We have both breakfast and after school clubs which are known as Treetops. We started providing this service two years ago and it continues to grow. Treetops provides wrap around care for pupils at both North Baddesley Infant and Junior Schools. Children receive a healthy breakfast or snack and enjoy a range of activities which keep them entertained until the start of the school day or home time. Treetops Breakfast Club runs from 7:45am and Treetops After School Club ends at 6:00pm. An application pack for our Treetops provision can be collected from the school office or downloaded from the school website: https://www.northbaddesley-inf.co.uk/treetops-breakfast-and-after-school-club/.  We work hard to provide high-quality wrap around care for any family who needs it but cannot guarantee a place at all sessions that might be required. Please let us know your needs as soon as you are offered a place.

If a child has a specific medical need or requires the administration of medication, we would complete a Health Care Plan with you before your child starts school to ensure they receive the care and support they need. It is rare that a child would receive additional 1:1 support for their medical need and, if you think this is required for your child, please talk to their current childcare setting about applying for an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) so this is in place when your child starts at North Baddesley Infant School.

Please do not feel your child has to be at a specific stage of development before joining school. Every child has a different starting point in anything they are learning and we will adapt our teaching so that your child works on their own next step of their development. It is, of course, helpful for your child to have a level of independence. Please give your child opportunities to develop this in the following ways:

· Use a knife and fork

· Use the toilet without assistance

· Hang up their coat on a peg

· Get dressed and undressed

· Follow simple instructions

· Recognise their own name

If there is anything here that you are concerned about, please let your child’s class teacher know during the home visit. We know that every child is unique and we will work with them and you to provide the support they need.

Whatever your experience of school, it is unlikely this same experience will be repeated for your child. Schools change over time and, consequently, your child will learn in ways that you did not, using resources that you may not have encountered at school. Your child also has a different starting point and experiences outside of school compared to those you had as a child. Very few attributes of learning are inherited which means if you struggled with maths at school, this does not mean your child will too. At North Baddesley Infant School we talk about having a ‘Growth Mindset’ and know that everyone can improve through practice and learn from mistakes. We never say ‘I can’t do this’; we say ‘I can’t do this yet’. We nurture the whole child, helping them grow, not only academically, but also teaching them about behaviour, being Ready, Respectful and Safe. We also focus on their social and emotional development.

In the Early Years (Year R) children begin to read words using a scheme of systematic synthetic phonics which is usually simply referred to as phonics. The use of phonics to teach reading is compulsory for all schools. We use a scheme called 'Little Wandle: Letters and Sounds Revised' which is a government validated scheme. Phonics is a successful scheme which empowers children to read independently and very quickly enables them to read short words and identify the sounds that letters make. This may be different to the way you learnt to read at school and we run parent and carer workshops to help you to understand how you can best support your child during their time at school.

We make a decision based on the individual cohort whether or not to mix the classes when children move from Year R into Year 1. Sometimes, after getting to know the children over the course of the year, it is beneficial to form new class groups but we do not do this routinely. If we do mix the classes, they typically remain unchanged for Years 1 and 2.

We ask parents and carers to submit a short list of friends their child has when joining the school. We endeavour to ensure they are placed in a class with at least one of these friends but cannot guarantee this. Our Year R provision is structured so that the three classes mix during their learning and, consequently, your child will often see their friends in other classes and the whole school community, including Monty and Winston.

Our priority is to make sure that all children feel safe at school. Most children are experts at making new friends and the team will help your child to settle in and make new friends quickly if they need support with this. At the start of the year we have a staggered entry for our new Year R children. This means that for the first few weeks your child will attend as part of a smaller group and for a shorter period of time. This will support them to get used to the school setting, help the school community get to know them and help them make new friendships.

School admissions are organised by Hampshire County Council and we do not make the decision regarding who gets a place at our school. However, we do take a number of children out of catchment and, in the last two years, have been able to accommodate all first choice requests for places at our school. Once your child attends North Baddesley Infant School, they will be able to progress to North Baddedsley Junior School without fear of losing their place due to catchment.