Hello and welcome to Laureate Community Academy Nursery!
As the Nursery Manager here at Laureate I bring 24 years’ experience working within the Early Years sector.
I have a keen interest in learning through play, but more specifically my passion is tailoring a bespoke child-led environment for your child/children to learn and thrive.
I look forward to welcoming you into the nursery.
Mrs. K. Woollard
Nursery Manager & Butterfly Class Teacher
Contact us
For more information please email us at: nurseryadmin@laureateacademy.co.uk.
Our Nursery Staff
Our Nursery Class Teachers
Mrs K Woollard
Nursery Manager & Butterfly Class Teacher
Miss S Griffin
Caterpillar Class Room Leader
Our Nursery Class Teaching Assistants
Mrs A Lynn
Teaching Assistant/Higher Level Teaching Assistant
Miss M Cromby
Teaching Assistant
Miss M Pipe
Teaching Assistant
Miss E Starling
Teaching Assistant
Mrs M Afzal
Teaching Assistant
Admission to Nursery
Please complete the Nursery Application Form, which is available in the attachments section on this page, and return to the school.
Click the link below to complete an electronic version of our application form.
Funding
Please use the links below to check if you are entitled to funded childcare hours:
Apply for free childcare if you’re working – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Admission to Nursery Class does not guarantee a full-time place in the school to which the nursery is attached. A separate application for a full time school place must be made to Suffolk County Council at the appropriate time. Children transfer from Nursery to Reception Classes in the September following their 4th birthday, when a reception class place has been applied for and offered via Suffolk County Council Admissions Team. Please visit our Admissions page for further details.
Nursery at Laureate
Our Vision
We endeavor to provide a stimulating, safe and nurturing environment that enables children to thrive as they learn through their play. Facilitated through a uniquely tailored learning approach in line with the early years’ framework.
Our indoor and outdoor environments are thoughtfully designed. We are very lucky to have a large, safe and exciting garden as well as our playground that the children love and where they are encouraged to run, climb, ride bicycles, dig and grow food, play imaginatively and explore whatever the weather
We value and encourage parents and carers to take an active interest in their child’s education and offer lots of opportunities for them to do so through share sessions and projects. We use the Early Years Foundation Stage guidance, tailored to each child’s needs and led by their interests as a basis for learning and development in the following areas: Communication and Language; Physical Development; Personal, Social and Emotional Development; Literacy; Mathematics; Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design.
Settling in Sessions for New Children
We offer two settling in sessions the first lasts for 45 minutes to an hour, where both you and your child can visit together. The teacher will be able to talk you through ‘what our day looks like’ and answer any questions that you or your child may have. The second session is a taster session for your child, they will come into nursery and have the chance to explore and play with the children independently. At the end of your child’s second session, the teacher
will meet you at the classroom door where they will again answer any questions you may have and update you on how your child has settled.
Our nursery morning session, starts at 9.00am and ends at 12.00pm. our afternoon session starts at 12.30pm and ends at 3.30pm.
When you arrive at the beginning of your session please wait to be greeted by a member of staff at the Nursery door with your child.
Snack
We offer a rolling snack to best meet the children’s needs. Your child will be able to help themselves to a snack such as, toast, crackers, a piece of fruit or a vegetable. All snacks are double checked against dietary requirements. Alongside the snacks, jugs of milk and water are available for drinks constantly throughout the day.
Our Day
We have a daily phonics session where we systematically focus on Phase 1 of Letters & Sounds programme or take part in some number or shape activities. We sing our songs about the days of the week and weather and love to have chats about our feelings.
Throughout the rest of the session we learn through play. Our teachers help to challenge us because they know us well and know what our next steps are. Every week there are three focus children who get to share their interesting news & family photos with the rest of the class. During a focus week, lots of observations and pictures are taken to let parents and carers know exactly how we are getting on in nursery. We use Tapestry Online Learning Journal to let families know about our wow moments too.
Lunch is from 12.00pm until 12.30pm, if your child is staying for the lunchtime session you have the option to book a school lunch at a charge of £2.80 per day or you can send your child with a packed lunch from home, water and milk are provided so please do not send cartons/plastic bottles.
If you send a lunch box/bag please ensure that it is clearly named or labelled. The children eat their lunch in our nursery and one of our Teaching Assistants will look after them while they eat. Lunch sessions are charged at £3.00 per day for non-funded children.
