Victoria Park Nursery School & Family Hub

It is our responsibility to ensure that all children registered at Nursery School are safe.  For this reason, we will always contact you if your child has an unexplained absence.

If your child is not able to come to Nursery School, please contact us to let us know, either by telephone 01635 41296 selecting option 1 or an email to the office on office@victoriapark.w-berks.sch.uk.  It’s helpful if you can do this before your the start of your child’s session so that we can let their Teacher know in advance.

If you are unsure whether your child should come to Nursery, please telephone us so that we can offer advice but if your child is unwell he/she is really better off being kept at home.

If you arrive late, please come into Nursery School through the office so that we can add your child to the register.  Similarly, if you want to collect before the end of the session, come to the office so that your child can be signed out. You should only collect early if you have arranged this in advance with your child's teacher.

Our admissions policy states that if a child has a great deal of unexplained absence, we cannot guarantee that their place will be held for them.

Staff at Nursery School are trained to support children with asthma or similar respiratory conditions.  Please let your child’s Key Person know if your child has asthma, and if an inhaler has been prescribed.  It’s useful to ask your GP for an additional spacer and inhaler so that a spare can be kept in our medical cupboard.

Staff have been trained to use the common brands of adrenaline pen. If your child has an allergy that requires the use of an adrenaline pen, please let us know so that their Key Person can discuss with you how best we can provide support.

Whilst we are as vigilant as possible, it is your responsibility to ensure that medications kept in Nursery School are in date and still required.

We will try to accommodate all requests for regular or ad hoc additional sessions that you wish to pay for (see our charges section for up to date costs).  These are subject to the sessions being available and are reviewed each term when we have new children joining us.  You are also welcome to book extra breakfast, lunch or tea clubs if spaces are available.

Please note that all additional sessions must be paid for in advance.

The Government defines British values as 

Democracy
Rule of law
Individual liberty
Mutual respect and tolerance

At Victoria Park Nursery School & Family Hub we promote British Values by recognising that such values are intrinsic within the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum (2021) which we adhere to.

At Victoria Park Nursery School & Family Hub we see British Values in the following ways:

– Enabling children to understand the value and ability to take turns (democracy) for example by sharing resources and expressing their thoughts/opinions/feelings.
– Enabling children to respect each other and understand right from wrong (rule of law) for example children knowing that we use words and not force if we disagree with others.
– Enabling children to make choices and recognise some choices may be different to others (individual liberty) for example children valuing and respecting choices made by their peers.
– Enabling children to respect and value others (mutual respect and tolerance), for example recognising and valuing children’s different play and reinforcing that play is open to everyone; learning that some cultures may be different to others but equally should be respected.

If your child is unwell he/she is better off staying at home until they feel better. If they have sickness or diarrhea they must stay at home for 48 hours after the last episode. Some infectious diseases require a child to stay at home for a set period, so it is important that you let us know if you suspect your child has an infection or they have been diagnosed by a medical practitioner. If you are unsure whether your child should come to Nursery, please telephone us so that we can offer advice.

You can see the Nursery School’s privacy notice for parents and carers in our Policies section of the website.

Young children have lots of falls and trips because they are growing and this affects their balance (vestibular system) and their body mapping (proprioceptive system).  All minor accidents are dealt with and documented in the class incident book and you will be given a copy at pick-up time.  In the unlikely event of a more serious injury, or a head injury, you will be contacted by telephone so that you are aware of the situation.  We will provide additional guidance if your child has had a head injury.

All our classroom staff have undertaken the 12 hour Paediatric First Aid course which includes CPR.

In common with all schools, we have a no nuts policy at Victoria Park.  This is due to the extreme allergic reactions that can occur.  Please do not send any type of nut or nut product into school.  This includes spreads, yogurts and snack bars containing nuts. 

We do not have facilities to provide hot meals at Nursery School, so parents and carers are asked to provide a balanced packed lunch for children who stay to Lunch Club.  A healthy packed lunch guide is available from the school office. Please don’t send chocolate, sweets or drinks, as we provide water and milk at the lunch table.

There is no need to send your child to Nursery School with a snack, as during the morning and afternoon sessions, our snack table is open where we provide water, milk and a selection of vegetables, fruits and other healthy snacks.  All food provided is vegetarian and we keep a record next to the snack table of food allergies and intolerances.  We ask parents for donations for our snack table and you will get a message about this from the office every few weeks.

At Nursery School, we serve drinks in open cups and children are expected to sit at the table while they eat and drink.

