Nursery

St Ursula’s Catholic Primary School Nursery and Reception Intake 2021

Headteacher’s Welcome

Welcome to St Ursula’s Catholic Primary School. The school is first and foremost a Catholic school and it is in this Catholicity that the school finds its identity.

St Ursula’s vision remains rooted in our Mission Statement “With God at the heart of our St Ursula’s family, we welcome all as we learn and grow together.” The core values of our school focus on high expectations for all learners, developing skills for life, encouraging good self-esteem and developing a set of core moral values based upon the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Our values are: 1.

Faith

2.

Respect

3.

Kindness

4.

Honesty

5.

Resilience

These values are core to every part of our lives. Our values are reflected in the way that we treat each other, the way that we look for every day opportunities to help those in need and in the example that we demonstrate to all those we meet.

St Ursula’s aims to provide a stimulating and exciting environment. We believe that all children thrive in an environment in which they are happy, challenged and secure: secure in the knowledge that they are safe and cared for; challenged to achieve their best; and happy in the knowledge they are each appreciated for their individuality and their achievements.

The school offers a broad and balanced curriculum, incorporating the National Curriculum, aimed at developing confident learners with enquiring minds. We have high expectations of all our children in every aspect of school life. We endeavour to enable them each to achieve their potential through high standards of behaviour and outstanding learning experiences. We aim to enable them to develop self-confidence and independence, recognising that each and everyone has a part to play as a responsible member of our learning community.

Children and their families in this school are well known to our community. Within our community, we welcome the parents and carers of our pupils, acknowledging the vital role they play in the education of their children. An active partnership and effective collaboration between home and school ensures our children are provided with the start to their life that they deserve as unique individuals.

As prospective parents, I hope that this PowerPoint provides answers to any questions you may have, but if you require further information please look at our school website and do not hesitate to get in touch.

Learning at our school In partnership with the London Borough of Havering Education Authority and the Diocese of Brentwood we: 

Put Religious Education at the heart of our school curriculum in order to develop the Catholicism, spirituality and prayerfulness of our pupils.



Continue to raise education achievements as a vital key to improving the quality of life of our children and prepare them with the skills required to be independent and responsible citizens of the TwentyFirst Century.



Foster a life-long love of creative learning and sustainability, through adopting a highly practical, skills, knowledge and cross-curricular based approach to learning. Making space which allows for true depth of study with a flexible timetabling approach.

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Continue to promote high expectations about educational standards and achievements, acknowledging and challenging disadvantage and discrimination in all forms.

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Value the skills and talents of individuals and communities from all backgrounds, developing a sense of community and belonging, contributing to our community and others through direct interaction.

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Acknowledge specific individual needs and meet them as far as possible within available resources.

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Provide wide and varied educational experiences, which are based on the National Curriculum. We will make learning more meaningful, through putting it into context and establishing cross-curricular links in our Creative Learning Curriculum (CLC) that is organised into integrated half-termly topics.

Children in Nursery and Reception will follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. This includes:  Personal, Social and Emotional Development  Physical Development  Communication and Language  Literacy  Mathematics  Understanding the World  Expressive arts and Design

The children follow a play-based topic curriculum that is child-led. They will be offered opportunities to stimulate their thinking and are encouraged to explore for themselves. Planning is added to the website on a weekly basis so that parents know what their children are learning and can enhance this through discussions at home.

Much of the learning is done through play.

The Curriculum in the Early Years Foundation Stage The curriculum in our school is underpinned by the values and ethos that we live out at our school. All pupils have equal access to the entire EYFS / Key Stage 1 & 2 curriculum, and when planning the curriculum, we will ensure that: 

It celebrates our Catholicity and identifies us as a Catholic school;



It draws on and recognises the value of linguistic, religious, cultural and ethnic diversity, particularly within our local community, and that it presents positive images to our pupils;



We look for opportunities for pupils to practise and develop their Numeracy and Literacy skills outside of English and Maths lessons; It incorporates the use of ICT across the curriculum;



We recognise the importance and impact of mental health on the children’s development, and have implemented a new ‘Bounce Back’ programme across the whole school to support all pupils;



Through challenge we cater for the needs of all pupils in mainstream classes;

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We are inclusive through recognising and planning for the needs of all pupils including those with Special Educational Needs, English as an Additional Language and Gifted & Talented pupils;

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We use available resources imaginatively and effectively to meet the individual needs of all pupils;

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We actively discourage and challenge the use of racial and personal abuse;

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We use a variety of teaching methods, ensuring that children are able to learn and make progress through quality first teaching;



Teaching Assistants (TA) are used effectively to support the learning of individual children or particular groups.

Our faith and Collective Worship We put Religious Education at the heart of our school curriculum in order to develop the Catholicism, spirituality and prayerfulness of our pupils. As a Catholic school, we will sing, pray together, learn more about God and go to Mass at St Dominic’s Church at different times during the year.

