Governor's Report to Parents 2017-18

Ethelred Nursery School & Children’s Centre Governors’ Report to Parents 2017-2018 20 Oakden Street, London SE11 4UG Telephone 020 7582 9711 admin@ethelred-nursery.lambeth.sch.uk www.ethelrednursery.org.uk Our New School and Children’s Centre

Welcome from the Chair of Governors Kelly Lin It’s been another year of lots of fun learning at Ethelred. Our children have been creating art with a local community artist, learnt new songs with our singing teacher and explored the natural world at Roots and Shoots. They’ve visited the Transport Museum to learn more about buses, trains and the underground and our children really enjoyed this. In addition to this we’ve had some great celebrations, including a fantastic Christmas play performed by the children with a visit by Father Christmas and vibrant Black History celebration activities.

I’m proud to see that the hardworking staff at Ethelred have maintained the excellent standards of teaching that we’re known for, with almost all children achieving at or above age-related expectations. We see outstanding levels of progress for almost all children and although we’re sad to see another cohort of children move on, we’ve done a great job at equipping them with the skills to succeed at ‘big school’.

But it’s also been a tough year; we’ve spent over 2 years in these temporary facilities and I can’t even begin to tell you about the amount of work Glenda and her team have put in to keep it all running as smoothly as possible. Winter was particularly tough, with leaks and blockages of all sorts! We’ve made it work the best we can over the last two years and have maintained our standards of teaching throughout all of this, but it will be a relief when we move into our brand new building in September.

The new building is close to completion now and when Glenda, Cathy and I last visited, it was looking really promising. We’ve got a big entrance off the main road and floor to ceiling windows looking into our courtyard playground. We’ll have our own kitchen where our meals will be cooked and a spacious dining hall. There’s much more space, and even better, the Children’s Centre will be back on site just upstairs from us with its own roof garden. I’m excited about the move; I think it will provide such a fantastic learning environment for our children and give us the opportunity to expand our roll and the offer we provide for the community. There is still a huge amount of hard work to go. Once we get the keys, Glenda and Tony will need to work throughout the summer holidays to ensure everything is in place for when you come back in September.

The governors this year have voted to consult on joining a Federation with the other 4 Lambeth Nursery Schools; Maytree, Holmewood, Triangle (who are already in a Federation) and Effra.

We’ve decided to do this because speaking to the Headteachers and Governors at the other nursery schools, we realised we have the same values, goals and ways of working in common.

We are all convinced of the value we deliver to our families, but in this difficult financial environment, we need to join together to be able to make that case stronger to Lambeth. We’ll continue to be Ethelred Nursery School, manage our own budgets and we don’t expect anything to change for our children and families. However, behind the scenes a federation will simplify decision making and we’ll be able to better share our expertise across the nursery schools – for example we might be able to learn from the other nursery schools on how to best extend our offer.

A consultation will be coming out shortly, so please do contribute to this – it will be great to hear your views.

It’s become an increasingly difficult environment for nursery schools, and for the education sector in general in Lambeth. I believe what we do for local children and their families is so incredibly important, and I’m proud of the work that Glenda and the team have put into helping our children make such excellent progress. I’m excited about the move and the future for Ethelred, and I hope you are too.

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Who are the Ethelred Governors?

Name

Role

Term of Office

Kelly Lin

Chair of Governors

Appointed Governor 18.11.2015 Appointed Chair of Governors 10.10.2017

Glenda King

Headteacher

Cathy Byrne

Deputy Headteacher Co-Opted Governor

Reappointed 20.11.2013 and reappointed 18.11.2015

Anna Day

Staff Governor

Appointed 08.03.2012 and reappointed 18.11.2015

Shirley Dowuonah-Hammond Parent Governor

Appointed 30.11.2016

Catia Colaiacovo

Parent Governor

Appointed 18.01.2018

Hannah Lazell

Local Authority Governor

Appointed 18.11.2015

Tien Tien Tan

Co-Opted Governor

Appointed 30.11.2016

Charmaine Strelitz

Clerk to the Governors

Appointed 18.11.2015

Kelly Lin - Chair of Governors

Glenda King - Headteacher

Cathy Byrne - Co-Opted Governor

Catia Colaiacovo—Parent Governor Shirley Dowuonah-Hammond Parent Governor

Anna Day - Staff Governor

Hannah Lazell - LA Governor

Tien Tien Tan— Co-Opted Governor -3-

Headteacher’s Report Glenda King It will soon be the end of another eventful school year and the children are enjoying their summer term activities. A very important event this year has been witnessing the progress of the new build on our old site. The final plans are in place and the building of the new school and centre is taking shape. We have been following the progress and are eagerly awaiting our handover date in early August, after which we will be moving in so that we are ready for the start of the new academic year in September. Between now and then, a lot of work needs to be done and we are rising to the challenge of making this substantial final move a reality. We will be recreating and extending our services to meet the needs of our local community. The children’s centre team will be relocating back to our new premises and it will be good to have the whole staff team back together again. We are excited about the move and would like to thank parents and carers for their patience and support during this time of transition.