We think it’s really important that children get to spend time outdoors in the fresh air all year round.  Our gardens are open during all of the Nursery School session and parents are asked to provide clothing suitable to go out in all weathers.

Our aim is to work in partnership with parents and carers, since we are mindful that you are your child’s first, and most important, educators.

Each term, we have a Rhyme Challenge where you are asked to support your child to enjoy 5 songs or nursery rhymes.  Families are then invited to a performance of the rhymes towards the end of term!

We always welcome the involvement of families who often support us with reading stories or helping children at the snack table. Families have also supported us with celebrations of festivals from their own heritage such as Diwali, Chinese New Year or Christmas.

The Friends of Victoria Park  is our fund-raising organisation and is a charity separate from the Nursery School.  Parents are very welcome to volunteer as Trustees of the charity or to help organise events. Please speak to your child’s Key Person if you would like to get involved.

As a state maintained school, we have a board of governors which has 2 places for parent governors.  The board meets 9 times a year, usually via a Zoom meeting in the evening.  We will let you know if vacancies become available for parent governors.

Headlice is a problem in all schools so please check your child’s hair regularly to keep infestations under control.  It’s best to check your child’s hair at least once a week and if you find any signs of headlice (eggs or live lice) treat the whole family.

We have a holiday form we ask you to complete for you to let us know about planned family holidays – please speak to your child’s Teacher for more information.  

Our admissions policy states that where holidays are planned to be in excess of 4 weeks, we are unable to guarantee that your child’s place will be held for them.  If you are planning a holiday shortly after your child’s planned start date at nursery, we will usually recommend that you delay entry until after your return.

We use an online Learning Journal called Tapestry which is held on a secure server.  You can have online access to your child’s account by providing us with an email address.

We include a short “settling in” report on Tapestry so that you know what your child had done during the first couple of weeks at Nursery School.  We then record “wow” moments when we have seen new learning.  

You are able to upload your own observations onto Tapestry and we’ve found that children really enjoy sharing their activities from home with adults at Nursery School as well as with their friends.

We are happy to administer prescribed medication and ask that you complete a permission form to give us the correct instructions.  It’s very important that you give the medication to your child’s Key Person so that it can be stored safely.

We are not able to administer over-the-counter medications such as Calpol.  If you think your child needs a dose of such medication, they are probably not well enough to be at Nursery School.

Whilst we are as vigilant as possible, it is your responsibility to ensure that medications kept in Nursery School are in date and still required.

We have facilities in Nursery School for nappy changing, and we ask you to supply your own nappies and wipes if your child still wears them when they start with us. We also have a storage area for nappy cream – please name the container and hand it to your child’s key person so that it can be safely stored. 

Please ensure your child starts their nursery school session in a clean, dry nappy.  We also ask that you please use nappies and not pull-ups as it’s much quicker for us to change a nappy (a big consideration when there may be several to do!)

Our classroom staff are happy to offer advice about how you can help your child to use the toilet and will work together with you to support your child.  Unless your child has a special educational need or disability, we would expect them to be using the toilet during the day by around the time of their 3rd birthday.  We can call on the support of Health Visitors if we think additional advice is needed.

Nursery School is often the first time that children have had to share toys and adults’ time and is also possibly the first time they have been with a group of other children.  A lot of our time is spent supporting children to develop their personal, social and emotional skills.

We have a positive approach to behaviour management, always reflecting the age of the children and our understanding of child development.

Victoria Park Nursery School & Family Hub takes seriously its responsibility to protect and safeguard the welfare of children in its care.  We have in place policies and procedures that safeguard and promote the welfare of children who come to Nursery School.  Staff here are all responsible for identifying children who may be at risk from abuse or neglect.  You can find out more by reading our Child Protection Policy in the Policies section of our website.  A list of our Designated Safeguarding Leads is in the staff section.

We will get you connected with Tapestry as soon as possible after your child starts at Nursery School.  An email will be sent to the main email account that you included on your child’s registration form.  Sometimes the emails go into the spam or junk folders.  If you have any problems, please call into the office as it’s usually quite simple to sort things out.

You can download an android or ios app for Tapestry free in your app store, or access it via the web at https://tapestryjournal.com.

If you need some support with our online Tapestry learning journal, this link will take you to some tutorials.

In our Chestnut Group, the staff ratio is 1:4 for 2 year olds.  Once the children are 3, the ratio changes to approximately 1:8 and one member of staff is a qualified teacher.

In Willow Group, we have 2 classes of 3-4 year olds.  Each group of 26 has a qualified teacher and a L3 member of staff.  There are also 4 LSAs working in the Group.