To Be The Best That We Can Be
Before your child starts in our nursery, we will arrange for two members of our staff team to visit them at home. These Home Visits are to let your child get to know the nursery staff and hopefully help them to feel more comfortable about starting nursery. It will also give us the opportunity to discuss the details of starting in Raindrops or Puddles, and talk through any concerns you may have.
We also invite parents and children to attend a play session in Raindrops or Puddles before their first day. These short sessions are held at the end of the school day in the Raindrops and Puddles rooms and outdoor areas. They are a good opportunity for you and your child to explore the setting and meet some of our team.
We stagger the start dates for our new children over the first two weeks of the term, to help everyone settle in in their own time.
The booklets below have pictures of the Raindrops and Puddles settings and staff, and information about how the nursery day works. You might want to share this with your child. You will be given a paper copy at your Home Visit.
Our nursery is located on the Rose Avenue side of the school site and is best accessed via the gate at the end of Rose Avenue (for google maps or similar, use the postcode LS25 6AY and continue to the end of the street). As you come through this gate, turn right for Raindrops and the Early Years Office, or go straight on to Puddles (door on your right, next to the scooter pod).
Raindrops is our nursery setting for two-year-olds. Puddles is our nursery setting for three- and four-year-olds. Both settings operate during the school day (8.30am-3.00pm).
Rainbow Wraparound is our wraparound provision for Early Years children (7.30-8.30am and 3.00-6.00pm). It is for children in Raindrops, Puddles and Sunshines (our school reception class, four- and five-year-olds). It is based in one of the Puddles classrooms, and staffed by a Play Leader and Play Workers, all of whom also have other roles in our school and/ or nursery. You can find out more about this provision here.
No. Our nursery is open during term time only. Please click here to see our term dates.
Please use our Rose Avenue gate to bring your child to nursery. If you have older children, they can also arrive at this entrance and walk around the school to where their classes line up. At Athelstan we operate a ‘kiss and drop’ policy; parents do not come into the classrooms with their children.
To drop your child off for a Raindrops session, please wait at the pedestrian gate on your right at the end of Rose Avenue. Raindrops staff will come and bring the children inside at the start of the session. To collect your child at the end of the Raindrops afternoon session, please wait in the area outside the Early Years Office (we ask that you do not come into the Raindrops playground until staff open the door, as the children can get upset if they see you there before it is time to leave).
For the start of the morning session, Puddles children wait with their parents at the Puddles door. Puddles staff will open the door to bring the children inside at the start of the session. If you are collecting your child at 3.00pm, please wait at the Puddles door for staff to bring your child out.
If your child attends half days and you are dropping them off or collecting them at 11.30am or 12.00pm, please wait at the Rose Avenue gate: staff from Raindrops and Puddles will bring out the children who are going home, and take in those who are arriving.
If your child is attending the Rainbow Wraparound sessions, you should go to the Puddles door and knock to drop-off/ collect them. If the Rose Avenue gate is locked, please press the ‘Early Years Reception’ buzzer.
For logistical queries or messages (e.g. changing sessions, queries about invoices or funding, to let us know that someone different is collecting your child) please contact the Early Years Office: 01977 684037, Option 3; eyadmin@athelstan.n-yorks.sch.uk .
You will be able to talk to Raindrops/ Puddles staff when you collect your child; please wait until they are free after seeing the other children out. If you are worried that your child has not settled at the start of a session, you can call the Early Years Office and ask to be put through to their classroom to ask how they are getting on.
If you have longer queries or larger concerns that you would like to discuss with your child’s nursery teacher, please contact the Early Years Office. We will be able to arrange for a member of the Raindrops/ Puddles team to give you a call.
You can also contact the Puddles teachers or Raindrops Room Leader by e mail, their e mail addresses can be found on the Raindrops or Puddles weekly newsletter (see below).
If we need to contact you directly while your child is here, we will use the contact numbers you provide on your admissions form.
Raindrops and Puddles send out weekly newsletters by e mail to tell you about the activities they will be doing; these are also posted on their Class Pages.