The new children who started in September and January settled into the nursery routines and are now thriving. Many learning opportunities have been on offer to the children during the year.

These included visits to Roots and Shoots, The Institute of Imagination, The Transport Museum, Mary Sheridan Child Health Centre, Brixton Market and Oasis Farm. We continued to offer enrichment activities including creative arts activities from our Community Artist, Martha and music activities from our singing teacher, Veronique.

We have continued to adapt to the local and National changes in Early Years Education which have presented many challenges for Nursery Schools. The five Lambeth Nursery Schools are all high quality settings but as small schools, we are vulnerable. We have been exploring ways of working together in order to remain strong in the future.

As we move forward in our new school and centre, we are committed to maintaining the delivery of high quality services for our children and families. Please support us by spreading the word that Ethelred is a great place for children from birth to 5 years old.

Our Children’s Centre has continued to deliver valuable, quality services for families and staff are looking forward to moving into the new building where they can continue to serve the needs of our local community. We will be sited right at the heart of the Ethelred Estate where a number of new families will be taking up residence in the new flats, apartments and houses.

This presents an opportunity for us to grow. Please share with us any ideas you have to help us serve our community even better and recommend us to your friends and neighbours.

We will be saying goodbye to most of our children as they leave us to go to Primary School. We have given them a firm foundation on which to build their future learning. Thank you for allowing us to be part of their lives. We wish everyone of them the very best for the future. Thank you all for your support and trust.

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Children’s Centre Bolu Heather By the end of July, our time at White Hart Street will have come to an end, as we will be moving with the nursery school to the new premises. The two and a half years of temporary accommodation gave us many challenges, but all these were handled well by the team to maintain a welcoming environment to support our families and children. We have provided various activities and learning opportunities. In the last 12 months, we have supported the Lambeth Parenting Strategy and worked with partner providers to deliver a range of parenting courses to promote children’s behaviour and parental relationships.

Our regular Stay and Play sessions have achieved good attendance over the last year, consistently exceeding 10 families for each session. Other highlights of the year have included introducing our monthly Explore and Walk, making regular visits to Roots and Shoots to give children exploring experiences; visits from Martha, our community artist , and a successful trip to Broadstairs. We enjoyed a successful fundraising morning in March with the Nursery School and raised over £150 for the annual Muddy Puddles , Save the Children event.

Staff have received sleep training, with the aim of offering parents opportunities to discuss any problems they may have regarding their children’s sleep.

We are now working towards the Elvina accreditation to be recognised as a centre for supporting children’s speech, language and communication.

We are now looking ahead to provide services from the new building in September. One area of development will be strengthening our collaborative work with the health visiting and community midwifery teams. We will continue to work as part of the North Locality Children’s Centre delivery team, with a view to sharing knowledge and complementing services offered by Henry Fawcett to support families using both our centres.

The children’s centre staff are looking forward to implementing our programme in the new surroundings and will be welcoming existing and new families in the months to come.

Please follow us at https: www.facebook.com/ethelredNSCC/

Parents completing the Henry Programme

Family art activity in May half-term

Exploring and Walking in Roots and Shoots - 5-

Safeguarding Kelly Lin Safeguarding is an absolutely crucial part of what we do at Ethelred. The first and foremost responsibility of our staff and governors is to ensure that our children are safe. We do this by ensuring that we have policies and procedures in place – these policies are always available to parents both on our website and in the office. Each year we also ensure we keep on top of developments in national regulations and make sure our staff and are governors are appropriately trained in safeguarding issues.

We receive help on safeguarding from our Local Authority and from our School Improvement Adviser, who reports on safeguarding in every visit they make to Ethelred and we governors also make safeguarding visits. If you have any questions regarding our safeguarding approach and policies, then please don’t hesitate to ask a member of staff or a governor.

Parent Governor Shirley Dowuonah-Hammond The Ethelred children’s centre is a place where parents and carers are welcome to observe their little ones thrive, in a budding environment. Friendly staff members are always on hand for guidance and advice.