We believe in promoting healthy eating habits from an early age and we ensure we comply with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Statutory framework. There has been some changes to the Early Years Foundation Stage nutrition guidance particularly around packed lunches click the link for the full guidance: Early Years Foundation Stage nutrition guidance .
Children’s packed lunches should include items from the 5 main food groups:
- Bread, Rice, Potatoes, Pasta
These starchy foods are a healthy source of energy. Packed lunches should include 2 or more portions e.g., pasta salad, sandwich.
- Fruit and Vegetables
These foods provide vitamins, minerals, and fibre. Lunches should include at least 1 portion of fruit and/or 1 portion of vegetables / salad, or more e.g. carrot/cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes, a piece of fruit.
- Milk and Dairy foods
These foods provide calcium for healthy bones and teeth. Include 1 portion at lunch e.g. yoghurt, fromage frais, milk.
- Meat, Fish, Eggs, Beans
These foods provide protein for growth. Packed lunches should include 1 portion of these foods e.g. boiled egg as filling in sandwich, tuna as a sandwich filling, mixed bean salad, sliced chicken as a sandwich filling, to name a few.
- Drinks
Any drinks provided in lunch boxes should only include plain water, unsweetened fresh fruit juice, diluted fresh fruit juice, No Added Sugar Squash drink.
A pupil’s main water bottle should only contain water.
Items that should NOT be in a packed lunch include:
- Fizzy / sugary drinks in cartons, bottles, or cans
- Chocolate nut spread as a filling for sandwiches
- Confectionery such as chocolate bars, chocolate-coated biscuits and sweets
- Chewing gum
- Crisps or any packet savoury snacks high in salt and fat
- Peanuts and tree nuts (e.g., almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, peanut butter, etc.)
- Energy drinks
- Caffeine drinks
Special Diets and Allergies
Due to the high risk of nut allergies, we do not allow children to bring any foods containing nuts. We also recognises that some children may require special diets that do not allow for the guidelines to be met exactly. These should be discussed with the nursery/school and parents are urged to be responsible in ensuring that packed lunches are as healthy and close to the guidelines as possible. For these reasons children are also not permitted to swap food items.
Before home time we sing songs, read books and sometimes act out the stories we have written that day.
At the end of the day your child will be brought to their class door and returned to an agreed carer. If your child is being collected by someone out of the ordinary, please inform the staff at drop off. We ask that you wait for your child to be called by the staff so we can ensure the safety of all our children.
If you are late we will keep your child in the nursery.
Activities throughout the week in nursery include, but are not limited to; wiggle and squiggle, phonics, PE, forest fun,
rhyme and story time as well as plenty of busy learning [free play].
We use the Little Wandle scheme to teach phonics. This is the programme to help your child learn to read by connecting sounds with letters or groups of letters.
We follow our Trust’s curriculum programme called CUSP. This provides us with structured story time sessions which we link with the foundational knowledge focus of each week. We then plan your child’s opportunities and experiences around this.
The Early Years Foundation Stage
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to 5 years old. All schools and Ofsted-registered early years providers must follow the EYFS, including childminders, preschools, nurseries and school reception classes.
The EYFS seeks to provide:
- Quality and consistency in all early years settings, so that every child makes
good progress, and no child gets left behind. - A secure foundation through planning for the learning and development of each
individual child and assessing and reviewing what they have learned regularly. - Partnership working between practitioners and with parents and/or carers.
- Equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice, ensuring that every
child is included and supported.
There are four guiding principles that shape practice in early years, these are:
- Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
- Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
- Children learn and develop well in enabling environments with teaching and support from adults, who respond to their individual interests and needs and help them to build their learning over time. Children benefit from a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers.
- Importance of learning and development. Children develop and learn at different rates. (See “the characteristics of effective teaching and learning” at paragraph 1.18). The framework covers the education and care of all children, including children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
EYFS: Seven Areas of Learning
There are 7 areas of learning and development that must shape our educational provision, these areas are all important and interconnected. The first three are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn. These three areas are called the Prime Areas. These are followed with four Specific Areas, through which the prime areas are strengthened and applied.
