Admissions
Children for Eastwood Nursery School are admitted according to the processes and criteria laid down in the ‘Choosing Nursery Education’ book published by Wandsworth Borough Council. You can contact the Nursery School Office on 0208 876 3976 or email admin@eastwood.wandswoth.sch.uk. or visit the Council’s Family Information Service website for more information.
Our Day Nursery places are allocated on a first come first served basis. You will need to provide a non-refundable deposit to secure a place. Please telephone the administrator on 020 8876 3976 for more information or email edn@eastwood.wandsworth.sch.uk
If you are looking for a free 15 hours early education place for a 2 year old then you will need to apply through Wandsworth’s 2 year old team on 0208 871 5544 to check eligibility and availability. We take as many 2 year olds as we can each year. You can express a preference for a 2 year old place with us and we will notify you if we have one available.
Places in our Resource Base for children with social and communication difficulties are allocated by a Council-led Panel. An assessment by a speech therapist is normally the most basic requirement for this process to begin.
Attendance and Punctuality
We all want children to make as much progress as possible and to really benefit from their nursery provision. If children are in receipt of publicly-funded places then our attendance and punctuality policy applies: –
At Eastwood we aim to develop the potential of every child. In order to do this we work in close partnership with parents and families. For your child to achieve and make progress in learning it is vital that they attend regularly and consistently. Excellent attendance rates give your child the very best start to education
Authorised Absence
There are times when your child may be authorised to be absent from nursery school for the following reasons
- sickness (please do not bring your child in if they are unwell)
- hospital, clinic, doctor or dental appointment
- religious observance
- unusual family circumstances
If your child is unwell then please do not bring them in. If they have been vomiting or have had diarrhoea then please keep them away for 48 hours from last episode of diarrhoea or vomiting to ensure that they will not infect other children and the staff.
Unauthorised Absence
This is when your child is absent from their nursery place without us knowing why. In this case we will contact you to establish the reason for your child’s absence if we do not hear from you within three days. This helps us keep unauthorised absence to a minimum and helps us to fulfil our safeguarding duties.
Each term we analyse the pattern of attendance, the percentage of authorised and unauthorised absence and the reasons for any absences. We provide an attendance report which is shared with the primary school that your child moves on to.
Punctuality
In order to ensure that your child gets their full entitlement of hours, they should be school and collected on time. If children arrive more than 15 minutes after the start of the session then they are late and the late book must be signed. We must record all late arrivals and early collections.
Whilst we do not encourage children to have any less than their full entitlement of daily hours we understand that you may need to collect children a little earlier to enable you to collect siblings from other schools in the area. Our early collection time is 3:00.
Registration
Your child’s Key Person will register them upon arrival so please make a point of telling the Key Person or another member of staff that your child has arrived.
Behaviour Policy
A prime area of learning is Personal, Social and Emotional Development and behaviour issues are taken very much in the context of children learning about their own needs and the needs of others. We avoid ‘rules’ at Eastwood and instead talk to children about feelings, positive behaviours and things that can upset others as learning opportunities. If a child has become upset or harmed as the result of another child’s behaviour we will explain what happened and how we managed the situation to you as quickly as we can. If we need to really focus on an aspect of your child’s personal, social and emotional development, then we will work in partnership with you to try and ensure consistency between home and Nursery, for example by starting a ‘social story’ with you and your child. We can only involve another agency with your consent and would normally work with you to complete an Early Help Assessment first.
Charging Policy
Under Government legislation governors are required to draw up a policy for charges and remissions for visits and all other activities at Eastwood Nursery School and Eastwood Day Nursery. In line with the Finance Manual, we are required to ensure that we have a clear charging policy for all our services. Charges are reviewed on a regular basis and it is an audit requirement that the charging policy be reviewed annually.
Clothing
There is no uniform at Eastwood as there is plenty of time for that when children start primary school! We simply ask that children attending Eastwood nursery:
- have clothes that they can manage themselves as far as possible with their name in them
- wear clothes that no one will mind if they get wet or grubby in the day
- avoid jeans (as they are hard for children to manage independently) and instead come in joggers or shorts
- once walking, have a pair of named water-proof wellington boots and a named raincoat that are at nursery every day
- have plenty of spare clothes in a named bag (especially pants, socks and jogging bottoms)
Complaints
The governors have adopted the Wandsworth Council Complaints procedure.
If you have a concern then please follow this simple procedure; raise the concern with your child’s Key Person to see if the issue can be addressed and put right straight away.
