Welcome to Fledglings Nursery

Teacher: Mrs Ervine
Teaching Assistants: Ms Daniels, Mrs Minter and Ms Andrews

This page is dedicated to all the exciting things we will be doing in class this year.

Dear Parents/Carers,

Newsletter Term

Welcome back to term 4 in Fledglings; we hope you all had a wonderful half term break.

We are now looking forward to a happy and hopefully healthy Term 4; with exciting new projects to investigate and some wonderful new experiences to enjoy.

May we also take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome to our new children and their families; Amelie, Effie, Ellie, Mollie, Johnny, Ronnie and William who will all be joining us this term. Welcome and we look forward to working with you all.

Our Nursery Staff – Mrs Ervine is the fulltime Nursery Teacher and Sarah Daniels is the fulltime Nursery Teaching Assistant. Gemma Minter and Davina Andrews are part time Nursery Teaching Assistants, sharing the role between them. As a staff we have opted NOT to assign the children to an individual “keyworker” in our Nursery as we are all keen to work with and foster close relationships with all of our children.

Nursery Timings – Please note that our Nursery Sessions run from 8.35am to 12 noon (morning) and from 12 noon to 3pm (afternoon session including lunchtime). Pick up is at 3pm so that our Nursery garden can be clear by 3.10pm when Wrens Reception Class will leave. The main school finish at 3.15pm so we have staggered our times to ease the rush of collecting any other siblings in school. Please also remember that Nursery children can access the main school Breakfast and After School Clubs, as long as we all feel that they will cope with it. Please speak to the main school office if you are interested in finding out more about this provision.

Projects, Plans & Routines – This term we will find out all about the wonderful Season of Spring and we will join together to celebrate another important event…this time, Easter!

Daily Routine and Tapestry Online Journals – Every day the children in Nursery engage in Child Initiated Learning where they are encouraged to play and learn inside and outside, following their own interests. Our staff are all trained to observe, support, extend and plan next steps for the children during this time. We will be using the online learning journal, Tapestry, to share pictures and observations with parents. This will provide you and us with a record of the learning experiences your child is taking part in and we can celebrate together the progress they are making. Please make sure you look out for and then activate your Parent Tapestry account as soon as you can and please do see one of the Nursery staff if you have any problems accessing this.

Foundation Phonics – We have introduced ‘Foundations for Phonics’ small group sessions for our older Nursery children in preparation for them learning to read and write. As a school we use the ‘Little Wandle Letters and Sounds’ programme and Nursery provides a perfect opportunity to lay the best possible Phonics foundations for children. We will do this by singing nursery rhymes together, building children’s phonological awareness and by playing a variety of phonics games together. More information about our Phonics programme will follow.

First Aid Reporting to Parents – If your child has a minor accident at Nursery (falling over, cuts and grazes etc) we will always try to let you know in person at the gate during pickup time. We will also report these minor first aid instances on the Tapestry Learning Journal so please remember to check on there, particularly if you are concerned about something that we may have forgotten to tell you about!

Spare Clothes and Welly Boots – As you know, we are a very hands on and messy Early Years Setting! The children WILL be getting dirty as they play and learn in Fledglings. It would be very helpful if you could please provide a spare set of clothes (and socks!!) for your child to change into if they get wet or dirty. We would also suggest sending in a pair of NAMED welly boots.

Family Photos – Please could you send in a family photo (ideally with your child in it) that we can display in our Home Corner area. Or feel free to email me a picture and I will print it off at school. It doesn’t matter how many people are in the picture (or who they are!) as long as they are special to your child and don’t mind being on our display! Many thanks to those of you who have already sent a photo in.

We really appreciate all your support, please do come and see us if you have any concerns or worries at all. Alternatively feel free to drop me an email on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or you can phone the school office on 01304 812539 and I will get back to you as soon as I can or we can arrange a meeting after school. Thank you.

Kind Regards,

Mrs Ervine, Sarah Daniels, Gemma Minter and Davina Andrews

Upcoming Dates for Nursery:-

Start of Term 4 – Monday 24 February
World Book Day - Thursday 6th March - children to wear pyjamas and bring in favourite book and bear
Science/DT week beginning Monday 10th March
EYFS Easter Service at the Church on Thursday 3rd April
End of term 4 on Friday 4th April

Below you will find extra links to websites and documents which will give you additional guidance on organising some focussed learning at home if you choose.

CBEEBIES maths games

CBEEBIES english games and videos

eyfs home learning pack

Starting with a Story - visit White Rose Maths for some activities based on stories.

white rose maths - early years

Free Early Years Education Guidance

For families with both working parents, we offer 30 hours free childcare during our school hours. 9am - 3pm Parents can check if they are eligible for the 30 hours by going to the Kent.gov website and searching for '30 hours free childcare' and registering for or logging into their childcare account . Eligible parents will be given a code that the school requires to be able to claim for that child, this needs to also be revalidated every 3 months before the beginning of each new term by using the same process. Please contact the school directly if you have any questions. 15 hours are offered to all parents regardless if they qualify for 30 hours or not.

Delivery patterns of free early education available at Fledglings

Sessions	Times	Weeks Per Year	Price
Morning Session	9.00 am – 12.00 pm	38 weeks – term time only	Free
Afternoon Session	12.00 pm – 3.00 pm	38 weeks – term time only	Free

For parents that qualify for 30 hours of funded childcare we offer full day sessions (subject to availability) with the day starting from 9am and finishing at 3:00pm Monday to Friday, including lunch time 12pm- 1pm.

Please note that the Free Early Education does not include lunch. Lunch meals are available at additional cost of £2.45 per meal unless a child qualifies for a free school meal. Parents can check this on the KCC website under Free School meals. This applies to children staying for the full day only not a single session.

Further information on eligibility and extended entitlement can be found on the government website https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk).

Please note that funded universal hours claimed at the beginning of each term will be fixed for the whole term (i.e. Autumn Term 1&2, Spring Term 3&4, Summer Term 5&6), any adjustments can only be made at the beginning of the next new term i.e. Autumn, Spring and Summer.

Please note that the Free Early Education does not include lunch. Lunch meals are available at additional cost of £2.41 per meal.

If you take up extra childcare over and above your child’s free entitlement, you will only ever be charged for the extra hours. Additional/non-funded hours can be paid for at a rate of £13.00 per session. Invoices will be emailed to you at the beginning of each month and fees are to be paid within 14 days of receipt of invoice. Payments can be made by cash, cheques, childcare vouchers or online bank transfers.

To claim the Free Early Education the child’s legal documentation, i.e. birth certificate or passport will be required on registration.

Payment of Fees

No deposit or registration fee required. Invoices will be issued on a monthly basis payable in advance. The account should be settled by the end of the second week of the invoice period. Payment can be made by cash, cheque, childcare vouchers or bank transfer. The fees may be subject to periodic reviews, increases will be notified at least one month in advance.

Fees cover all non-funded sessions for which the child is enrolled including any sessions not attended by the child for instance due to illness/holiday. One calendar month’s notice will be required to cancel a place/or reduce sessions, failure to follow to provide this notice will incur the usual fee of £13 per session. Please note that no notice period is required for Free Early Education places.

Non-payment of fees will result in the following actions by the nursery: Children in receipt of Free Early Education will only be able to attend nursery for their Free Early Education. Hours outside of this entitlement will not be available to access until the outstanding amount has been settled. Children who do not receive funding will be requested to not attend the setting until the outstanding amount has been paid.

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