Our core opening hours are 8am – 6pm however we are also open from 7am – 6.30pm Monday – Friday. We are open for 52 weeks of the year closing only for bank holidays (fees are payable for bank holidays)
All children are different and the settling in period can vary from child to child. Some will settle instantly whereas others may take a little more time, both are completely natural. Each individual child is treated with affection, compassion and respect as they settle into nursery life and their individual characters are supported and nurtured. The settling in period at nursery is often harder for the parents than it is for the children, but rest assured we aim to make the adjustment as easy as possible for you by giving you the opportunity to stay and play initially and to see for yourself what nursery life is like. Once you leave your child in our care we provide you with thorough feedback on how they have been during the session.
Upon enrolment, each child is offered 2 settling in sessions before they start fully at nursery. These sessions give your child a chance to meet the team and get familiar with the environment and set up of nursery. The sessions aim to gently introduce your child (and yourself) to nursery and to make the adjustment as comfortable and easy as possible. Initially you will be offered the opportunity to stay and play with your child so you both get a feel for nursery life and to ease your child into the environment.
Please bring in a named bag for your child containing the following items:
- Full change of clothes suitable to the weather. If your child is currently potty training a second set of spare clothes is also advisable.
- Nappies (enough for the day) We provide wipes and Sudocream however if your child has specific products you would like us to use please supply these, clearly labelled with your child’s name.
- Rain coat and wellies in wet weather and winter months
- Sun hat and suncream in summer months
- Familiar blanket (or sleeping bag) and comforter if your baby/ child is to be sleeping at nursery
Please ensure all clothing, sun cream, specific hygiene products and footwear is clearly named
As well as fresh air into the lungs, we believe that the children need daily contact with the outdoor world to stimulate, engage and energise them in a different way to indoor activity. Every child is given the opportunity to go outside daily and we have free flow access out to the garden and outdoor play area in both our Bumblebee and Dragonfly rooms. Unless the weather is adverse or would pose a risk to the child’s health (i.e. too wet or too hot) we encourage children to go outside come rain or shine. Find out more about our garden and outdoor play area here.
Yes we do. Often we will take the children to the nearby park and playground where they have another opportunity to burn off some energy, interact with nature, play on the swings and enjoy another stimulating environment. We also take the children on outings to pick your own, for a journey on the bus or train or to Pets At Home to see the animals. The pre-school children often go to the market to select the fruit for the daily snack and to the post office, travel agents or shops depending on the role play set for the week.
Absolutely. Our baby and toddler rooms upstairs (0-2.5 years) are equipped with dedicated sleep rooms where children can rest and nap peacefully in cots in a home from home environment. Children in our Bumblebees room (2.5-3.5 years) also have the opportunity to nap daily in the quiet and rest session after lunch where they settle down on comfy cushions and mats to sleep.
We have a illness and infections policy whereby children are not permitted to nursery with a contagious illness or ailment. Children who have suffered a tummy bug are asked to remain at home until at least 48 hours after their last sickness episode. Children with chicken pox are asked to remain at home until all the spots have scabbed over and they are no longer considered contagious. A fuller list of illness and the corresponding time children should be kept away from nursery is available here. Children suffering from a common cold are still able to attend nursery provided they are well enough in themselves and not spiking a high temperature. If you administer Calpol or any other medication to your child before bringing them to nursery it is imperative you inform a member of staff what they have taken and at what time.
We are happy to administer any prescription medication at nursery provided your child has had a dose of the medication at least 24 hours before (i.e. it is not the first dose) and they are well enough to attend nursery. We will require your signature on the medication form for any medicines brought into nursery. Medication will only be administered if it is in the original container labelled with your child’s full name, the dosage required, when the medicine needs to be administered and the date it was prescribed. Any medication that does not meet these criteria and is not prescribed by a GP will not be able to be given. Long term medication, such as an inhaler for asthma, is able to be administered by staff. We have our own supply of Calpol and will administer this in the event that a child’s temperature rises suddenly (provided you have given us consent on the enrolment form). Should this be the case, you will be given a call to inform you and also to request your child is picked up from nursery. Staff are able to apply medication that is applied externally, such as eczema creams, provided we have your prior written consent.
Whilst the every measure is taken to ensure accidents are avoided, occasional accidents are inevitable with children and are a natural part of them becoming more physically developed, more exploratory and learning about their own abilities and the world around them. We have Pediatric First Aid trained staff on site at all times should an accident occur. Should your child have had an accident whilst in our care, depending on the severity of the incident, you may be called to inform you before you collect your child. Any head injury will automatically result in a call to the parent/ carer and will be monitored extremely closely thereafter. All accidents are recorded on an accident report sheet and require a parental/ carer signature upon collecting your child. In the unlikely event that your child requires further medical support, including that of the emergency services, the swift necessary action will be taken and you will be informed immediately. It is important that you inform a staff member should your child have suffered an injury or had an accident at home (no matter how small) when you drop them off at the start of their nursery session.
We do ask that children do not bring in toys from home. This is to avoid unnecessary distress to the child should their toy be accidentally broken or lost. However, children who are new to nursery and currently in their settling in period, can often benefit from the comfort of a familiar object such as a favourite teddy or comforter.
We serve our children breakfast, lunch and tea each day as well as a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack. All meals are nutritionally balanced, freshly prepared and home cooked on site by our Head Chef Jo and his team. We rotate our menus on a weekly basis and menus are changed and updated each season to ensure we are offering children plenty of variety and seasonal ingredients. For a little more information and to view a sample menu please visit our Nutrition page.
