In the first instance, your child’s Key Person or the Room Leader should be your point of contact. Alternatively, or if your child’s Key Person is not available, please come and see a member of the management team in the nursery office. In the highly unlikely event that an issue is not addressed satisfactorily, we have a Complaints & Grievance Procedure, which outlines the process to follow. This can be found at www.stgabriels.co.uk/policies.

If we have any concerns about the development or behaviour of your child we will discuss these with you on an informal basis. We would hope that together we can identify the appropriate help and support needed.

Parents are kept up-to-date with information on the main noticeboards in the entrance to the nursery and outside the Pre-School entrance. We also communicate with parents through verbal feedback, emails, through our online app ParentZone and our monthly memo.

At the end of the day your child’s Key Person or another member of the nursery staff will give you feedback on your child’s day, including details of activities they have enjoyed and any specific achievements. Parents can log on to ParentZone at any time to view their child’s daily timeline.

Once a term, parents meet more formally with their child’s Key Person to discuss their child’s progress. These discussions take place over the telephone.

A wide variety of events are organised throughout the year, which might include a Mother’s Day Tea Party, a Fathers’ Stay & Play Morning, an Easter Egg Hunt, Sports Day, a Christmas Performance. Further information on upcoming events can be found on the nursery noticeboards/doors, via the website or the monthly memo. 

Yes. Entry to staff and parents is via an electronic fob system, buzzer entry or keypad code.  CCTV surveillance is in operation around the nursery building and staff are vigilant in checking regularly that all external doors and gates are locked.

Yes. As part of a healthy routine, children are taken for walks around the school’s beautiful grounds and also have use of the Junior School facilities for some specialist activities.

Please telephone or email the nursery by 9.00am to notify us of the reason for your child’s absence.  If you do not contact us, we will telephone both parents followed by the emergency contact to confirm your child’s absence.

Your child is welcome to attend nursery if they are feeling under the weather but should not attend if the illness is infectious. Please telephone or email the nursery by 9.00am with the reason why your child is unable to attend their scheduled session.

We operate a 48-hour exclusion period if your child has vomiting or diarrhoea. Should your child have an infection, such as chickenpox, we ask that they are completely free of the infection before returning to nursery. Please refer to our First Aid Policy, which can be found at www.stgabriels.co.uk/policies.

We ask parents, as far as possible, to supply holiday dates in advance and to provide at least 48 hours notice of any changes to planned dates. Please note that fees will still be due for your child’s normal scheduled sessions, except when the nursery is closed.

We understand that parents are sometimes unavoidably late to collect their child and we ask that you inform us immediately if you will not be on time. As our staffing levels are calculated according to the number of children we care for, unforeseen disruption to the number of children who need caring for can have a significant financial and organisational impact on the day-to-day running of the nursery.  Therefore, in order to encourage parents to be prompt and to cover costs when such situations arise, a late collection fee will be charged for every 15 minutes after the advertised end of the session.  The current late collection fee can be found in the Schedule of Fees at www.stgabriels.co.uk/fees.

We ask you to inform a member of the nursery management team if someone different will be collecting your child.  Please provide details of the person collecting and also arrange a password for them to use. If you do not inform us of any changes, we will not let your child leave without contacting you and receiving your confirmation of the arrangement.

Medicine (both prescription and non-prescription) will require consent to be given on the medicine form. Prescription medicines must include the prescription label. Each time a child has a new prescription, they will not be able to attend the nursery until 24 hours after the first dose in case of an allergic reaction. Infant paracetamol will only be administered in the event of your child having a temperature, and they would then need collecting. Please refer to the First Aid Policy, which can be found at www.stgabriels.co.uk/policies.  Piriton will only be given in accordance with our Illness & Medication Policy.

If your child has an accident at nursery, we will complete an accident form, discuss this with you during collection and provide you with a copy. If your child has a bump to the head or the accident is of a serious nature we will observe them and also contact you immediately.

If your child has had an accident at home, we ask you to inform us and complete an existing injury form so that we are aware of the nature and its extent.  Under safeguarding procedures, if a significant injury is noticed, we have a duty to inform the relevant department at the local authority who will advise us on how the injury is investigated.  The welfare of the child is our primary concern.  Please refer to the First Aid Policy, which can be found at www.stgabriels.co.uk/policies.

With a warm, soft cloth or facial wipe. Please inform us if this is not suitable for your child’s skin

If you require any one-off additional sessions, please speak to a member of the nursery management team, who can check availability for you.  A separate charge will be added to your invoice.

Please speak to the Nursery Manager who will check availability.  Confirmation is required via email.

Please provide three months’ notice (a term’s notice for term time children) in writing to the Nursery Manager.

In the Baby Room dummies are used at your request and only if sent in from home, clearly named and in a sealed container.  Dummies can be sterilised if necessary.  We encourage children in the Toddler Room to only use their dummy during sleep time.

Unless a toy is required as a comforter, or they are bringing something in for ‘Show & Tell’ or another pre-planned activity, you should encourage your child not to come into the nursery with toys from home. Lost belongings can cause a lot of heartache. Toys which are brought in from home must be clearly named.  Comforters will only be used during nap times and in times of distress.

If children are behaving inappropriately, they are distracted. With older children we introduce ‘time out’ and encourage them to think about the consequences of their behaviour and actions. No other form of discipline is used. Please refer to the Behaviour Policy, which can be found at www.stgabriels.co.uk/policies.

The majority of children in the Pre-School Room move on to the Reception class at St Gabriel’s. They will already be familiar with many of the teachers and Junior School facilities so we can prepare for a smooth transition to ‘big school’.

In accordance with our Terms & Conditions, our notice period is three months for full time (50 weeks a year) children and one term for term time only children.

Term dates are the same as those for the main school and are published on the school website.  The only exception is that the nursery is open on Dame Betty Day (last Friday in November) when the rest of the school is closed.  Term time children will not be scheduled to attend the nursery on school INSET days.  If you would like your child to attend on INSET days (or any other additional days), please speak to the Nursery Manager, who will check availability.

The nursery staff and visitors are requested not to use their mobile phones within the setting. Parents are welcome to take photographs of their own child(ren) during planned events.  Please refer to the Photography & Student Images Policy, which can be found at www.stgabriels.co.uk/policies.

Yes, some children attend sessions at different settings. If your child goes to another setting on particular days, please let us know so that we can share information with their other setting. This will allow us to build up a full picture of your child based on our observations, your home experiences and feedback from any other setting your child attends. To effectively plan for your child’s development, information sharing with parents and other EYFS settings is key. 

The term after your child turns three is when they become eligible for early years funding.  Under the universal hours you will receive up to a maximum of 15 hours per week for up to 38 weeks of the year depending on how many days your child attends our setting.  You may be eligible for the extended hours, which is up to an additional 15 hours per week, for a maximum of 38 weeks a year.  In order to receive the extended hours entitlement, you will need to apply to HMRC for an eligibility code, this will need to be passed onto the Finance Office in advance of you receiving your extended hours funding.

From 1 April 2024 the government will introduce funding for 2 year olds. You will need to apply in the same manner as above to receive this and inform the Finance Office of the eligibility codes a month before the term starts.

If your child attends more than one setting the funding can be split, but you cannot claim more than the allowed hours between both sites.  Please contact the Finance Office if you wish to split your funding between two settings.

For more information on how the funding is applied, please contact the Finance Office.