Day to day information about Abbeydale Cottage Nursery
Abbeydale Cottage Nursery is open 7.30am-6.30pm, Monday toFriday, all year round with the exception of Bank Holidays and Christmas week.We close at 1pm on 24th December/Christmas Eve in years that this falls on a weekday, and re-open the first working day after 1st January. There is no charge for these closure days.
Our core session times are 8-1pm, 1-6pm and 9-4pm. We request a two session minimum to support children in becoming familiar with the setting.
Our experienced and qualified staff will care for and nurture your child, supporting their learning and development across all areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage in partnership with you, as parents and carers. We will provide appropriate age-related activities which are designed to encourage your child’s social, emotional, and physical skills, creativity, and all-important communication and listening skills. Of course, your child will just see all this as different ways of playing.
Some of the activities your child will take part in include:playing with sand and water, painting, drawing, sensory play, crafts, creating with construction blocks and play dough, moving and dancing to music, listening to stories and reading, doing jigsaws and puzzles, cooking and baking, singing songs and nursery rhymes.
We also have an enclosed outdoor courtyard where we believe that all our indoor activities can happen outdoors too, from crafts to dancing and snack time picnics. We are lucky to have access to a large onsite playing field for running, jumping, climbing trees and rolling down banks. We also go for walks in the local area and visit places such as Ecclesall Woods, Dore Station, the local post box or supermarket.
We will keep you updated throughout the day on feeding, sleeping and activities your little one has been doing via our Famly app.
When you arrive at nursery you will be greeted by our facial recognition system. If you are registered the camera will allow you to enter the building. If you are not registered you will ring the doorbell and our nursery coordinator will let you in.
When you drop off, ring the appropriate classroom door bell, please sign in on the screen in the hallway, before attaching your child’s photograph above the coat peg. Hang up their bag, coat and place their shoes under the peg. A member of staff will meet you on the corridor where you can handover anything our staff need to know before they take your child into the room to start their day.
If a person who is not known to nursery will be collecting your child, please advise the member of staff on reception and room staff. You will also need to supply the individual with the collection password. We will not release a child to anyone other than the known parent or nominated adult.
When collecting, please remember to take home all your child’s belongings. Sign out on the screen in the hallway as you leave.
Please advise us if you are running late at either end of the day.
If you arrive early at nursery at drop off, you will be asked to wait in the corridor until the designated time. We allow 5 minutes overrun at the end of the session before applying a late collection charge.
• Suitable and namedclothing and footwear for all weathers including warm, waterproof outdoorclothing and wellies for wet weather, sun hat, loose long sleeve/leggedclothing for sunny days
• Several changes ofclothes, particularly if your child is toilet training
• Prescribed medicineswith pharmacy dispensing label, nappy creams, teething gel, sun cream (to beapplied before attending nursery) are to be handed directly to staff.
• Comforter and/or dummyfor sleep time
• Pre-school uniform – ACN polo shirt and cardigan/sweatshirt
We are sorry but we cannot accept toys from home.
We require prior written notice by a person with parental responsibility to administer medicines. Please speak to a member of staff who will provide you with a consent form.
We promote the good health of all children attending. Tohelp keep children healthy and minimise infection, we do not expect children toattend nursery if they are unwell. Please report any sickness absence either bytelephone or via the Famly app, as soon as possible.
Any open wounds must be dressed before coming to nursery.
In the unfortunate event that your child has an accident or requires hospital treatment, please speak to a member of the management team to discuss your child’s needs before they return to nursery.
This must be in the original container and can only be given to the person named on the bottle for the dosage stated.
The nursery will not administer any non-prescription medicine containing aspirin or ibuprofen.
If a child needs medicine such as liquid paracetamol or antihistamine for a temperature or allergic reaction, such will be treated as prescription medicine. You will be asked to sign a medication consent form for such circumstances when you register. We will make every effort to contact you prior to administering the medicine.
The nursery provides emergency Calpol and Piriton should the need arise.
Please note that pain relief medicine can only be given fora maximum of 3 consecutive days.
You must provide any non-prescription cream for skin conditions such as nappy creams or gels for teething. We require prior written permission to administer such to your child. Items must be clearly labelled with your child’s name and handed over to a member of staff.
For safety reasons, please do not leave any medicine in your child’s bag.
You are entitled to two weeks holiday pro-rata unlessclaiming funded hours (FEL) where there is no holiday allowance.
Holidays can be booked via Famly with 6 weeks’ notice priorto monthly invoice being sent (on or around 15th). If you cancel a holiday, we cannotguarantee that your place will still be available on that day. Please speak toor message reception to check availability, and so that your holiday record canbe amended.
Notice Period for changes
A minimum of 8 weeks written notice is required to make changes to your “plan” including hours, days or leaving nursery.
Additional bookings
It may be possible to book one off extra sessions subject to staffing. We generally, however, require a minimum of one week’s notice. Please message/speak to reception.
Unfortunately, we cannot swap days for you on an ad-hoc basis.
The nursery has 4 designated spaces in front of the building for drop off and collection. Please keep the main entrance clear by not parking in the yellow hatched area.
At the discretion of the Sports Club, overflow spaces are available for drop off and collection of children at busy times.
Full details on pricing and funding can be found here.
Invoice are issued for sessions booked for thefollowing month on or around the 15th, and are payable by the 25th. A latepayment charge of £10 will be applied to all payments made after this date.
Early or late drop off will be charged at £10 after 5minutes and £10 every 15 minutes thereafter.
Please respect our safeguarding procedures by not using your phone or any other recording device in or around nursery. This is part of our statutory duty to help keep all our children safe.
Ordinarily, your child will take the next step in their journey towards school on or around their birthday other than small toddlers who will make the transition around 15 months old. This move will be supported by your child’s key worker to make the transition as smooth as possible.
To support your child’s journey on to school, we introduce a uniform for all children who attend Blue room / pre-school. This includes an ACN logo polo shirt with a cardigan or sweatshirt.
We provide a balanced menu which changes on a quarterly basis to provide variety and interest. Outside caterers deliver allergy sensitive, healthy and nutritious lunches for all our children.
Our housekeeper also prepares a variety of healthy snacks and light tea which compliments the lunchtime menu. The menu is available in the porch area and is sent out via Famly.
Keeping you connected.
Famly connects you as parents with your child here at nursery. We use the app to send and receive important and relevant information, communicate with you in real time, keep you informed of your child’s learning and development, record holidays, take bookings and pay invoices.
Useful information, tips and advice can be found on our website, particularly the FAQ section. Please refer to the website before contacting nursery for any unanswered questions or enquiries.
We believe that you are entitled to expect courteous and prompt attention. We hope that you will be happy with the service provided and we encourage you as parents to voice your appreciation to the staff concerned.
We welcome any suggestions from you on how we can improve our service and will give prompt and serious attention to any concerns raised.
We have a formal procedure for dealing with complaints where you feel that your concern was not resolved. Please speak to a member of the management team if you feel that your concern has not been adequately dealt with.
Abbeydale Cottage Nursery
Abbeydale Road South
Dore, Sheffield S17 3LJ
info@abbeydalecottagenursery.co.uk
