Hayway Nursery Unit

Picture of the Hayway Nursery Unit

The Nursery Unit produced an information booklet for parents who wanted to send their children to the Nursery.

The cover of the Hayway Nursery Unit Information Booklet

The Nursery Unit

Drawing of the Nursery Unit from the information booklet

The nursery unit is situated within the school complex. It is self-contained with a covered outdoor play area and a partially grassed open area which is securely fenced on all sides. The permanent staff consists of three qualified teachers, one of which is the Teacher-in-charge, and two qualified nursery nurses.

Mr Johnson is the Headteacher of the school. It is a 40 place unit with children either attending morning or afternoon sessions. Some full-time places are available, but only in special circumstances. Children from Rushden and the surrounding area are eligible to attend.

Application and Admission

Application forms can be completed in the school  year of your child’s second birthday. If you wish your child’s name to be placed on the waiting list, please call at the Nursery to see Mrs Harpur any day between 9.30 and 11.00 am or between 1.30 and 3.00 pm.

Children are admitted as soon as possible after their third birthday and places are allocated from the waiting list in order of application unless special circumstances warrant a priority place.

The majority of children are admitted in the Autumn Term over a period of weeks, during September and October.

When a place becomes available an acceptance form is sent to the parents notifying them of the available place and an introductory visit is arranged when parents are asked to attend with their child for one session.

Snacks

Illustration from the information booklet

Snacks are carefully planned to give the children a variety of foods throughout the week. There might be fruit, cheese, biscuits, sandwiches or other savouries, and milk, fruit juice, sqash or Ribena to drink.

We charge          per week for snacks. Any surplus in the Snack Fund is spent for the benefit of the Nursery children.

Times of Sessions

Illustration from the information booklet

Morning Session              9.00 am – 11.30 am

Afternoon Session          1.00 pm – 3.30 pm

The Nursery Unit is provided by the Education Authority and is open from Monday to Friday each week during term time and is closed for the usual school holidays.

Due to heavy demand for places, parents are asked to ensure that children attend regularly and notification should be given as soon as possible as to the reasons for a child’s absence, WITHIN THREE DAYS at the latest. Failure to do this may mean the reallocation of the place to another child.

Here are a few small points on which we ask for your cooperation to make life in the Nursery a little easier for all but mainly for the children.

1. Please supply a pair of soft slippers for your child to wear in the Nursery.
2. A spare set of clothes should be kept in their bag at the Nursery. Sometimes the children get wet playing with the water or have a toilet accident.
3. Your child must be able to care for him/herself properly at the toilet when coming to Nursery. To help your child with this, please send him/her in clothes they can mange themselves, ie without difficult fastenings, belts or shoulder straps.
4. Please ensure all coats, shoes, wellingtons and soft shoes are marked
5. Because some children have food allergies we ask that you do not allow your child to bring sweets or food into the Nursery. If children require a special diet, please tell Mrs Harpur and this can be arranged for snacks.
6. We do not encourage children to bring their own toys to Nursery in case they get lost or damaged.
7. Please be punctual when collecting your child. They soon get distressed when they see everyone else going home and no one is there to collect them. If you are delayed, ring the school and send a message to us.
8. We MUST know who will collect your child, for obvious reasons. We will not allow your child to go with anyone unless they have a signed letter from the parent giving permission or we have had prior notice that someone else will collect the child.

The Nursery Day

Illustration from the information booklet

Illustration from the booklet

During each session the children have various structured activities to choose from including painting, sand and water, play dough, clay, woodwork, cooking, crafts, small and large construction toys, pre-writing activities, puzzles etc, as well as an indoor soft play area. They are encouraged to spend some time outside playing on a variety of apparatus.

Snacks are served during each session and it concludes with the children going into their groups for a short music session followed by a story with their group leader.

Please ensure that your child says hello to his/her group leader before starting any chosen activity.

Settling your Child in the Nursery

For some children, coming to Nursery can be a bewildering experience. We ask you to stay for a short time at the beginning of each session to settle your child. At first it may be necessary to stay for a longer time until your child is happy for you to leave. Please be patient and together, with your cooperation, we can make it a pleasant experience.

We ask you to help us to help your child by giving us any information which may be relevant to his/her behaviour and progress in the Nursery. As professional staff, we treat such information in strict confidence.

When children have settled into the Nursery, we welcome Mums’ help on a rota to help with preparing snacks, reading stories to small groups and other tasks in the Nursery. Dads are also very welcome to the Nursery to help.

The staff are always available to speak to parents at the beginning and end of each session or at any time by arrangement.

Nursery parents are welcome as members of the Hayway Parent-Teacher Association.

From the information booklet

The buildings were used for several other schools.
First Hayway School	New Schools Open 1909	Later - Intermediate	Later still - Girls' School

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