On this page:

1. Attendance
2. Holidays
3. Drop off and pick up
4. While you are in school
5. What's happening in school?
6. School closure procedure
7. Please talk to us
8. Ways to join in
9. Clothes
10. Jewellery and precious things
11. Nappies
12. Pushchairs, scooters and bikes
13. Accidents
14. Illness
15. Medication
16. Sun safety
17. School outings
18. School fund
19. Birthdays
20. Library books
21. Change of Daycare hours
22. Late pick up

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Attendance

We find that children who attend every day:

• settle in really well.
• find it much easier if they have a regular routine.
• build up their immune system.
• learn the early stages of reading, writing and mathematics which will get them ready for Primary School.
• have play planned for them that responds to their interests.
• understand the nursery routine.
• make close friends.

Holidays

Take holidays only during school holiday times. If taking a holiday in term time is unavoidable, please fill out our Holidays in Term Time form to seek permission.

You can download the form at the bottom of this page.

Drop off and pick up

• Arrive no more than 5 minutes before a session starts and collect your child on time.
• If your child arrives late or leaves early, please tell the office so they can mark the register.
• Tell us who can pick up your child every day and in special circumstances.
• We won’t allow a child to be collected by someone who is unknown to us or who is unfit through drugs or alcohol.
• If any of your phone numbers or your emergency phone numbers change, tell us straight away.

While you are in school

Please:

• move calmly through the school
• tell us if you have an accident in school
• close the gates and the doors after yourself
• keep your mobile phone in your bag or pocket — don’t make calls, take photos or videos on nursery school premises — and take headphones off.

What's happening in school?

We don't provide a detailed brief of every day, as that would take the teachers and early years practitioners away from their job of teaching the children. We use the password-protected website Class Dojo to share stories, activities and things we have made in school as well as information about what is going to happen, for example when the drummers from Mbilla Arts visit us. We also share information we think you will find interesting or useful. You receive your login and password as part of the admissions process.

This website, and our facebook pages,  Church Hill Nursery School and Low Hall Nursery School.

Our instagram, walthamstow_ns

Newsletters: we send these for major events

School closure procedure

We will take every practical step to maintain school in the event of difficult weather conditions or possible failure of facilities such as heating systems. However, there will be occasions when the Health and Safety of staff and children is at risk. In this case, the school will reluctantly close for some, or all, children. If this happens we will do this as early in the day as possible.

We will endeavour to keep families fully involved of the ongoing situation but we ask for understanding at what will inevitably be a particularly busy time.

A decision to close before school starts in the morning

Once a decision is made to close the school a text message and an email will be sent to all parents/carers, and this news will be passed to the London Borough of Waltham Forest, who will post the news on the school closures page of their website.

We will update this school website, put out a message on our facebook page, Church Hill Nursery School/Low Hall Nursery School and put out a message on twitter (@walthamstowNS)

A decision to close the school during the school day and sending children home

When a closure is being considered, the school will conduct a risk assessment to determine whether it is safer for the children to remain at school or be sent home. If students are sent home, it will not be possible for the school to telephone families. We will inform parents through text message, email, Twitter and an update on the website.

Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.

Please talk to us

Talk to your child's Key Person as often as you can about their needs and how we can meet them (medical needs, allergies or any special requirements as well as social, emotional and learning). If you can't get to see your Key Person, ask the office for their email address.

Ways to join in

If you have a skill you think the children would like to share, for example wood working or a style of dance, please talk to your Key Person to arrange a time to come in and show us.

Bring in things we can use for junk modelling, e.g. empty food boxes, yoghurt pots, old newspapers.

We welcome you for all our special occasions, including outings, visits from theatre groups, professional organisations and musical entertainers, International Day in November and our end of term parties.

Help us run our fund-raising and social events, in particular our spring/summer fairs.

Complete the parent questionnaire on the Ofsted's parent view website.

Clothes

Dress your child for a busy and messy time at school. They will be exploring both inside and outside throughout the year (including when it's raining), playing to learn with clay, paint, glue, and mud.

Please bring in a fabric bag (not plastic) with your child’s name on it, containing a change of clothes.

Write your child’s name in their clothes.

Jewellery and precious things

Please don't allow your child to wear jewellery as it might get lost, and they might get hurt by it.
Please don't allow your child to bring precious items including special toys and branded clothes to school.

