Health and Safety

• Mobile phone use is strictly prohibited throughout the nursery and its grounds; please do not use your phone for any reason. This is standard procedure in schools.
• It is against the law to smoke anywhere in the nursery and its grounds.
• Please park with consideration for our neighbours and avoid blocking driveways.
• Please do not park on grass verges or double park on Wycombe Way or Grasmere Road.
• Please do not park on the yellow keep clear zig-zag lines on Grasmere Road or Icknield Way; they must be kept clear at all times. Police and traffic wardens conduct routine checks and will prosecute drivers who park illegally. 
• Access to the staff car park is required at all times. Please do not block the entrance or obstruct the paths in any way.

Invoicing

• If your child attends for more than your government funded 15 or 30 hours, you will receive an invoice via email. The invoices are issued at the start of the month and payment is due by the end of the month. You can pay with Childcare Vouchers, online banking or cash at the office.  Please speak to office staff if you need any help.

Clothing

• Please ensure that all of your child’s clothes and belongings are named. 
• Please ensure that your child comes appropriately dressed for the weather, including appropriate shoes and a warm coat when it is cold.
• We have a limited supply of wellies in nursery for the children’s use, but we would recommend that you leave a pair of named wellies in nursery to cover all eventualities.
• In good weather, please supply named sun hats and sun cream.  For children that stay all day, we will top up their sun cream after lunch.  During the summer months, please ensure your child is wearing closed-in shoes or sandals and not flip-flops or sliders, as these can cause accidents.
• Please keep a spare named outfit in a named bag on your child’s peg.  We do have some spare clothes in nursery, but if your child has an accident it is much nicer for them to put their own clothes on.
• Your child may wear any comfortable, easy to wash clothes to school, but if you would like to buy a school sweatshirt, polo shirt or fleece please visit: www.myuniformshop.co.uk/product-category/schoolwear/grasmere-nursery-school/

Family Worker

Our Family Worker is Lois Robins.  She is happy to help at all times, so please contact her regarding any issues you feel she may be able to help and support you with.  This can be anything from toilet training to feeding, sleeping, behaviour, referrals, form filling, safeguarding, domestic abuse, etc. 

Email: lrobins@grasmere.nurseryluton.com

Please aim to have your child toilet trained during the day if possible when starting 3-5s, but don’t panic if they’re not.  We anticipate accidents and are happy to change your child and support you with the toileting process if they’re not yet there.

Medical

• If your child has sickness or diarrhoea, please keep them at home for 48 hours from the last bout.  This helps to stop the spread of illness to other children and staff.  
• For any of the following reasons, a Care Plan must be completed with your Class Teacher/Room Lead prior to your child starting or returning to nursery.  Please contact your child’s Class Teacher/Room Lead to make an appointment.  Please note: your child will not be able to attend nursery without a completed Care Plan.  If you are in any doubt about whether a Care Plan is necessary, please call the office to discuss.
  • If your child has any short or long term medical condition, injury, allergy, dietary requirement or needs to take any kind of medication whilst at nursery.   
  • If your child has an Epipen, they will need an NHS Care Plan and two Epipens to be kept at nursery.
  • If your child uses an inhaler, please also ask your doctor for a spare to be left in school.  Please ensure this is in date and replaced when out of date.
  • If your child has any special dietary requirements or allergies, please also bring us a letter from your doctor or any relevant medical reports.  

Attendance and Collection

• Please always ensure that your contact details are up-to-date with the office in case we need to contact you urgently.
• If your child is going to be absent for their normal session due to illness or any other reason, please always phone first thing in the morning and let us know the reason.
• We regularly monitor attendance and our expectations are that attendance is above 85% for funded children.  Please speak to Lois if you have any issues or concerns regarding attendance (please see our attendance page for more information about the importance of regular nursery attendance).
• If somebody different is collecting your child from nursery, please let us know.  If somebody unexpected comes to collect your child and we haven’t been notified by you, we will not let your child leave with that person until we have your confirmation. 
• Children may only be collected by adults aged 18 or over (even if you are waiting in the car).
• It is very important to drop and collect your child on time.  Please call if you are held up by an emergency.  Our policy is to charge for late collection at the end of the day.
• Drop-off and collection is via the green "Classroom Entrance" gate on Icknield Way. We ask that you take your child to the door of their classroom and ensure they are handed over to a member of staff. 
• Drop-off and collection times:
  • Morning drop-off: 8.45am (gate closes at 9.05am)
  • Morning collection: 11.45am (gate closes at 11.55am)
  • Afternoon drop-off: 12.30pm (gate closes at 12.40pm)
  • 3pm collection (gate closes at 3.10pm)
  • 3.30pm collection (gate closes at 3.40pm)      
• If you are unexpectedly late and the main gate is closed, please drop or collect your child from Reception.
• If your child attends breakfast or afterschool club, please ask staff for directions to the entrance.

Accidents

If your child has an accident in nursery, we will give you a copy of the accident form when you collect your child.  The majority of our staff are First Aid trained, and so are able to give basic treatment.  If we are at all concerned, we will contact you immediately.

Special Educational Needs

If you have any concerns regarding your child’s development, or they have been diagnosed as having special educational needs, please speak to your Class Teacher/Room Lead, a member of our SEN Team or email: SEND@grasmere.nurseryluton.com

Safeguarding

If you are concerned about a child’s welfare, please record your concern, and any observations or conversation heard, and report to one of the Safeguarding Designated Officers as soon as possible on the same day.

In line with our safeguarding procedures, please let us know if your child has sustained any injuries outside nursery. We will always ask parents/carers for an explanation and also children, if appropriate.

Our Safeguarding Designated Officers are:

• Barbara Tewe – Designated Safeguarding Lead
• Vijith Vijay – Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
• Kim Buttle - Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
• Anne Keenan - Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
• Lois Robins - Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

Snow and Emergency Closure Policy

• Wherever possible, we strive to remain open.  In the event of a breakdown of essential services (eg. heating failure, electrical failure, loss of water supply), severe weather conditions or where the nursery has to close totally or partially due to an illness epidemic, it is important that you are familiar with the following procedures. 
• In the event that we do have to close the Nursery, you will be informed of this by our 'Teachers to Parents' texting system.  Information will also be put on our website and, in the event of closure due to severe weather, will also be on the Luton Council website.  If the nursery has had to close, please ensure that you have confirmed when the nursery will be open before bringing your child back.  In the event of heavy snow where transport services are badly affected, the nursery will open providing staff are able to get to work.
• We cannot provide refunds to parents for emergency closure as we still need to pay staff who cannot get into nursery and such events are deemed to be force majeure.  We will always strive to keep the nursery open wherever possible.  We believe that you can take out insurance against this eventuality.

We are here to support you every step of the way through your child’s nursery journey. If you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.