Behaviour Behaviour is the way we act and respond to people and to situations we find ourselves in. Our Behaviour Policy at St Ursula’s is not a discipline policy. It contains the sanctions and rewards that we will use to encourage positive behaviour, but it is much more than that - it is about taking the children from where they are now, and helping them to find socially acceptable ways to behave. We want St Ursula’s to be a safe and enjoyable environment for every pupil.

5-Star Code of Conduct The ultimate aim of our behaviour policy is to enable pupils to be self-assured young people. To achieve this we have a 5-Star Code of Conduct that all pupils follow. Our code of conduct establishes expectations of our pupils at St Ursula’s Catholic Primary School, channelling positive behaviour of all students.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

To have faith and let God be our guide To respect our school and our planet To show kindness to everyone through our actions To be loyal, honest and understanding of others To keep trying our best - Never give up!

House points are given as a reward for good work and behaviour and are for the individual child. The house points are counted each week and recorded on a tally system / class list that is displayed in the classroom. The house points are linked to a small treat for the winning house in EYFS/KS1 and privilege time in KS2. The Houses are:    

St Mary’s (blue) St Angela’s (green) St Dominic’s (yellow) St Edward’s (red)

Uniform At St Ursula’s Catholic Primary School we have high expectations in everything we do, this includes personal appearance. Uniform plays an important role in establishing the ethos of a school and at St Ursula’s we believe that our uniform and appearance policy benefits the school in a number of ways: 

It encourages identity with the school and nurtures the notion of community



It protects students from social pressures to dress in a particular way



It supports discipline and good behaviour and ensures the health and safety of students



It instils a sense of pride in the school



It promotes more effective teaching and learning.

Full co-operation with our dress code enables staff to concentrate their time and effort on teaching and learning.

Nursery Uniform

Reception Uniform

(Winter)

(Summer)

Reception PE kit

Snack and lunch •

The children have fruit and milk / water at Snack time.

(Fruit is provided at School for snack time and should not be brought from home. Milk must be ordered.)

•

At lunch time, the children will have lunch in the dinner hall with their friends.

Getting ready for school Children should be encouraged to develop their independence Useful skills to practice with the children in preparation for the Early Years Foundation Stage: Saying

short prayers;

Attending Putting Taking

Mass during the year (once it is safe to do so);

on their own coat; off their jumper, turning it the right way around and putting the jumper on;

Putting

on and taking off their own shoes;

Recognising Being

their own names;

fully toilet trained;

Washing

and drying their hands;

Blowing

and wiping their own noses and throwing the tissue into the bin;

Looking

at books independently;

Having

an awareness of letters, words, shapes and numbers in their environment;

Drawing, Tidying Feeding Talk

painting, cutting out;

up toys; themselves independently.

to children about starting Nursery / Reception and explain that they will stay at school to learn

and play with the other children but that someone will come back to collect them each day.

Ofsted “Pupils and staff provide a warm welcome to the school. Pupils enjoy coming to school and say learning is fun. They say adults are kind and helpful. Leaders and teachers encourage pupils to be thoughtful and respectful.”

“Pupils feel safe in school. They told me there is no bullying. They know that adults will listen and help them if they have any worries or concerns.”

“Teachers have high expectations of the sounds and words that pupils should be able to read. Most pupils secure the necessary reading skills early on. This enables pupils to progress to reading books matched well to pupils’ phonics knowledge.”

“Leaders have worked hard to improve mathematics. Mathematics is taught in a clear order. This helps pupils build fluency in number skills and learn new mathematical concepts. Teachers plan mathematics lessons that are practical and engaging. They ensure that pupils have lots of practice learning number facts.”

“Leaders’ subject plans are well thought out. Teachers provide opportunities to revisit learning. This helps pupils develop their knowledge and understanding over time. Pupils’ books showed they are learning a range of interesting topics in geography and history.”

Application Process Please contact the School Office for details about an Application Pack.

The Supplementary Information Form and the necessary documentation MUST be completed and submitted to the school before the closing date.

Copies of the following must be submitted with the Supplementary Information Form: •

child’s birth certificate;

•

Baptism Certificate;

• Certificate of Catholic Practice from Parish Priest which MUST be completed before the deadline date the Mass Card •

/ a copy of

Proof of your address – utility/Council Tax bill dated within the previous 3 months.

All documents will be verified and you will be contacted if necessary.

•

Reception Applications close on 15 th of January 2021.

•

Nursery Applications close on 11 th of February, 2021.

Important information for parents applying for a place in Reception: Parents applying for a place in Reception are also required to apply online to the Local Authority. You must apply via www.havering.gov.uk/eadmissions . Even if your child has a brother or sister that attends the school, or your child attends the Nursery attached to the school, you will still need to apply for a place in Reception. For more information please contact the School Admissions Team on 01708 434600 or visit the Public Advice & Service Centre (PASC) based in the Liberty Shopping Centre, Romford.

•Please refer to the School’s website for information about the Admissions Criteria.