-school, working closely with you and your child, to develop your child’s learning opportunities. 

You will be invited to meet with your child's keyworker at least twice a year, to discuss your child's development, success and their next steps.  We are also aware of the great value links with parents/carers have in a child's development and you are therefore welcome to meet with your child's keyworker at any point if you have any issues, concerns or questions.

All children attending the pre-school benefit from the varying facilities offered in our school. These include a hall, large outdoor area with forest school provision.  Pre-school children also have full access to special visitors and trips deemed appropriate for this age group.  (Some additional fees may apply).

Settling in

Staff will work closely with you to decide how best to support your child to settle into their new pre-school. Each child responds differently to new environments and you know your child best. All children must attend at least one settling in session as during this time the staff will spend time with your child without you and find out how best to support your child on their first session.  If you feel that your child may need more than one settling in session please speak to the keyworker or the preschool manager.

What your child needs

After you complete the necessary paperwork your child will be provided with one polo shirt with the pre-school logo on it.  Wearing the pre-school polo shirt to their session unites the children as a class and begins the transition into school where your child will be wearing a school uniform each day.  Additional uniform can be ordered from the School Uniform Shop in Taunton. This includes a navy jumper and additional polo shirts all with the pre-school logo on. Uniform is not compulsory.

Your child will also receive a communication book with their name and class on. A school bag if also provided for this to be transported to and from pre-school and for other important information. Your child needs to bring this every session that they attend.

We recommend that all children wear clothes suitable for physical activity and messy play, with sensible, well-fitting shoes eg trainers.

In addition, please provide your child with the following:

• Wellington boots.
• A warm hat and gloves in cold weather, sunhat in warmer weather.
• A winter coat in cold weather and a lighter coat during warmer weather.
• A complete change of clothes, including socks, clearly labelled with your child’s name, in a named bag.

Children with additional needs

Norton Fitzwarren Pre-school ensures that, through a thorough process of plan - do - review, each child’s individual needs are catered for.  If a child needs additional support the pre-school manager and the child's keyworker will work closely with the child's parents/carers and external professionals to ensure that the environment and planning is organised to suit these needs.  For further information, please see the school Special Educational Needs Policy.

Tapestry

We record observations and assessments of the children, to create an online learning journal. This means that parents/carers can access their child's learning journal at home, by simply downloading the tapestry app or using tapestryjournal.com. You will have your own personal log-in where you can see what your child has been doing at Nursery. We will aim to do several observations each half term, and some of these may link to the "Next Steps" planning for your child's development. 

You can also add your own observations of things your child has done at home. It might be a picture of a fun day out, or them singing their favourite songs!

Kindness tree and WOWs
In preschool we have a wow board and a kindness tree.

Our wows are to celebrate something the child has done that is WOW! such as riding their bike for the first time or sleeping in their own bed.
Our kindness tree is to celebrate something the child has done that's kind, such as helping bath brother/sister or sharing their sweets.

Please help yourself to the wows and apples, located on the wow board, write on them then bring them back into preschool to be shared with peers and displayed on the board and tree.

Each child will have three wows in the back of their communication book at the start of each new term.

Transition

The children in our pre-school visit the Reception class and Reception/Year one class through learning activities throughout the time they attend our setting so that the pre-school children are used to the environment before they move on to the next stage in their school learning journey. Therefore the Reception teacher and Reception/Year one teachers are familiar faces for all children enabling a seamless transition for children from the pre-school into their new class.

Safeguarding

The safety of all children in our school family is of the utmost importance to us.  We work in line with the Local Safeguarding Board procedures to identify any risks, and raise concerns as quickly as possible.  Please see the Safeguarding Policy for further information. Our Designated Safeguarding Lead team are: Headteacher Mrs Birt, Deputy headteacher Mrs Jones, SENCO Mrs Morris. EYFS teacher Miss Bartholomew and Thrive practitioner Miss Jones. 

Formal Complaint Procedure

We hope that you will never feel the need to complain, however, we understand that mistakes do happen.  If you have a complaint, please speak to your child’s keyworker in the first instance, and if you are still unhappy, the Preschool Lead, Ms Claire Naish.  If you still have concerns regarding the outcome, please arrange an appointment at the school office to see our Early Years Lead, Mrs Amy Warren or our headteacher, Mrs Kelly Birt.  For more information regarding our complaints procedure, please refer to the Complaints policy.

Policies

As part of Norton Fitzwarren  Church School the pre-school follows the policies of the school (which can be found on the policies section of this website).