Introduction

Here at Our Lady’s we provide an environment that enables children to express their feelings and cope with fears, anxieties and difficult experiences. We encourage the development of self confidence.

Our small family school enables children from as young as 3 months to mix with older children during assemblies and day to day activities as well as rehearsals for various school productions. This boosts the confidence of the younger children while the older children learn to be caring and patient. This is also an excellent opportunity for siblings to play together and for staff and children from different areas to get to know each other. This, we believe, ensures children remain feeling confident and secure when moving up through the age groups.

At Our Lady’s we treat each child as an individual and understand that the rate of development of children varies greatly from child to child. We recognise children’s individual achievements and put specific strategies into place to assist them where ever they need it. Lots of different experiences and learning opportunities are always available to allow for the children’s differing likes, dislikes and interests.

We have policies and procedures in place to ensure children and their families are treated fairly and that children are kept safe and healthy during their time at Our Lady’s. We offer varied activities to promote not only the physical health of the children but also their emotional, social, environmental and spiritual well-being.

All of the younger children have contact books which are used like a diary to pass information back and forth between staff and parents. In addition to this we also take time to verbally speak to each parent at the beginning and end of each day. The nursery has a phone system so parents are able to speak to the staff caring for their child at any time during the day.

Each child within the Early Learning Foundations stage has a profile which stays with them for the duration of the time in the nursery. This document is an integral part of the learning development process. Observations carried out by trained staff give an on-going assessment of a child’s development and are recorded in the individual child's profile. This is freely available to parents and children, and can be discussed with members of staff at any time. The observations and assessments are used to identify learning priorities and relevant and motivating experiences for each child.

From the age of 3, regular Parent’s Evenings are held to allow discussions with the Teachers and Nursery Nurses about their child’s progress.

As well as Parent’s evenings, School age children have termly report cards with effort and attainment grades giving an oversight on their progress. At the end of each academic year a full written report is forwarded to the parents to reflect the pupil’s progress over the year.

Throughout the school all staff make themselves available to liaise with parents whenever necessary.