Guest Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 Hello This is my first time on this site/forum. I have just set up/converted our Nursery class and the reception class into a foundation stage unit. I am the newly appointed FSU co-ordinator mainly due a newly refurbished unit and an OFSTED in 3 weeks!! I have been at the school for just over a year and am now feeling brave enough to make some more changes! I would love to have a booklet that I can give to new parents telling them what happens in Nursery and what they can expect from the FS curriculum. Just wondering if anyone already has one that they would be willing to share? Any help would be fantastic, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 Hi Wizzy and welcome. I'm sure someone will be able to help you with this but do you not have anything already that you could at least use as a starting point? School's have to have some sort of "prospectus" dont they?. I think there may also be some info on QCA or Sure Start that may help you address this. Good luck with the project and also with Ofsted. Keep us posted as to how it all goes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 Hi Wizzy, and welcome to the forum We give our parents our long term aims as an idea of what the FS curriculum is all about, but I must admit, it is a bit dry I'll attach it here. We also have a little brochure which we have had printed which explains our philosophy, a bit about the provision in terms of the layout/activities, and most importantly, how keen we are to create an excellent relationship with our families through making sure we are approachable, friendly yet professional. I envy you in your lovely new FS unit! I'd also put in a bit about uniting the nursery and reception and explain about learning through play, and child-initiated and adult-directed learning. Aims_and_Learning_Opportunities_2004.doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hali Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 welcome Wizzy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beau Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 Welcome to the forum Wizzy and good luck with the OFSTED. Look on it as a positive experience which will give you a chance to improve on your current practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie A. Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 Hi Wizzy and welcome, I designed a new nursery booklet for parents last year and this is given to all new parents or prospective parents. I teach a Nursery class within a large primary school. The school itself has it own prospectus, but I felt that the Nursery, as the first point of contact for most parents to school, needed its own information booklet. It is in the form of an A5 booklet. It does need to be concise and user friendly if you want parents to actually read it and not just tuck it in a drawer somewhere! I find that pages of text are sure to switch people off and so I broke up the text with pictures to make the booklet much more readable. I asked the children to draw certain pictures, eg one of each member of staff (just pencil line drawings), then scanned them in. One child did a fantastic drawing of our outdoor area showing children playing on the slide and bikes. This made a great front cover. You could also add photos. The main sections in my booklet are Inside cover - name, address, phone numbers of school / nursery p1 - The Staff - names and pictures, also their role, eg class teacher, nursery nurse, keyworker for red group, etc. p2 - Session times - I used clock faces to make it visual p3 - Nursery routine - how the session works, routine for dropping off and collecting children. p4 - a concise account of the Foundation Stage curriculum, literally a sentence or two about each of the 6 sections of the curriculum, and a small piece on assessment and record keeping. Also details of where our plans are displayed. p5 - A small piece on health and safety - what happens if the child has an accident at Nursery, or if they are unwell. Wearing of jewellery. How long to keep them off if they have been ill, etc p6 - Appropriate clothing (children's drawings accompanied this) p7 - Bits and pieces of info relevant to our setting, eg voluntary contributions, what we do for birthdays, snack time, P.E. library book routine, parent helpers, admission to school, use of photographs. p8 practical ideas for preparing the child for Nursery Conclusion - a summary of our basic philosophy back cover - an illustrated version of our Nursery Rules Rhyme centre page spread -( illustrated by children ) listing randomly across the page many of the activites we do. Hope this is some help Jackie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 We have all of the above but also include holiday dates for the year and minimun periods of exclusion for infectious diseases. Would love to see your illustrated version of our Nursery Rules Rhyme Jackie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueFinanceManager Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 Welcome to the site Wizzy Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 we have all of the above in our booklet plus our back page is a memo from your child, as follows This morning I completed 3 puzzles (one was really hard) I played with the playdough and made some pancakes which I shared with my friend(not that I could eat them) I answered a lot of teleophone calls in teh office writing down the messages in the diary. I then went to have a snack in the cafe of toast and apple and I poured my own drink without spilling any. I went into the garden and climbed to the very top of the climbing frame all by myself before coming in where we all sat together for a story and song time. I sang really loudly. when mummy came all she said was " Havent you done any work?" ..... Oh how could I explain?............ (we adapt this each year to fit the routine changes etc.) This has completely stopped all parents expecting 'Work' to go home every day. Inge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 Ours is similar to what's aleady been said here, but we're also developing a short break down of the policies to make them more user friendly. Policies like equal op's, child protection, confidentiality, are going to be explained as in we do this because... In a recent survey I gave out to parents I asked if they knew where the policies were and if they'd read them, all the one's returned said 'yes', but I know they havent been read by the majority of people and think this will at least make them aware. I also change the booklet as I get a question on something and include that. Like Inge said, it's a good idea to include something about the importance of play, so many parents want their children to be producing something every day and are prepared to forget or overlook all the other things that go on. We have a poem in ours. Here's a couple to look at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie A. Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 Here is our Nursery Rules rhyme. nursery_rules_rhyme.doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted January 12, 2005 Share Posted January 12, 2005 Hi wizzy!! Hey, that's great jackie! Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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