If you continue to be concerned please talk to the relevant room leader, class teacher or senior manager – Deputy Headteacher (Nursery School), Day Nursery Manager or Business Manager. Any staff member can be initially contacted through the contact addresses at the bottom of the page.
If you feel your complaint needs to be further escalated then please write to the Executive Headteacher who will investigate and respond formally to your complaint in writing and/or meet with you.
If you wish to escalate a complaint further or wish to complain about the Executive Headteacher please take the matter to the Chair of Governors marking any letters or emails as Private and Confidential to the Chair of Governors and use the Nursery School contact details below. The Chair’s response is final.
Sickness
Sickness
We would like children to attend regularly so that they do not miss out, but please do not bring your child if they are unwell i.e. has a temperature, is tired or listless, has the early miserable stages of a bad cold, or any other symptoms which might be infectious to other children. If a child has vomited or has had diarrhoea they should be kept at home for 48 hours after the last bout.
Administering Medicines
We can only give out prescribed medicine in school e.g. children with inhalers to control asthma. This must be arranged with the Deputy Headteacher and instructions documented and signed.
If you have administered any medication e.g. Calpol then your child is not well enough to be in school. Please keep them at home.
If your child has diarrhoea or is being sick, please keep them at home until 48 hours after their last bout.
When children are unwell they may still ask to come to school. However much your child wants to come, if they are unwell, please keep them at home. Please let us know if your child is going to be away and if they have an infectious or contagious disease.
Critical Incident Procedure
It is not possible to plan/identify every critical incident that could occur. The aim of this document is to ensure that there is a framework for response to critical incidents that is communicated to all staff. It identifies the key personnel and processes. For most incidents the process will be similar if not identical.
Equality and Diversity
Each child is valued as an individual. We ensure that we offer equality of opportunity to all children in every area of our school life. We encourage children to value and respect each other’s differences and aim to reflect different cultures and backgrounds in our activities.
Home Learning Plan
Eastwood Nursery School fully reopened in September 2020 after lockdown due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We had robust plans in place to welcome back our returning children to admit new children, to ensure a positive experience for all. However, we were aware of the likelihood that there would be further waves of the virus which could mean returning to in-school “bubbles” and possible further local and national lockdowns to contain virus transmission. We therefore considered our approach to continuing to provide education and support for our children and families, in the event that some would have to stay at home for periods of time.
Literacy
Maths
Movement and Physical Development
Online Safety
Online safety is an integral part of safeguarding. Accordingly, this policy is written in line with ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ 2018 (KCSIE) and other statutory documents; it is designed to sit alongside your school’s statutory Safeguarding Policy. Any issues and concerns with online safety must follow the school’s safeguarding and child protection procedures.
Outdoor Learning
Positive Behaviour Policy
Our policy is in place in order to ensure that children, parents, carers and all staff understand the approaches and strategies used to support children’s behaviour. Understanding and following the same approach will support the development of children’s personal, social and emotional development.
Privacy Notice and GDPR
This notice is to help parents understand how and why Eastwood collects your child’s personal information and what we do with that information. It also explains the decisions that you can make about your child’s information.
We are giving you this notice because you are able to exercise your child’s data protection rights on their behalf. When your child is older (usually when they reach the age of 13) they will be considered mature enough to exercise their own data protection rights.
If you have any questions about this notice please talk to the Executive Headteacher.
Safeguarding and Child Protection
The Governors and staff fully recognise the responsibilities and duty placed upon them to have arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of all pupils at the school. We recognise that all staff, including volunteers, have a full and active part to play in protecting pupils from harm.
We also recognise that children have a fundamental right to be protected from harm and that pupils cannot learn effectively unless they feel secure. The Executive Headteacher, staff and Governors will, therefore, provide a school environment which promotes self-confidence, a feeling of worth and the knowledge that pupils’ concerns will be listened to and acted upon.
We are legally required to investigate and report to the appropriate authorities if we have any reason to suspect that a child is suffering from any kind of abuse. The school will raise Child Protection / Safeguarding concerns with parents / carers at the earliest appropriate opportunity, and work in partnership with them and other agencies to improve outcomes.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:
- Protecting children from maltreatment
- Preventing impairment of children’s health or development
- Ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
- Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes
Please remember that mobile phones or devices are not allowed to be used in the classrooms or outdoor learning areas. Thank you for your cooperation regarding this matter.
The school supports the Prevent Strategy, which works to prevent the growth of issues that create a climate which encourages radicalisation and extremism, which in turn can lead to acts of violence or terrorism.