Children are encouraged to participate in activities indoors, demonstrating their creative side using various art techniques. These may include: painting, drawing, soft clay making, cutting and sticking which allows them to build on new skills. Intrigued by discovering areas of the indoor space from role-play in the pretend kitchen to building parts of a train set, along with many other toys to play with. The children communicate and learn from other children of different ages that use the centre regularly, allowing them to become familiar with the environment. The routine of the children’s centre including snack time, story time and the facilities available, enable them to become confident with routine with some preparation for nursery.

After enhancing their fine motor skills indoors, they have the opportunity to explore the outdoor apparatus and plants. Having the opportunity to feel soil and plant some seeds. Or filling up a rabbit watering can and understanding the nature that surrounds them. As a parent or carer, you are keeping a watchful eye on outdoor play, and are able to motivate your child to develop their gross motor skills. You watch them progress in their development and make amazing steps.

Parents are able to converse with others and possibly exchange child-rearing tips.

The dedicated session for younger babies is a lovely way to introduce them to the centre, allowing parents and children bonding time. The centre is a breast-feeding friendly zone making it a quiet comfortable area.

The Ethelred children’s centre has a pivotal role in the community, where parents and carers are able to find information and ask for help in specific areas relating to the child and family. There are courses and drop–in sessions throughout the year, from parenting courses, baby-weaning drop in’s to toddler developmental checks. This unique children’s space created by the staff is why many parents attend, and moving to the new premises, I have no doubt that the high standards of care and quality will continue to flourish.

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Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Cathy Byrne Ethelred continues to support a high number of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in both the nursery and Children’s Centre. We currently have 15 children on our SEND register. The children have a range of needs. Many have Speech and Language delay, some will additionally have social communication difficulties or autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We also have some children with complex medical needs.

We work hard to ensure that all of our children have everything in place at Ethelred to enable them to make good progress, including targeted planning and intervention groups. Those with higher level needs will have a SEND Support Plan which is drawn up in conjunction with parents and any outside professionals involved with the child. The SEND Support Plans are reviewed at least termly and where children are deemed to have needs which are of a more enduring nature, we will apply to the local authority for a formal assessment for an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan. We currently have three children with an EHC plan. Two more are being processed and I will be requesting EHC assessments for three of our younger children as soon as we have gathered enough evidence to submit to Lambeth and Southwark SEND departments. This level of need far exceeds the average and would equate to approximately five children in a class of 30 with learning disabilities. The five children whose plans have either been agreed or finalised will be leaving us this term and we wish them every success with their transition to primary school.

We work closely with local health professionals to identify and support families of children with SEND at the earliest opportunity as we know from experience which is borne out by research that early intervention works. The earlier we connect with families, the more progress their children will make. Although the job of supporting children with SEND is labour intensive it can also be the most rewarding work. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive setting which meets the needs of the whole community irrespective of the challenges.

Over the course of the year, staff in the nursery and Children’s Centre have worked together to ensure that children with SEND who access services in either part of our provision are supported by consistent adults in the nursery, Stay and Play sessions and creches. I work closely with our specialist SEND Better Start worker, Anna Day, to provide integrated support for children and their families. Together we aim to ensure that families who are referred to external services attend appointments and access their entitlements to additional support. We also spend time with parents discussing options for the types of support available to best meet their child’s ongoing needs.

We are just about to complete the first year of a new three year family Music Therapy project.

This year 8 families have benefitted from this intervention and we are looking to recruit more in the Autumn term to fill the spaces left by those who have moved on. The project aims to support families to develop their confidence and communication skills through music. The project is part funded by the Walcot Foundation, a local charity which provides funds for projects designed to raise participation and attainment in education for low income families.

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School Finance 2017-2018 Tien Tien Tan We as governors work with the headteacher to ensure the school spends the funds we receive from Lambeth wisely. Like other nursery schools in Lambeth, we are facing budget challenges as a result of changes in how schools are being funded by the local authority. This has necessitated a strong focus by the headteacher and staff on keeping costs low where possible whilst still delivering quality provision to our local community. Our financial performance for the year is better than budgeted.

The budget submitted for the forthcoming year reflects the opportunities and challenges presented by the upcoming move to brand new, larger premises later this summer, along with the anticipated changes to the school’s funding from Lambeth. We will continue to work with the headteacher and Lambeth to consider the options that lie ahead and to ensure the school’s financial position is sustainable, such that we can continue to provide the excellent services for which the school is recognised.

ÂŁ Total Income

821,297

Expenditure: Teaching Support Staff Admin Staff Other Staff Premises Learning Resources Other Supplies Services Children's Centre Staff Children's Centre non-staff

208,368 178,945 63,934 53,757 16,892 22,544 29,925 172,169 27,429

Total Expenditure

773,963

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School Finance 2017-2018

School Fund A big thank you to all who have contributed to the school fund.

