Welcome to Bonnington Nursery
Bonnington Road, Edinburgh EH6 5NQ
Tel: 0131 554 1370
Dear Parents,
Welcome to our nurseries at Bonnington Primary School. We have two nurseries. Nursery one is situated in the playground in a separate building and Nursery two is in the main building of the school. Nursery two is open in the mornings only. Whichever nursery your child is in the staff are there to help and support your child in settling in to a routine where s/he will have a good foundation to build on and prepare for his/ her primary schooling.
This booklet will give you information about times, helpful hints and just exactly what we do at nursery with your child. The staff at Bonnington Nursery are always happy to help, listen and support parents.
With your support, we want to give your child the necessary experiences in a safe, happy and secure environment so that he/ she is ready to take on the challenges of Primary School in a few years time.
I hope that you will find the book helpful. If you have any suggestions for other things to be added, please let us know!
Susan Thomson
Head Teacher
September 2003
Helpful information
School phone number- 0131 554 1370
Nursery sessions are as follows:
Morning session 9.00 - 11.30am
Afternoon session 12.30 - 3.00pm
Fulltime session 9.00 - 3.00pm
Parents are asked to bring and collect their children at the appropriate times.
The dates for school holidays are handed out to parents on a regular basis.
Newsletters are produced on a monthly basis
Regular information can be found on the noticeboards in the nursery entrance.
If you need help with anything or you have a concern, please contact the school office, where we will be happy to advise you.
Clothing
Please remember to choose practical working clothes that allow your child to feel free to explore paint, clay, sand, water etc. Children should wear clothes that are safe for climbing, running and jumping. Most important of all, the valuable and exciting experiences that they will have at nursery may involve their clothes getting dirty or all paint. Do not send them in their best clothes! Make it easy for your child to go to the toilet independently. Dungarees, buttons, braces, belts and tight jeans are too difficult for little fingers to manage.
Snack Money
Snack money and voluntary contributions are collected at the start of each term. It would be helpful if you could provide a box of tissues for your child please.
Snack costs £1 per week per child. If your child requires a special diet for health, religious or cultural reasons, please let us know so that staff can provide something more suitable for him/ her.
Contributions are used to benefit our children:
Outings
Gardening items
Special baking or snack items
Extras for parties and festival days
Items of special interest
Snack items are part of the "Healthy Eating" programme in school. We encourage the children to eat fruit, cheese, bread etc.
The children enjoy their healthy snack time!
Please do not send your child to nursery with sweets, juice or other snacks. Milk is provided free of charge and water is always offered as an alternative.
We celebrate the children's birthdays with cakes made by the children.
Illness
Please let us know if your child is going to be absent, even for a few days.
You should allow 48 hours after illness before coming back to nursery.
Only when they are fit and well should they come back!
It is very important to give us your up to date phone number and emergency contact number. We must be able to contact you or someone in the case of illness in nursery time. We do not have the facilities to look after sick children!
Bringing and collecting your child
Please remember that all children should be brought and collected by a responsible adult-
Aged over 16 years.
Do tell us if someone else has to collect your child. We cannot allow a child to leave nursery with a person we do not know.
Please be on time as your child may be upset if last to be collected.
What do the children do at Nursery?
"The vital contribution of pre school education lies in developing and broadening the range of children's learning experiences, to leave them confident, eager and enthusiastic learners who are looking forward to school"
(A curriculum framework for children in their pre school year. The Scottish Office)
We have been provided with a curriculum for our nursery children. Each area of the curriculum has a role to play in developing and meeting the needs of each child so that he/ she can be ready for starting school and developing a positive attitude about him/ herself, towards others and the world we live in.
The Nursery Curriculum
There are five key areas:
Emotional, personal and social development
Communication and language
Knowledge and understanding of the world
Expressive and aesthetic development
Physical development and movement
Emotional, personal and social development
We want our children to develop confidence, self-esteem and a sense of security at nursery class.
We encourage them to form positive relationships with other children and adults and to begin to develop particular friendships with other children. By encouraging this, we hope that they will become aware of and respect the needs and feelings of others in their behaviour.
Knowledge and understanding of the world
Children are learning and understanding about the world they live in all the time. We help them to do this by giving them lots of experiences through their interests, things they bring in and topics like the farm, Christmas, hospitals, colour, shape and size. One of the most interesting resources we have is our garden, where the children learn about seeds, colour, size, and smell. The list is endless!
Communication and language
Through stories, songs, music and poetry, the children will learn to listen and respond with enjoyment. Their language development will increase through their play.
This will encourage them to express their needs, thoughts, ideas and feelings with increasing confidence.
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Sometimes older children in the school read to and with nursery children in the library.
Physical development and movement
Our children enjoy energetic activity both indoors and out and the wellbeing that it brings.
They explore a range of different ways in which they can use their bodies in physical activity
They can run, jump, skip, climb, balance, throw and catch with increasing skill and confidence.
Through practice and time, they learn just what they can do with their bodies as well as learning the importance of co operating with others in physical play and games.
Expressive and aesthetic development
The children learn to investigate and use a variety of media and techniques such as painting, drawing, printing and modelling with fabrics, clay and other materials.
What fun painting with our hands!
Again they are expressing their thoughts and feelings in pictures, paintings and models.
They will also take part in singing and dancing games.
Parental Involvement
We are keen to welcome parents into the Nursery. Parents and carers have a very important role to play as co educators of their children. We value close contact with you on a day to day basis. This helps us to get to know you, your child and their specific needs.
Parents and carers have interests and skills that could help our work with the children. If you have time to spare, you may like to come in, even if it is only for an hour to:
Tell a story
Help on outings
Collecting resources
Help in the nursery library
Contribute to a special interest- play a musical instrument, making things with the children, show something special
Mend and sew doll?s clothes, aprons, covers etc.
The list is endless and we would love to see you!
You can even take your child to Dr Bell?s for swimming lessons during nursery time. Mrs Wilkinson helps the children to get used to the water before they get swimming lessons at school.
Family Learning
The Family Learning group meets on a Wednesday with a community worker and Mrs N Mc Kerrow, our Home Link teacher. This group is specifically for Nursery and Primary one parents and carers. Issues that concern the parents are discussed and addressed, as well as specific activities to enable parents to support and understand their child's learning. At the moment, some parents are helping to produce Number sacks which parents will be able to borrow and use at home with their children. The meetings are all very informal, there is tea and coffee and you do not have to stay, just come along for a chat and see what the group are doing!
For our bi lingual parents, we also have a Bilingual Support Assistant who will come along and support you. We are hoping that you will be able to help us to produce some story sacks in other languages too!
Finally, your child's happiness and your involvement in his/ her nursery education is as important to your child as it is to us. We hope that by involving you, you will understand why we do what we do and help us to provide the very best for your child. We are working co operatively together in working to lay the foundations for a wide and varied education in years to come and the necessary life skills required for today's society.
How can you help at home?
Help your child to:
Learn to dress him/herself
Go to the toilet, flush the toilet and wash hands
Do as s/he is told
Tidy up after him/herself
Play games
Build jigsaws
Build with lego and bricks- discuss what he/she is doing
Look at books
Listen to stories on tape or radio
Look at the pictures in a book and talk about them
Say nursery rhymes together
Count apples into the bag when you are shopping
Talk about the colours of things
Lay the table ----one for mum, one for dad, one for me and one for?.?
Bake cakes and biscuits, talking about what you are doing
Use scissors, draw pictures, colour and paint using different sizes of crayons and brushes- praise them for their efforts.
These are all everyday things, but the list is endless. You can always find something that you are doing to involve your child in and help them develop and learn in a fun way at home. By doing this you will have started the learning and developing process for your child to come to nursery with an enquiring mind, ready to build on the experiences you have already started at home!
If you are not sure and would like some help with these suggestions, please do not hesitate to ask the nursery staff. They are there to help! Back to top