Nappies

Children who wear nappies should bring a bag with their name on containing two or three nappies, wipes and a change of clothes. We give you a note when supplies are running low.

We welcome donations of good condition second-hand clothes including socks, pants, trousers, leggings, T-shirts, and skirts.

The NHS website has advice about starting to use a potty, including a video.

Pushchairs, scooters and bikes

Pushchairs have to be left outside as they are a fire hazard if brought inside. Please bring younger children in with you, and leave the entrances clear.

We can't guarantee the safety of pushchairs, scooters or bikes left on the premises, especially from the squirrels who like to steal any food left in them.

Accidents

Tell us if you have an accident in school. We can provide first aid, and will need to fill out a form to record it.

If your child has an accident in school we will record it. If it is not serious and they are happy to carry on playing we will tell you about it when you pick them up. If they are not happy and/or it is more serious we will call you as soon as possible.

If your child has had an accident at home which might affect their playing and learning, please let us know.

In the rare situation that your child needs to go to hospital as an emergency, if you have signed to give your consent, a member of staff will go with them and wait until you can join them there.

The number and type of accidents are reviewed by governors once a term.

Illness

Please phone or email the school as soon as possible after the start of the session if your child is unwell.

Children can come to nursery if they are tired.

Children can come to nursery if they have an everyday cough or a cold.

We follow the advice from the public health agency on how to deal with infectious diseases.

If you have concerns about your child's health, please talk to their Key Person.

The nursery will inform parents if other children are suffering from infectious illnesses or skin conditions or head lice.

If this is possible, please get into the habit of combing your child’s hair with a nit comb once a week. Adding conditioner or oil to dry hair can make this a happier process.

Medication

If your doctor prescribes your child medicine that they must take during nursery hours, fill out the form ‘Parental Agreement to Administer Medicines’ from the office. We can only administer medicine that has been prescribed by a doctor and labelled with the child’s name by the chemist.

Ask your doctor for antibiotics that don’t have to be taken during the session.

Sun safety

In sunny weather (UV index 3/Moderate or above), please dress your child in loose, ideally long-sleeved clothing, and a sun hat with their name in. Darker clothes made from fabric with a tight weave are best: hold fabric up to the light, and check if you can see the sun through it. Apply sunscreen with at least SPF15 and 4 or 5 stars at home.

We ask daycare families and families where children have skin allergies to send in sunscreen which we help the children to apply. This sunscreen must be labelled. Please tell a staff member and the sunscreen will be kept safe, away from other children. We contact part-time families, asking them to apply sunscreen before they come in.

The children always have access to water, and we encourage them to drink when the weather is hot.

School outings

Before starting at Church Hill and Low Hall, we ask parents and carers to give their consent to us taking children on local outings. Parents can change their mind about this at any point.

When we go on trips further afield, for example to the Science Museum we ask for specific consent and for parents and carers to join us to help out.

School fund

We ask all families to make a weekly voluntary donation to School Fund. The money is used to provide children’s snacks, subsidise small group outings and pay towards children’s entertainers.

Birthdays

Families sometimes bring small treats to share with the children to celebrate birthdays. Please keep this as simple as possible, and consider stickers as an exciting, tooth-friendly treat.

If you bring food, consider bringing fruit or pakoras, and avoid meat, gelatine and nuts.

Library books

Our library has books you can borrow, including dual language books in many languages for children who have English as an additional language.

Joining the public library is free. Each child and adult can have their own card and can borrow up to 15 books at a time. Our nearest public library is Walthamstow Library, High Street, Walthamstow, E17 7JN.

Change of Daycare hours

We need 4 weeks’ notice to change the hours a child attends nursery. We use this time to make sure we will have enough staff in the school to take care of the children, as well as to sort out the admin.

Please collect a ‘Request to change Daycare pattern’ form from the Office, fill it in, and hand it back asap.

If you have a particular circumstance which means you are
making an urgent request, please explain this on the form.

Late pick up

The nursery closes at 6pm and staff  are considered to be off duty 5 mins beforehand to secure and exit the building by closing time.

If you expect to be late collecting your child please notify the nursery as soon as possible. If notified, the additional time will be charged at the standard hourly rate. Un-notified late collection will be charged at a rate of £10 per quarter hour to cover emergency staffing and other arrangements.

Persistent late comers will forfeit their child’s placement at the provision provided.

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