General information
- Settling in – this will happen over a 2-3 day period depending on the child.
- The room routines vary according to age and you can find out more details if you visit the individual rooms’ page. Appropriate rest and meal times as well as planned activities to support the Early Years Curriculum. Also, very importantly, there is outdoor play and free play to allow your child to explore and play, making decisions for themselves.
- Out of school programme gives the opportunity for children to do their homework with support/supervision from a member of staff if required.
Important Information
Holidays
- St Patricks Day
- Good Friday, Easter Monday and Tuesday
- Early May Bank Holiday
- Spring Bank Holiday
- Twelfth and Thirteenth July
- Summer Bank Holiday
- Halloween
- Christmas break
Ways to pay
- The Tax-free Childcare scheme, introduced in 2018, offers working families 20% support towards childcare costs up to certain limits. Please visit www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare for more information. We accept tax free childcare as a method of payment for our nursery service.
- We also accept Employers for Childcare vouchers
- Methods of payment – Standing Order, cash or card payments.
Inspection, Staffing & Qualifications
- Annually by the Early Years team. All our rooms consistently receive excellent reports from our inspections.
- All our staff are Access NI checked and vetted by the Early Years Team before commencing employment.
- We pride ourselves on the continual professional development of our staff.
- Staff training/Qualifications to date
- BSC Accounts & Economics
- CCLD Level 5 – 4 in total
- NVQ 2 & NVQ 3
- Certificate in Management – 3 staff
- Community leadership – 4 staff
- Designated Officer – 3 staff
- Covid-19 Infection, prevention and control – All
- Child Protection – All
- Health & Safety – All
- 1st Aid – All
- Food Hygiene – 5 staff
- Managing children’s behaviour – All
- Special needs – 4 staff
- Fire safety – All
- GDPR – All
- Cluster training – 2 staff
- Music and the 7 areas of learning – 1
- Autism – All
- Curriculum training – 2 staff
- Media Initiative – 1 staff
- Transition training – 2 staff
- Hearing impaired – 1 staff
- Wellcomm training – All
- Risk Assessment – All
- ACE training – 2staff
- Changing time is chatting time – All
- Signs of safety – 2 staff
- COVID-19 Infection Prevention and Control for Childcare – All
Meal Times
- We have five-star rating from the Environmental Health Agency. Meals are bought in from Moon & Spoon and heated by staff who hold the relevant food safety qualification. Snacks are prepared by staff.
- The children with allergies are identified in the food preparation and serving areas so all staff have a visual alert of any requirements. All our staff are trained in First Aid which includes the use of Epi-Pens.
Awards
- North Belfast News – BEST OF THE NORTH 2019 – WINNER BEST CRECHE
- Families First Awards – COMMUNITY DAYCARE – OUTDOOR LEARNING ENVIROMENT – WINNER 2019
- Families First Awards – BEST DAYCARE INNER CITY – WINNER 2019
Terms & Conditions
To enable us to maintain our commitment to high quality childcare and education, we require all parents to abide by these terms and conditions.
- All fees are charged monthly in advance. Fees are payable during periods of absence from the nursery, including sickness and holidays. Fees are not due when we are closed.
- The nursery is open from 8.30 am to 5pm. Part time sessions are from 9am to 1pm or 1pm to 5pm. Parents must adhere to session times and respect staff’s working hours.
- On acceptance of a place, a deposit of £50 is required. Four weeks’ notice is required if you wish to withdraw your child from the nursery. Your deposit will then be refunded when your child leaves provided your account has been settled. Fees are payable during the notice period.
- If you wish to alter the number of days attending, please discuss with Karen – Deputy Manager.
- Should your child become ill during nursery hours, a manager will contact you. If your child is suffering from an illness that may cause cross infection, discomfort or distress, then you will be requested to collect your child. We ask you to keep your child off during their illness, allowing at least 48 hours from the last occasion with sickness and diarrhoea.
- Designated adults who have been introduced to our carers may only collect children. In the event of an emergency please ring reception.
- Outings: Parents will asked to sign a permission form allowing their child to go out into the local area. Outings other than the locality of the nursery will be notified by letter and permission requested in advance.