Should your child have specific requirements regarding what they are able to eat we will discuss these with you and ensure your child is catered for appropriately.
No. As a nursery we are take every step to ensure that the setting remains a ‘nut free’ zone and we manage this by providing all children with nutritious and wholesome food that is included in our fees.
Please let us know as soon as possible if you are going to be late picking your child up after their nursery session has finished. We ask that every effort is made to ensure your child is collected on time by either yourself or an authorised nominated contact should you find yourself unable to. If you are late collecting your child there will be a £15 late fee per 10 minutes overrun.
Every time your child is picked up we will give you a run down on how they have been, what activities they have enjoyed and what they have had to eat during the day. Where applicable we will also advise you on their sleep and toileting during the session. We hold termly parents evenings where your child’s progress and development is discussed in greater detail and we show you they are developing in line with the Early Years Foundation framework. We also send out a newsletter each term giving a boarder update on what the individual rooms have been enjoying and focussing on recently. We operate an entirely open door policy meaning that at any time a parent may come and speak to us regarding any questions they may have about their child’s care and development.
Communication with parents is a fundamental aspect of what we do here at Bell House. We recognise it as vitally important to ensure we are always doing our best for our children, moving forwards and meeting the individual needs of our families. As well as personal daily updates at the end of each session, we update our online communication resources (our blog and facebook pages) on a weekly basis, send out termly newsletters, hold parents evenings each term and operate a completely open door policy where parents are always welcome to speak to us regarding an aspect of nursery life. Each room also has a telephone so should you wish to speak to your child’s key worker at any point during the day reception are able to transfer you directly.
This is a very important stage as it helps your child get ready for school as well as preparing them for their future learning and successes. From when your child is born until the age of 5, the early years experiences should be happy, active, exciting, fun and secure and their care, development and learning needs fully supported. The EYFS framework was developed with a number of early years experts, as well as parents, and exists to support all professionals (working within the EYFS) to help your child as best they can. In 2012 the framework was revised to make it clearer and easier to use and also with greater emphasis on the parents role in helping their child develop.
Your child will be engaged in a wide variety of activities each day at nursery. It is important children are stimulated and conduct their own initiated play as well as partaking in some more structured adult led activities and team work exercises. Children are offered a mix of things to do on a daily basis, appropriate to their age and stage of development, that can range from puzzle solving to messy flour play, dressing up to painting , exploring the garden to reading a book, cooking pizzas to building a castle or learning to count to conducting a science experiment!
In each room, the room lead needs to be Level 3 or above, with over half the rest of the staff being Level 2 or higher themselves.
Please see the below table for the minimum staff to child ratios:
| Child’s age | Staff to child ratio |
|---|---|
| 0-2 | 1-3 |
| 2-3 | 1-4 |
| 3-5 | 1-8 |
We are regulated and inspected by OFSTED, who are the Office for Standards in Education and set the principles for care and education in all child day care settings. They are the governing body whose doctrines we are assessed and reported against. To find out more and to view our latest OFSTED report please visit our dedicated OFSTED page.
We send our invoices to all our parents toward the end of the month, and invoices are calculated and paid for a month in advance and are due by 9th month. The invoice details the amount of sessions your child is booked in to and the cost associated with this. You are able to pay by card, cheque, cash or via online banking. Should you have childcare vouchers, these are paid automatically so all you will pay is the remaining balance for the rest of the month.
Yes we accept childcare vouchers for all qualifying parents from a range of different providers.
The governments Free Early Education for 3 and 4 year olds allows eligible children to have up to 15 hours of free early years provision a week for 38 weeks a year. Funding is changing from Sept 2017 onwards and eligible children are able to claim up to 30 hours a week. Please visit our Childcare Funding page to find out more.
We also accept funding for 2 year olds (FEET) however are unable to assess whether a family is eligible and this must be done direct to the government. To find out more please visit our Childcare Funding page.
Your child’s safety and welfare is of course of paramount importance in everything we do. We have strict and thorough health, security and safeguarding policies as well as performing risk assessments of the setting on a daily basis. For more information, please take a look at our Safety page.
We are an entirely inclusive nursery and welcome all children regardless of ability, background, race or religion. Should your child have additional needs we will meet with you to discuss what these are and how we can cater specifically for them to ensure your child receives the same level of nurturing developmental care as all others. We have a SEND liasion at the nursery and are equipped to be able to adapt and tailor care specific to every child.
We believe that children are happiest and feel most secure when there are clear and set boundaries for behaviour. These boundaries also aim to ensure the safety of themselves and other children in their environment. The nursery has a Behaviour Management Lead and Deputy who are trained, kept up to date with guidance, legislation and research into child behaviour and assumes overall responsibility for guiding staff and parents with matters concerning behaviour. We aim to ensure all children are supported and provided with care, love, security, consistency and clear and fair boundaries in which they have opportunities for self expression, freedom to explore, support as individuals and in building a positive self-image.
Any child who behaves outside the acceptable boundaries, is given one to one support to uncover the cause of the unacceptable behaviour and positively reinforce the correct way to behave. Extreme or persistent challenging behaviour may rest in some “time out” with an accompanying adult who will go through the positive reinforcement procedure with the child and work to remedy the situation according to the child’s individual character, maturity and understanding. Recurring problems will be addressed in a holistic nature whereby we will work with the child’s parents, and external support if necessary, to fully understand the cause and appropriate action/need moving forward.