The school works within the curriculum to promote tolerance and respect for diverse views, while challenging prejudice of any kind. We are an inclusive school which values citizenship and a sense of belonging. Pupils are encouraged to share their views and recognise that they are entitled to have different beliefs, but that these should not be used to influence others.
Operation Encompass is an information sharing agreement between the Metropolitan Police and Wandsworth Borough Schools.
If police have responded to a domestic incident and there are children in the family, Operation Encompass will disclose this incident to the child’s school. The actual content of the information shared is kept to the minimum, i.e. outlining the offence, but without specific details.
At Somerset information is shared with one of the Designated Safeguarding Leads, Emma Williams, Executive Headteacher or Lisa Noel, Deputy Head Teacher and is treated as sensitive and confidential.
Research shows that children who are involved or who have witnessed domestic abuse are more at risk of emotional harm and potentially physical harm. The information is shared in order to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the child, and so that support can be offered to your child if necessary. The school is part of the network available to support you and your child.
If you have any concerns about children’s safety please discuss them with our Deputy Headteacher or Executive Headteacher, or you can contact the Wandsworth Children’s Services Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) on Tel: 0208 871 6622 or 0208 871 6000 (out of hours) email: mash@wandsworth.gov.uk (secure email)
Make yourself familiar with our safeguarding policy below.
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
All Wandsworth schools and early years settings are required to include on their websites their contribution to the ‘local offer’. This means that across all early years settings in the Borough there is a comprehensive range of services for young children with special educational needs. This webpage indicates our contribution to the local offer. Eastwood’s inclusion statement
Eastwood is an inclusive setting with both the commitment and the experience to ensure that children with a wide range of needs can benefit from, enjoy and make good progress in our day nursery and nursery school and can be fully included on our extensive children’s centre programme. By providing a very individualised approach in which observation and child-initiated learning are central, children will be able to learn at their own rate and in their own unique way. Well qualified, experienced and sometimes specialist staff ensure that children’s progress is carefully monitored and specific skills taught where this will open up the curriculum and ensure each child can access the full range of learning experiences here at Eastwood. At Eastwood, our Special Education Needs Co-ordinator is Mary Edgar and she can be contacted on 020 8876 3976 or through admin@eastwood.wandsworth.sch.uk Disclaimer
The information in this report is accurate now, but we regularly review and make changes to what we offer and keep this information as up to date as possible. Feedback
This offer is intended to give you clear, accurate and accessible information. If you would like to comment on the content of the offer or make suggestions to improve the information, please email the Admin Team
Supporting children at school with medical conditions
Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on governing bodies of maintained schools, proprietors of academies and management committees of PRUs to make arrangements for supporting children at their school with medical conditions.
Transition, home-visiting and Settling
We all want children to settle quickly and happily into Eastwood. It is most important that you come and visit with your child before deciding if Eastwood is the best place. Tours are generally on Friday mornings but other times can be arranged. Phone 020 8876 3976 or email admin@eastwood.wandsworth.sch.uk to book a place.
Home Visiting
Wherever possible and practicable we will offer a home visit a few days before your child starts. This will make a big impact on their ability to settle quickly and calmly. Each child has an allocated ‘Key Person’ and having met them in their own home helps the child to be confident to be with them when they start Nursery. We do understand that home visits are not always practical, especially for working parents so our approach is very flexible.
We do ask that all parents or carers attend for settling sessions. This helps your child to be comfortable at nursery and helps you to get a feel for life at nursery. This small investment in time now will ensure your child gets the most from their early years education. Your Key Person will liaise with you and agree with you a settling plan which can be reviewed daily depending on how well your child settles with us.
Settling
All 3 and 4 year olds and eligible 2 year olds are entitled to 15 hours a week of nursery education from the term after their 3rd (or 2nd where eligible) birthday. However we will work with you to ensure that your child builds up to these hours so that they, and you, are confident and happy, throughout the session.
Wherever possible we admit only a few children on any one day. This is to give them space, attention and time to settle in and for us to communicate effectively with you. We aim to get them up to their complete allocation of hours as quickly as possible and will work closely with you to do so. Again we understand the needs of working and studying parents and take this into account when working with you on a settling plan.
Transitions
Many of our children make one or more transitions whilst they are with us; from baby room to toddler, from toddlers to pre-school or Maple and Beech (our nursery school classes). In most cases this will involve a change of Key-Person. For this reason we update our assessment records and ensure Key Persons meet to plan the transition and ensure the experience is a happy one for everybody.