It is a voluntary contribution of £1 per week and is used to pay for exciting activities, trips and treats for all our nursery children.

Below is a list of how some of the school fund has been spent since September 2017.

Expenditure Classroom Fruit & Cooking Ingredients

£184

Black History Celebrations

£439

Children’s Christmas Presents & Christmas Celebrations

£285

Easter Celebrations

£

Summer Leavers outing

£550

Clowns for Summer Celebration

£339

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Income School Fund Donations to date

£658

Wheelie Day Donations to date

£461

As you can see we spent more than we received as we were able to use a carry forward from previous years. We really value your support in enabling us to continue to provide these extra activities

We also raised £126 for Save the Children with a cake sale and £36 for Book Aid by dressing up as favourite book characters.

Nursery School and Children’s Centre Development Our School and Centre Development Plan details the priorities we set for the year to enable us to further improve our services and practice.

The current Plans include:  Making sure that any performance gaps between groups of children are narrowed 

Ensuring that an even higher number of more able children achieve accelerated progress



Maintaining high quality teaching, including high quality Phase 1 Phonics



Meeting the needs of our Two Year Old children



Improving ways of meeting children’s behavioural needs



Planning for a sustainable future for Ethelred during these economically challenging times



Securing a successful move into our new premises

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School Terms & Holiday Dates 2018-2019 Term One Setting Up New Building

Monday 3rd September 2018

Setting Up New Building

Tuesday 4th September 2018

Setting Up New Building

Wednesday 5th September 2018

Inset Day

Thursday 6th September 2018

Inset Day

Friday 7th September 2018

Home Visits/Preparation

Monday 10th September 2018

Home Visits/Preparation

Tuesday 11th September 2018

Children return to school

Wednesday 12th September 2018

Term Ends

Thursday 18th October 2018

Inset Day

Friday 19th October 2018 Monday 22

nd

Holiday October 2018 – Friday 26th October 2018

Term Two Children return to school

Monday 29th October 2018

Term Ends

Friday 21st December 2018 Holiday Monday 24th December 2018 – Friday 4th January 2019

Term Three Inset Day

Monday 7th January 2019

Children return to School

Tuesday 8th January 2019

Term Ends

Friday 15th February 2019 Holiday Monday 18 February 2019 – Friday 22nd February 2019 th

Term Four Children return to school

Monday 25th February 2019

Term Ends

Friday 5th April 2019 Holiday Monday 8th April 2019 – Monday 22nd April 2019

Term Five Inset Day

Tuesday 23rd April 2019

Children return to School

Wednesday 24th April 2019 Bank Holiday (May Day) School Closed Monday 6th May 2019 Friday 24th May 2019

Term Ends

Holiday Monday 27 May 2019 – Friday 31st May 2019 th

Term Six Children return to school

Monday 3rd June 2019

Term Ends

Tuesday 23rd July 2019

Staff List for 2017-2018

Glenda King

Headteacher

Catherine Byrne

Deputy Headteacher - SENCO

Sue Peyton

Class Teacher

Elaine Seaton

Early Years Educator

Romina Gor

Early Years Educator

Nanda Tiwari

Early Years Educator

Kathleen O’Dwyer

Early Years Educator—Supply Cover

Vicky McLelland

Teaching Assistant

Tara Mills

Teaching Assistant

Clementina Iyawe

Teaching Assistant

Natasha Pienkowska

Teaching Assistant

Nadia Vona

Teaching Assistant

Shaneen Lewis

Meal Supervisor

Carol Bennett

Meal Supervisor

Sarah Ros

SAO - Acting

Joanne Stevenson

Admin Assistant-Supply Cover

Bolu Heather

Children’s Centre Manager

Charmaine Cummings

Children’s Centre Outreach Manager

Halima Begum

Early Years Educator - Children’s Centre

Anna Day

Outreach Worker

Zehra Bender

Admin Assistant—Children’s Centre

Shirley Williams

Admin Assistant—Children’s Centre

Tony Danford

Project Manager

Luigi Greco

Premises Officer

Vivian Baffour

Kitchen Assistant (Caterlink Catering)

Pamela Lindsay

Cleaning Services (Engie)

Patricia Wilson

Cleaning Services (Engie)

Martha Macdonald

Community Artist

Veronique Brugeron

Singing Tutor

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Our New Location from September

Our new address from September Ethelred Nursery & Children’s Centre 1 Gundulf Street London SE11 6BG Our telephone and email contacts will remain the same Telephone 020 7582 9711 admin@ethelred-nursery.lambeth.sch.uk ccadmin@ethelred-nursery.lambeth.sch.uk www.ethelrednursery.org.uk