Starting Nursery School

New parents’ evenings are held in June and at these we will advise you of which classroom your child will be in, and give you a Homerton brochure with your child’s starting date. You will also be offered a home visit before your child starts if you would like one.

New Children Drop-Ins

In one week in July new children and their parents may drop-in to visit for a short while.

Home visits

Your child’s teacher and nursery nurse can come to visit you and your child at home for about 15-20 minutes in the first week of the autumn term. This is to give your child a chance to get to know her/his teachers before s/he starts school to help with the settling in process. We will give your child an All About Me booklet at this time, and talk with you about it. It’s also a time for you to share any concerns with us.

The first three days… and beyond…

We have a gradual admissions procedure over the first two weeks of term. Children begin nursery in groups of up to 5 children at a time and they stay for just an hour on their first day. We ask you to stay with your child for this time, helping them to feel safe and secure, talking to us, and getting to know our routines.

On the second day your child can stay for up to two hours, and you can visit our Community Room for a coffee if s/he is settled.

On the third day you can leave your child with us for the full session as soon as s/he is settled.

[alt=Happy, settled, and enjoying a printing activity!]

Some children may need a longer settling in period and we can tailor this according to individual needs. We have a great deal of expertise and experience in settling children into nursery and will work together with you to achieve a smooth start.

Some children starting with us will have been to playgroup or another nursery before, others not, but for all of them Homerton will be a new experience. We may be a larger school than they’ve seen before, and maybe our expectations will differ. It will be an entirely new and exciting experience to adjust to, but also emotionally draining so expect your child to show signs of tiredness after a while. You may even find they don’t want to talk with you about all the lovely things they’ve done. This is entirely normal, so try not to ask them too many questions. Staff are always willing to talk with you about how your child is managing, so do have a quick word with them at the beginning or end of the session. If you feel you need you may need more time, you can ask for a separate appointment.