Please ask to see our photo display in the hallway that shows a huge range of our exciting activities in each area to give an insight into how your child will explore the 7 areas of learning.
| Prime Areas | Specific Areas |
| Communication and Language (C&L) | Literacy (L) |
| Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) | Mathematics (M) |
| Physical Development (PD) | Understanding the World (UW) |
| Expressive Arts and Design (EAD) |
These areas are used to plan your child’s learning and activities. Our staff ensure these activities are targeted to your child’s individual interests, needs and stage of ability. There are also many resources available for children to choose themselves and develop their independence.
The seven areas of learning are achieved through Play! Our staff ensure that our play opportunities are varied and exciting for our children.
What is a Key Person?
The key person is a named practitioner who has responsibilities for a small group of children, they are there to help the child feel safe and secure. The role is important for both child and parent, and it is an approach set out in the EYFS.
The key person approach makes sure relationships between staff and children are ‘attentive, responsive, stimulating and affectionate.’ A key person ensures that within the day-to day demands of the nursery, each child feels welcomed, cherished and cared for as an individual to create a smooth transition from the home environment to nursery each session they
attend. Children feel settled and happy and are more confident to explore and thus become more capable learners.
Nappies and Potty Training
It is very important not to rush your child into using the potty or toilet. As a parent, we can often feel pressured into presuming they are ready as they approach two years old, however often they
show signs they are ready closer towards three years old, and we will support families when you are ready. All our staff believe children will display signs indicating they are ready such as:
- Knowing when they have got a wet or soiled nappy.
- They get to know when they are having a wee and may tell you they are doing
so or; - They know when they need a wee and tell you in advance.
- The gap between wetting a nappy is at least an hour. (If it’s less, potty training
may fail and at the very least will be extremely hard work for you.) - They can or are beginning to dress themselves with little or no adult support.
Our staff will work in partnership with you to create a smooth transition from nappies into pull ups and big girl/boy pants. If your child wears nappies/pull ups, then it’s parents’ preference whether they want to supply them daily or to bring them in ‘bulk’ and we will let you know when supplies are running low. Spare clothes: If your child is potty training, we recommend you supply at least 2 tops and 3 pairs of underwear, socks and bottoms. Crocs/Jelly shoes can be a good alternative to shoes or wellies whilst toilet training to allow them to be cleaned and dry quickly. Trousers need to have an elasticated waist to allow your child to easily pull them down and up, buttons and poppers often result in frustration and accidents. Trousers with an elasticated waist are great!
A copy of our Intimate Care Policy can be found by following the link below:
Intimate Care Policy (May 2024).
Additional Needs
At Laureate Nursery, we firmly believe that all children are precious and have gifts and talents, that must be developed and shared to enable them to reach their full potential. We recognise that as children learn through experience, individual needs will become evident. Effective teaching strives to meet these needs and challenge children to achieve their full potential and excel.
The link below takes you to our dedicated SEN page:
Special Educational Needs (SEN)
Our SEND Information Report for 2023-24 can be found using the following link:
Our Nursery has a Special Educational Needs Co-coordinator (SENCO) that works closely with the manager and with all practitioners in the setting; has responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the setting’s SEN policy, and for coordinating provision across the setting; and for supporting colleagues in all aspects of their work with children with SEN.
Our SENCO can contact the Early Help Hub if our staff or you as a parent identifies a reason to enquire for further support for you as a family or your child. The following information is from www.suffolk.gov.uk where you can search ‘Early Help Hub’ for further information.
Tapestry
At Laureate we use a program called Tapestry Online Learning Journal. Tapestry offers a fantastic opportunity for parents to have a regular, up to date insights into what your child is doing each week. Alongside the weekly update, your child will have a ‘focus observation’, this is where the nursery staff will carry out observations to see where your child is currently on their developmental journey and how we can aid their progression.
On tapestry you will also see a section for your child’s care, here the staff will update any nappy changes, lunch time messages and sleep times.
Please ensure that you and your grown up, regularly check Tapestry together, we would love to hear about things you do as a family at home using Tapestry too.
Talk to your child up about what you’ve been doing at nursery so they can support their learning.
Family Reading Books
Each week your child will come home with a story book to share with their family. We ask that you read this as often as you would like throughout the week, before returning them to your child’s class teacher. Please make sure you pop a comment in your child’s reading log, this will help teachers support your child in choosing their next book
Attendance
Children must not remain in the Nursery if they are unwell in any way.
The link below takes you to our dedicated Attendance information page: