Click here for more information on places and provision in our school Nursery - F1 Hedgehogs Class

High Oakham Nursery - Foundation Stage 1

High Oakham Primary School provides 36 places for children aged 3 and 4 providing Early Years education. Our Nursery is part of our Early Years building which also houses our Foundation Stage 2 classes.

Click here to find out more about our F1 and F2 classes. 

Our Aims are to:

• Provide a safe and stimulating environment, in which children can feel calm and secure.
• Encourage the emotional, social, physical, creative and intellectual development of children.
• Promote the welfare of children.
• Encourage positive attitudes to self and others and to develop confidence and self-esteem.
• Create opportunities for play.
• Encourage children to explore, appreciate and respect their environment.
• Provide opportunities to stimulate interest and imagination.
• Extend the children’s abilities to communicate ideas and feelings in a variety of ways.

Children can start in our Foundation Stage 1 class (Nursery) the term after their third birthday. We offer 15 hours of free early years education which is normally taken over 5 morning / 5 afternoon sessions. We also offer 30 hours extended entitlement to families who are eligible.

For more information on help with paying for childcare click here or follow these links: www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs or www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/care/early-years-and-childcare/help-with-childcare/15-hours-funded-childcare-for-three-four-year-olds

In addition, we can offer sessions to children in the term that they turn 3, if they are in receipt of two year old funding and if places are available. Contact the school office for details or click here or follow these links:

www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/free-childcare-2-year-olds or www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/care/early-years-and-childcare/help-with-childcare/funded-early-years-places-for-two-year-olds

REGARDLESS OF WHAT ENTITLEMENT YOUR CHILD ACCESS AT OUR SCHOOL, OUR MAIN PRIORITY WILL BE ALWAYS BE MEETING THE NEEDS OF THE INDIVIDUAL CHILD.

High Oakham Primary School’s Foundation Stage 1 admissions policy can be found at the bottom of this page or click here.

Additional hours

We offer parents the opportunity to buy additional nursery hours to make an 'additional session' or 'a lunchtime'. The cost per hour is £4. If your additional hour is over lunchtime then you must provide a packed lunch for your child following the packed lunch guidance. These sessions can complement the morning or afternoon education sessions, and are allocated dependent on availability of hours and considering the needs of the child. E.g. if a child attends a morning session, they could access another 4 hours at a cost of £16 a week (4 x £4 + £2.00 = £20)

Our hours are as follows:

If needed, nursery children have  access to  before and after school provision on the site at Tree House out of school provision.  

For more information on before or after school provision for Nursery aged children and school siblings follow the links below:

www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/care/early-years-and-childcare/find-childcare

https://www.nottshelpyourself.org.uk/kb5/nottinghamshire/directory/landing.page?newdirectorychannel=2

15 hours universal entitlement for 3 and 4 year olds

All 3 to 4-year-olds in England can get 570 hours of free early education or childcare per year.

At High Oakham Primary School, this is 15 hours a week taken over 38 weeks a year.

When you can start claiming:

The date you can start claiming depends on your child’s birthday.

Example: Your child was born on 15 February 2016. You can get free childcare when the next term starts after 1 April 2019.

15 hours funded entitlement for 2 year olds

At High Oakham Primary School, a child who is eligible for 2 year funding can come to Nursery IN the term that they turn three.

Your 2-year-old can get free early education and childcare if you get one of the following:

• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Universal Credit
• tax credits and you have an annual income of under £16,190 before tax
• the guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
• support through part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act
• the Working Tax Credit 4-week run on (the payment you get when you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)

A child can also get free early education and childcare if any of the following apply:

• they’re looked after by a local council
• they have a current statement of special education needs (SEN) or an education, health and care (EHC) plan
• they get Disability Living Allowance
• they’ve left care under a special guardianship order, child arrangements order or adoption order.

30 hours extended entitlement

 Parents of 3 and 4 year olds will need to meet the following criteria in order to be eligible for 30 hours free childcare:

• They earn or expect to earn the equivalent to 16 hours at National Minimum or Living Wage over the coming three months.

• This equates to £120 a week (or c.£6,000 a year) for each parent over 25 years old or £112.80 a week (or c.£5,800 a year) for each parent between 21 and 24 years old.

• This applies whether you are in paid employment, self-employed or on zero hours contract.

• The parent (and their partner where applicable) should be seeking the free childcare to enable them to work. • Where one or both parents are on maternity, paternity, shared parental or adoption leave, or if they are on statutory sick leave.

• Where one parent meets the income criteria and the other is unable to work because they are disabled, have caring responsibilities or have been assessed as having limited capability to work.

• Where a parent is in a ‘start-up period’ (i.e. they are newly self-employed) they do not need to demonstrate that they meet the income criteria for 12 months.

• If a non-EEA national, the parent must have recourse to public funds.

A parent will not meet the criteria when:

• Either parent has an income of more than £100,000

• Either parent is a non-EEA national and subject to immigration control (and has no recourse to public funds)

What happens if a parent loses eligibility?

• They will receive a “grace period” – this means they will be able to keep their childcare for a short period.

• Once the “grace period” has lapsed, the parent may be entitled to the universal 15 hour entitlement (grace period has not been confirmed but will possibly be a half term)

Checking eligibility and what to do next!

If you think you are eligible you need to:

• Chat to Mrs Thomas our admin assistant about what hours you would need if you were eligible and what hours you would need if you are not eligible.
• Apply online through the childcare service via the following link: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/
• If you're eligible, you'll receive a code – this will allow you to begin to arrange your childcare place ahead of September 2017
• Take your code to your childcare provider (our school office) along with your National Insurance number, proof of date of birth and proof of your child’s date of birth and your provider will get you to sign to consent to the checking of the code.
• This is to prove who you are, to make sure this matches to the eligibility code and also to prove that the child is your child
• We will check that the code is authentic and allocate your child extended entitlement hours as needed dependent on availability of places.
• We will remind you near the end of the term  to reconfirm your code online which we will then check in order for you to remain eligible.
• If you do not reconfirm or drop out of eligibility then you will receive your extended entitlement for the grace period (not confirmed yet - possibly for half a term).
• If you drop out of eligibility and wish to pay for the hours you previously got 'free' then this can be arranged through a contract for 'additional hours'. If you do not, then your child will access 15 hours universal entitlement over the time set on induction.

PLEASE NOTE, YOUR CHILD'S EXTENDED ENTITLEMENT WILL BEGIN THE TERM AFTER THE VERIFICATION OF THE CODE. E.G. IF YOU GET A CODE ON THE FIRST COUPLE OF DAYS OF THE TERM, YOU WILL NOT BE ELIGIBLE TO TAKE UP THE HOURS UNTIL THE FOLLOWING TERM.

At High Oakham Primary School along with the Early Years team at Nottinghamshire County Council, we believe that our main priority throughout all options of Early Years provision is the child. There are enough places for 3 and 4 year olds and 2 year olds within the locality to ensure access for all, therefore no one should be left out.

High Oakham Primary School’s admissions policy for Foundation Stage 1 can be found at the bottom of this page.

Collaboration between providers is key. At our school, this is something we aim to excel at. We are striving to build excellent relationships with local pre-schools, private day nurseries and childminders and we open our setting to networking, training and sharing good practice. If your child takes up their funding across a number of settings, the universal 15 hours must be stated from the beginning with a named setting of parent's choice.

The minimum funded sessions that can be taken at our nursery is 6 hours spread over two days and where this is an issue, we can discuss each individual families needs. 

We understand the need for flexibility when choosing childcare that suits your working needs and are in turn exceptionally flexible with what we offer. However, we do have limits relating to hours of opening, staff levels, capacity and historically full waiting lists. If we cannot offer you what you need, we will try very hard to support you in getting this through working with our local early years providers to meet your needs.

Extended entitlement hours are arranged around the drop off and pick up times as stated above and are arranged in collaboration with the school depending on availability. Additional hours can be purchased as described above for wrap around hours.

Please remember, attending our Nursery does not have any impact on whether you will get a place in our FS2 (reception) classes. Admission to the primary school is undertaken by the county council and places are allocated following their criteria.

If you have any questions at all, please pop in to see us, email us or give us a ring - we understand how confusing and sometimes frustrating choosing childcare can be.