St. Crispin’s school has a long pedigree
of offering outstanding early years education and recently acquired
The Grange Nursery School to further add to this
strong portfolio.
Our Foundation Profile scores have been consistently high over the
past few years and we perform well against other LEA grant funded
nurseries. Our children are happy and confident and have access to
large, airy classrooms and a large outdoor classroom. The
nursery is fully equipped and has the latest modern day ICT
equipment.
Ofsted Report 2011 – Category 'Good' across all criteria - Ofsted Inspection report 2011
Admissions
Children may start in our Foundation Unit as soon as they turn two years
old and can leave at school age to go into state schooling or elect to
stay at St. Crispin’s. All that we ask is that parent’s keep us informed
as to their choices and that if they wish to go into Foundation 2 that
they book a place as this class is limited to 16 children and first
priority is given to parents who have made their intentions clear on
admission to the Foundation unit and paid the full £250.00 school
deposit; next priority is given to siblings who already attend the
school subject to them being booked in; after that places are awarded on
a first come first served basis.
We write to all parents in the January before they are due to start main
school to ask parents to confirm their next choice of school; this is to
ascertain numbers and to comply with the Nursery Education Grant (NEG)
which requires us to pass on records to your child’s next school; and
also to allow parents the time to give us the contractual one term's
notice required by St Crispin's School which is in line with all Independent Schools.
Staff
The Foundation Department is managed by qualified Level 4 Senior
Practitioners, with our key workers being L.3; they are all caring and
experienced staff who ensure young children feel safe and happy in
our secure environment. All our nursery staff have in-depth knowledge of the requirements of the
Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum and keep their Continuing
Professional Development up to date. St. Crispin’s have been part of
the initial LEA pilot scheme for the EYFS since September 2008 and
staff regularly attends training courses run by Leicester City
Council and cascades this knowledge to their colleagues.
At St. Crispin’s we have an excellent ratio of staff to children
which allows us to give our children the individual attention that
they need and deserve. We ensure that we always conform to the
strict government guidelines set out in the EYFS on (which is 1:8
for 3+ children and 1:4 for 2+ children) and as such sessions booked cannot be altered or exchanged for other days,
neither can missed sessions be made up.
Our commitment to parents and children are as follows:
• To deliver personalised learning, development and care to help
children get the best possible start in life.
• To work with parents to support their young children.
• To use the key person system to allow your child to feel safe and
cared for.
• To provide regular information in the form of newsletters, wall
displays, photographs, examples of children’s work, reports, and
discussions and children’s message books.
• To have an ‘Open Door’ Policy and to ‘meet and greet’ on arrival
and departure.
• To deliver a well planned personal experience for your child that
builds on observations and reflection of their play that supports
areas of learning, language and communication.
• To recognise that play underpins all development and learning and
to balance adult-led and child initiated learning.
• To challenge gifted and talented children.
• To identify and respond early to the needs which could lead to
learning difficulties.
• To work with outside agencies.
• To provide personalised learning, development and support.
All children in the Foundation Department follow the QCA Statutory
Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Alongside the areas
required for the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1. The Foundation
Profile includes the areas of learning:
The Six Early Learning Goals
- Personal, social & emotional development
- Knowledge and understanding of the world
- Communication, language and literacy
- Physical development
- Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
- Creative development
The sessions at St. Crispin’s are structured and timetabled with a
good balance of both indoor and outdoor play with literacy and
numeracy activities that are stimulating and interesting to your
child. Readiness to read is encouraged and children are expected to
develop at their own rate as they are all unique individuals with
differing needs. Children use the PC’s and the new interactive
whiteboard in the foundation unit and have great fun with the
educational software.
We are always striving to bring out a child’s true potential and
want school to be a place where children feel confident and happy,
and progress both at their own stage of development but also in line
with government NEG requirements.
We foster a sense of achievement in children as they learn the
social and academic life-skills in an environment that promotes the
ideals of sharing, caring, politeness and consideration of others
giving the children the confidence to communicate with adults and
other children in standard play.
Full time children access the wider range of educational activities
on offer at St. Crispin’s. Children benefit from lessons with the
school’s visiting Music and Singing teachers. They enjoy PE with the
PE staff, visit the School ICT suite and enjoy the visits of the Book Bus,
the Fire Service and other visiting speakers. Parents are actively
encouraged to come in and talk to the children about their faiths
and customs.
Optional Extra's include:
-
Creative Dance is available as an additional extra for both boys and girls;
-
LAMDA Speaking of Verse and Prose Examinations for children aged four plus.
‘the children’s good achievement in the Early Years Foundation Stage is, in part, due to the favourable staffing ratios and high quality individual support which is given to each child’ www.ofsted.gov.uk, 2009