Introduction

We are a maintained nursery school providing a well balanced early years foundation stage curriculum using some High Scope philosophies. Children attend our nursery from all over Hitchin, the villages and outside the area. We provide nursery education for up to 130 children between 3 and 4 years old.

Predominantly, the children attend for a half day session five days each week, term times. Timings are 9.00am – 12.00pm or 12.30 – 3.30pm.

We have 8 groups in the morning nursery session, with up to 13 children in each group and the remainder in the afternoon sessions.

For those parents who are eligible for their child to receive 30 hours childcare provision, this will be arranged so that your child attends York Road Nursery School for 15 hours a week, then the additional 15 hours will be within the school setting. The hours available for the 30 hours children will be Monday – Thursday 9.00-3.30 and Friday 9.00 – 1.00, term time only.

Ofsted

Following our February 2018 Ofsted inspection the school was judged as outstanding.

Children make exceptionally good progress in all areas of learning. Their experiences are very well planned and engaging. They are extremely well prepared for the next stage in their learning.

Outstanding teaching and exceptional care and support bring out the best in each child.

All staff have a thorough and detailed knowledge of the needs of young children. Activities are exceptionally well organised and capture children’s imaginations.

Children love coming to school and they thoroughly enjoy a very wide range of exciting and stimulating activities. Independence is encouraged at all times and children are able to look after themselves and make decisions about what to do next.

Children have strong and warm relationships with the adults and feel very safe.

Parents highly value the nursery. They work in close partnership with staff to support their children’s learning and were unanimous in their commendation of the school.

School Inspection Report

Further Information

At York Road we are now able to offer a part time afternoon place ( subject to availability) for children the term after they turn 3 years old. If your child turns 3 in December for example, there may be the opportunity for him or her to start either in the January term or the Start of the summer term. This would then mean that they would attend 4 or 5 terms at York Road before they move on to Primary School. If you are interested in this, please call the School Office (01462 459127) to see if there is a space available for the next academic term.

If your child has any additional needs, we would really appreciate you passing on as much information as possible when you contact us. We are an inclusive school and would much rather be fully informed so that we can put in support right from the start to give your child the maximum opportunities to succeed.

When your child starts at nursery they are allocated to a key teacher group in one of the colour areas as their home base. They will remain in this group throughout their time at nursery, forming good relationships with their adult and group peers.

You will have access to a secure online reporting tool called “Tapestry”. Once logged into Tapestry you will see posts from your child’s Key Teacher and other Nursery / Yorkies staff. These posts will consist of observations, photographs, videos, and assessments. You can also upload, onto Tapestry, “magic moments” from home or share news time information, as a way of further communicating with us. The children also have a “My Book”, made up of pictures of their family, special pieces of work, holiday pictures and consultation sheets. These are kept in your child’s home area and they have access to them at anytime.

Tapestry Policy

We have an ‘open door’ policy, where we welcome you to discuss concerns, questions or observations you have .The beginning and end of sessions are the best times for this. We work in close partnership with York Road Children’s Centre which is based on the school site. Please see their website for more information.

British Values Statement

British Values & Counter Terrorism
Democracy
The Rule Of Law
Individual Liberty
Mutual Respect

Part of our school ethos and behavior policy has revolved around Core Values such as ‘Respect’, and children are modelled this by caring, sharing and listening to others. Staff help children to understand how to respect by talking about how actions/words can affect others.

All children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities are valued for their individuality and supported to achieve their best. Children are taught that life is not the same for everyone.

Staff promote diverse attitudes and challenge stereotypes, for example, sharing stories that reflect and value the diversity of children’s experiences.

Tolerance Of Those Of Different Faiths And Beliefs

We aim to enhance children’s understanding of different faiths and beliefs by participating in a range of celebrations throughout the year. Children have the opportunity to dress-up in clothes and try different foods from other cultures and we encourage parents/carers to participate and support our multi-cultural events.

What Is Not Acceptable:
  • Actively promoting intolerance of other faiths, cultures and races.
  • Failure to challenge gender stereotypes and routinely segregate girls and boys.
  • Isolating children from their wider community
  • Failure to challenge behaviors (whether of staff, children or parents) that are not in line with the fundamental British values of democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance for those with different faiths and beliefs.
Counter Terrorism

At York Road Nursery School we have a statutory duty to have due regard to the need to prevent people being drawn into terrorism. We do the following:

  • Have an effective partnership with other local agencies (LSCB, police, health)
  • Share information
  • Maintain appropriate records
  • Assess local risk of extremism
  • Protect children
  • Have clear protocols for visiting speakers
  • Have safeguarding policies
  • Train staff to give them knowledge and confidence
  • Have ICT protocols that filter out extremist materials
  • Ensure our building is not a platform to extremists

Schools leaders (including governors) must:

    • Establish or use existing mechanisms for understanding the risk of extremism
    • Ensure staff understand the risk and build capabilities to deal with it
    • Communicate and promote the importance of the duty
    • Ensure staff implement the duty effectively

Aims and Mission Statement

‘Holding Hands – Nurturing Minds’

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