Most Athelstan communications are by e mail. We send out weekly school newsletters on Friday afternoons. Other letters are usually e mailed, though we will sometimes send home paper letters in your child’s nursery bag (usually if there is a section to be completed and returned). We also use text messages to keep you informed of the smaller pieces of news that arise during the week, and to issue reminders.
You will be invited to set up an account with Evidence Me, a secure online service which allows us to send observations of your child’s activities and play for you to view online.
Children who wear nappies should bring nappies and wipes to nursery as required. If your child is toilet training, please be sure to provide plenty of spare clothes, including pants. Please don’t hesitate to talk to Raindrops/ Puddles staff (or call the Early Years office to leave a message/ request a call back from the teacher) about your child’s toilet training needs. If we need more nappies, wipes or spare clothes, we will let you know.
No. We provide a range of healthy snacks every morning and afternoon. Examples of our snacks include wholemeal bread /toast, wraps (ham/chicken), fruit loaf, apples, pears, oranges, plums, bananas, strawberries, melon, pears, cucumber, carrots and peppers.
To fund our snacks, we ask for a voluntary contribution of 30p per session. We send a request for this payment (based on your booking pattern) half termly, and ask that payments are made through Parent Pay (see below).
All children attending Puddles are entitled to free milk (we will register your child with the Cool Milk scheme as part of our admissions process), which is offered to them at snack time. Please let us know if your child has a milk allergy. Water is also available to the children throughout the morning and afternoon sessions.
You can order a school lunch, or send a packed lunch for your child. Raindrops eat in their classroom, Puddles eat in the hall. Lunchtime is 11.30am-12.00pm (at the same time as the school reception class, but before the older children).
We provide a good range of meals, with a menu that repeats every 3 weeks. We offer a range of meal options every day, including jacket potatoes, sandwiches and a vegetarian meal as well a main meal of the day. We are able to cater for children with special dietary requirements by arrangement, though we need to have the correct paperwork in place in order to do this. If your child requires a special diet, please make sure that we are fully aware of child’s needs so that we can work with you to provide suitable meals for your child.
Lunches are not included in the cost of the lunchtime session and will not appear on your nursery invoice. They should be ordered and paid for using the Meal Selector in Parent Pay.
If you are having any problems using the Meal Selector, please contact the Early Years Office.
If you have not ordered a meal from home, and your child has not brought a packed lunch, we will order them the main meal and pudding; the charge will be added to Parent Pay. We ask that you log in to Parent Pay regularly to pay (in advance) for meals ordered in this way. Reminders will be sent regularly by text message if you are in arrears for lunch payments.
You are welcome to send a packed lunch every day, or to send a packed lunch some days but have a school meal on others. Packed lunches should arrive with your child in the morning. They should include a drink and should not include sweets, fizzy drinks or chocolate bars.
Please be aware that we are a NUT AWARE SCHOOL - please click here to find out more.
We are a cashless school: we cannot accept cash payments. Once your child has started at Athelstan, all payments should be made through Parent Pay. For nursery invoices, we can also accept payments through the Tax Free Childcare Sytem or Workplace Childcare Vouchers (more information below).
Parent Pay also includes the Meal Selector for ordering your child’s school meals (see above).
If you are new to Athelstan, details of how to set up your Parent Pay account will be sent out at the start of your child’s first term with us, before their first day. If you need this re-sending, or are struggling to set up your account, please contact the Early Years Office.
Please see above for information about ordering and paying for school lunches and about contributing towards the cost of nursery snacks. Please note that we can only accept payment for these items through Parent Pay.
We send out half-termly invoices for nursery provision beyond your child's funded hours. You will receive your first invoice when your child starts attending (or in the second week of the Autumn Term for September starters); thereafter, invoices will usually be issued during the last week of a half term for the following half term. The 'payment by' date (30 days after the date of issue) is clearly stated on our invoices. Late fees (8%) will be added to any invoices not paid by this date. If you have any queries about your invoices, please contact the Early Years Office.
Depending on the funding that your child is entitled to, and the sessions they attend, you may be invoiced for morning and/or afternoon sessions, Rainbow Wraparound sessions, or provision at the hourly rate for the Puddles/ Raindrops day or Rainbow Wraparound. Click here to see our nursery prices and for information on how we apply funding and charges to our sessions.
