Nursery

Exciting News

Nursery tour dates are now live and ready to book.

Come and meet the Nursery team and view our Nursery setting on the dates below. Please contact us by phone 01276 24918 or by email HSuffield@heather-ridge.co.uk if you wish to attend a tour:

Thursday 7^th May 9.15am
Wednesday 20^th May 9.15 am
Friday 5^th June 9.15am
Tuesday 9^th June 9.15am

We currently have a limited amount of adhoc Nursery places available. Please email HSuffield@heather-ridge.co.uk so that we may send you the hours/days that are available along with an application details or to register your interest in a future place with us.

Sessions	How many spaces currently available
2-year-old spaces (15 hours of Working Parent Funding) attending every morning 09:00 - 12:00 Monday - Friday	0
3-year-old spaces (30 hours using a split of 15 hours Working Parent Funding and 15 hours Universal Funding) attending every day 09:00 - 15:00 Monday - Friday	0
3-year-old part-time spaces (15 hours of Universal Funding) attending every morning 09:00 - 12:00 Monday - Friday	0
3-year-old part-time spaces (15 hours of Universal Funding) attending every afternoon 12:00 - 15:00 Monday - Friday	0

Heather Ridge Infant School Nursery is a school-run, term time only Nursery approved by both the Governing Body and the local authority. We welcome children aged 2, 3, and 4 years old.

Funding Eligibility & Session Availability

At this time, nursery sessions are only available to children eligible for funded early education and childcare—either the universal 15 hours per week for all 3–4 year olds, the 15 hours per week for eligible FEET funded 2 year olds, or the 30 hours per week for qualifying working families. We cannot currently accept cash payments for extra hours beyond these funded entitlements. We do not make any charge for food charges or non-food consumables as children are to bring a home packed lunch to Nursery. Nor do we charge for additional activities.

2-year-olds - FEET Funding

Free Early Education for 2-year-olds (FEET) offers eligible families 15 hours of free early education a week for 38 weeks a year.

For more information about FEET, to find out if you are eligible and to apply for FEET funding, visit https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/free-childcare-2-year-olds

If you are eligible you will receive a FEET application number which you should provide us with when you apply for a nursery place for your child. Prior to the offer of a nursery place being made you will be asked to provide a copy of the letter confirming your child’s FEET funding eligibility as they will not be able to access a 2 year old place without this.

2-year-olds - Working parents entitlement

From April 2024 early education and childcare for working parents is being extended to support more families.

Eligible working parents of children will be able to get up to 30 hours a week (term time) of funded early education and childcare. Please visit the best start in life parents hub 15 & 30 hours support | Best Start in Life to find out if you are eligible.

At our Nursery setting, 2 year old's will only be able to use 15 of their 30 hours with us. We have found this gives children a good foundation to their start in Nursery life prepares them to build up to 30 hours in the term after they have turned 3. Hours can be split over separate childcare settings. ie, 15 hours at our Nursery, 15 hours in a separate setting, therefore utilising the full 30 hours entitlement.

3 & 4-year-olds

Currently, all 3 and 4-year-olds are entitled to up to 15 hours of free early education a week for up to 38 weeks a year. This is known as the universal entitlement. Further information is available on Surrey's Family Information Service website.

Since September 2017 the government has also increased the number of free funded hours for 3 and 4-year-olds from 15 to 30 hours a week for working families who meet the eligibility criteria. This is known as the extended entitlement.

Further information on 30 hours funded provision, the eligibility criteria and how to apply can be found on The best start in life parents hub web page: 15 & 30 hours support | Best Start in Life

If you are eligible for 30 hours of free funded early education you will receive an eligibility code which you should provide us with when you apply for a nursery place for your child.

Want to check your family’s eligibility? Please visit the best start in life parents hub – there you can see what you qualify for and apply for your code. Here’s the link to get started: ➤

15 & 30 hours support | Best Start in Life

Once you're eligible and we receive your valid code, we can offer funded sessions that may be available at that time.

Attendance

Regular attendance is important so that children benefit fully from our nursery provision. When a child is absent, we expect parents or carers to inform the school of the reason as soon as possible.

If a child misses all of their agreed nursery sessions for a continuous period of three weeks and no valid reason has been provided, their place may be withdrawn. Valid reasons include illness, medical appointments, or other extenuating circumstances that the school has agreed to in advance.

Where absences remain unexplained, or where the pattern of non attendance shows that the nursery place is not being used, the school will contact parents to seek clarification. If no satisfactory explanation is given, the child will be removed from the nursery roll and the place will be offered to another child on our waiting list.

This approach ensures that nursery places are used fairly and that other children are not prevented from accessing provision due to long term non attendance. For further details, please see our attendance policy included on this webpage.

What your child will need

At Heather Ridge we believe that a uniform gives each child a sense of belonging, so they feel part of the school. For details of how and where to purchase our new and nearly new uniform, please navigate to our 'Parents' tab on the main menu, then scroll down to the 'uniform' tab.

Please see below a list of items that your child will need for their day at Nursery:

A spare set of clothes and underwear which will remain at the Nursery
Dark shoes with velcro fastenings or similar (no lace up shoes, no crocks, no flip-flops)
Easy to dress clothes such as jogging bottoms (no zip or button fastenings)
White Polo top and Burgandy Heather Ridge sweatshirt (with school logo on)
Suitable coat for all weathers
Wellies which will remain in school

Please remember, all clothing is to be practical for young children. Clothing which is easy to pull on and off in the case of accidents or after wet play. This helps towards their independence.

Lunch & Snacks

When your child is attending for a full day or an afternoon session, you will need to provide them with a healthy packed lunch, which they will all enjoy together.

When your child is attending a full day or a morning session, you will need to provide children with a healthy snack. An example of this may be some breadsticks with some fruit.

During the Nursery day, your child will be offered a drink of milk, this is unless they have an allergy, or we have been expressly informed by parents to opt out of this. If you wish to opt out please speak directly to a member of the Nursery team.

We are a nut free school including chocolate spreads that contain nuts. No fizzy drinks. Lunches will be stored in a fridge before they are consumed. More information regarding a healthy packed lunch can be found via the website below:

Lunchbox ideas and recipes – Healthier Families - NHS

Also, please see document list for information from the Early Years Food Standards Agency.

Visiting us

Please contact us by phone or by email if you wish to attend a viewing of our nursery. During your visit you will meet with our Nursery Leadership team. This is an excellent opportunity for us to learn a little more about your child and answer any questions you may have.

Job Vacancies

All of our jobs will appear on https://www.eteach.com

How can I apply?

Please contact us directly via email for more information and application pack: hsuffield@heather-ridge.co.uk

Please note, an application does NOT guarantee a place within our nursery. Applicants will be notified if their application is successful via email.