Welcome to our Nursery Class at Mount Charles School. We are looking forward to getting to know you and your child.

Our aims

Being curious and playful is at the heart of what we do here at Mount Charles. Highly skilled staff ensure that all learning opportunities take place in a safe and secure environment, where skills are developed through play-based learning. We encourage all children to be adventurous and skilful communicators who connect with others through language and play.

At Mount Charles School, we will:

• provide a happy, safe, stimulating, and challenging learning environment for children to experience as they begin their journey through school
• provide a broad, balanced, relevant, and creative curriculum that will set in place firm foundations for further learning and development in Key Stage 1 and beyond and enable choice and decision making, fostering independence and self-confidence
• value what each child can do, assessing their individual needs regularly and helping every child to progress
• provide a caring, inclusive, and anti-discriminatory ethos which is sensitive to the requirements of the individual child, ensuring that every child is included and supported
• develop excellent relationships with parents and carers to build a strong partnership in supporting their children.

Settling in

Starting nursery is a big step for most children. The time we spend helping your child to settle in will really benefit them – it will mean your child will be happier, more confident, and more ready to learn and progress.

Before your child starts with us, you will be invited to bring them to ‘stay and play’ sessions which will enable them to become familiar with the environment, their keyworker and wider EYFS team and make new friends.

Different children will settle in at different rates. In the past, we have found that settling in goes well for most children but if your child gets upset or sad, don’t worry. You child will be comforted and helped to settle by their key worker. It is important that you try to be as confident as possible that your child will settle; if your child sees that you are upset or anxious, then they will get upset too.

Working together

We value our close partnership with parents and carers. Please talk to your child’s key worker if you are unsure about anything or have any worries or concerns. We will talk to you regularly about how your child is getting on and how we can work together to help your child.

Please help the nursery :

• ensuring your child wears our Mount Charles Nursery Class uniform. Children will be required to wear plain black jogging trousers or leggings, black shorts or skirts and white polo shirts. Mount Charles jumpers and cardigans are available to buy from St Austell Screen Print. Please ensure that your child wears clothes that they can take on or off independently. Velcro shoe fasteners and elastic waistbands are easy – laces, lots of buttons and belts are difficult for young children. Children will sometimes get messy or dirty in nursery, so please dress them in clothes and shoes that they can run around and play in freely. It is a good idea to pack a couple of sets of spare clothes including pants, socks, polo shirt, jumper, trousers/ shorts or skirt/dress into a small bag which can be kept on your child’s peg. Please can you make sure all belongings are NAMED.
• Not using your mobile phone on the school site. When you are dropping off or picking up your child, we think it is important that you are available to listen to your child and talk with them.
• Not taking photos – other families may not want you to photograph their child. We take pictures of the children regularly for their online journal to record things that are important for your child.
• Telling us if someone different is going to pick up your child (if it isn’t going to be you or one of the other people on your form). The minimum age for picking up a nursery child is 16 years old. If we don’t know the person who comes to nursery, we will not let them take your child