Invoices may be paid though Parent Pay or using Childcare Vouchers or the Tax-free Childcare scheme.
The various Childcare Voucher schemes require different details to set up payments to us. Please contact the Early Years Office with the name of your scheme to get any information you need. If using Childcare Vouchers, we recommend that you build up vouchers in your account and pay your invoices as they are received, rather than setting up a regular monthly payment (because we invoice half termly and term lengths vary).
We are registered with the Tax Free Childcare scheme as ‘Sherburn in Elmet, Athelstan Community Primary School, LS256QN’; our URN is 121461. If you make a payment through Tax Free Childcare, we ask that you e mail the date and precise amount of your payment, along with your child’s TFC code to eyadmin@athelstan.n-yorks.sch.uk (this allows us to search for and identify your payment).
Please contact the Early Years Office to discuss any changes that you’d like to make to your child’s attendance pattern. Please be aware that we will require notice to reduce or cancel sessions (see below).
Changes to the numbers of children in a session affect the number of staff required in that session; staffing levels are set half termly. We cannot make ad. hoc. changes to sessions where this would affect the number of staff required. In addition, because Early Years Funding has to be claimed termly, our policies are different for making changes to funded and paid-for sessions.
Paid-for sessions: We require 6 weeks’ notice to reduce paid-for Raindrops/ Puddles sessions, and these changes can only be made from the beginning of a half term. For Rainbow Wrapround sessions, 4 weeks’ notice is required. If you want to increase (e.g. add an extra morning) or just rearrange (e.g. swap Wednesday afternoons for Thursday afternoons) your child’s paid-for sessions, we may be able to accommodate your request within a half term. This will depend on circumstances and availability for the sessions in question. Please ask at the Early Years Office.
Funded sessions: We require 6 weeks’ notice to reduce or increase funded sessions, and these changes should be made from the beginning of a term (September/ January/ April). If you want to rearrange your child’s funded sessions (e.g. swap Wednesday afternoons for Thursday afternoons), we may be able to accommodate your request within a term. This will depend on circumstances and availability for the sessions in question. Please ask at the Early Years Office.
If you know in advance that your child will miss a session (e.g. for a holiday, family occasion, or medical appointment), please let us know as soon as possible, preferably by e mailing our school Attendance Officer (attendance@athelstan.n-yorks.sch.uk ).
If your child is ill, please call us before 9am, select the option ‘report your child’s absence’, and leave us a message. Alternatively, you can e mail our Attendance Officer (see above). If you know that your child will be absent for more than one day, please let our Attendance Officer know when we should expect them to return/ when you will update us. Otherwise, please contact us, as described above, every day that your child is absent.
Please note that if your child has been vomiting, or had diarrhoea, they must stay off school for 48 hours following the last episode. For information about whether/ for how long your child should stay off nursery for other specific illnesses, please refer to the booklet below or take a look at the UKHSA Infection Control Guidance.
If your child is absent and we have not heard from you, we will send a text message asking that you call us immediately to update us; this will be followed up with phone calls if we do not hear back from you.
If your child becomes ill during the school day, we will contact you using the contact numbers you provide in your admissions paperwork.
We cannot give non-prescription medicines (e.g. calpol) during the school day. We can give prescription medicines, providing that the dosage/frequency instructions on the prescription label mean that they cannot be given outside of the nursery day. If you would like us to administer prescription medicines, you will need to complete a ‘Request for medication to be taken at school’ form, available from the Early Years Office.
Children with asthma should bring an inhaler to school to be kept in the classroom. Please come to the Early Years Office to complete the relevant paperwork.
On their birthdays, children can wear their own clothes instead of their uniform in nursery.
No. Children who attend Raindrops will automatically move through to Puddles when the time comes. Please click here to find out more about this transition.
Children start school in the academic year of their 5th birthday (the academic year runs from 1st September to 31st August). You will need to apply online, through the North Yorkshire Council website, for your child’s school place, even if they already attend our nursery. You can find out more about the school application process on our admissions page.