FAQs

We welcome children from 3 months to 5 years across three rooms: Cherries for babies, Plums for toddlers and Apples for pre-schoolers. Each room is set up for the stage children are at, from Brilliant Babies to Terrific Toddlers and Powerful Pre-schoolers. Children move up as they grow, with early educators who know them well, so they feel they belong and are ready for school and everything after it.

Every day follows the Katey’s House Curriculum, built on the Early Years Foundation Stage. There’s a balance of child-led play and planned activities: stories and songs, messy and sensory play, early maths and literacy, music and plenty of time outdoors. Children also enjoy Little Wandle, Zig-Zag Zumba and a calm Restful Rituals moment every day. Our early educators follow each child’s interests, so no two days are quite the same.

Yes. Our menus are developed with Registered Nutritionist Laura Matthews and follow the Department for Education’s Nutrition guidance for early years providers. Meals are balanced and varied, with fresh produce, whole grains and protein, and water is always available. We cater for allergies, intolerances, cultural and medical dietary needs.

We encourage all prospective families to visit our nursery before making a decision. During your visit, you’ll have the opportunity to explore our learning environments, meet our friendly early educators, see our daily activities in action, and ask any questions about our curriculum, facilities, routines, or childcare approach.

If you decide our nursery is the right fit for your family, we’ll guide you through every step of the registration process, including completing the necessary paperwork, discussing funding options where applicable, arranging settling-in sessions, and explaining what your child will need for their first day.

Our aim is to make the transition into nursery as smooth and comfortable as possible for both children and parents, ensuring every family feels welcomed, informed, and supported from the very beginning.

The costs for childcare will vary depending on how many sessions you would like your child to attend for. You’ll be able to find more information by using our nursery calculator and selecting your preferred location.  We accept the government funded hours, which you can find more information on through the government’s Best Start in Life website.

We use the app EYParent to share updates about your child’s day. Before your child starts with us, you’ll be invited to set up your account so you’ll begin receiving updates from their first day! We’ll let you know about the day’s menu, how long they have slept, and any nappy changes. You’ll also see snapshots of activities they’ve taken part in, as more in-depth observation on your child. You’ll also receive a daily handover when you come to collect, sharing any important information about the day. We see our relationship with you as a partnership – we love it when families also use EYParent to share important moments and updates from home, and also provide us a handover about your child when you drop off.

If your child has any dietary requirements, you can let us know at the point of registration. You can also update us on any changes through the ‘My World’ form which is completed shortly before your child joins us. However we ask that you always keep us updated about your child’s requirements, so that we can keep your child safe. Some of the ways we manage allergies and dietary requirements at Katey’s House. 

• An Allergy & Dietary Requirements Overview is displayed within the rooms, dining rooms, and kitchen. These are updated when needed and reviewed at least monthly.  
• Additional safeguards include coloured crockery (red) and individual placemats for children with allergies, intolerances and special diets. Seating is monitored for children with allergies – early educators will sit with them and, where appropriate, discuss food allergies and potential risks with the children.  
• All early educators complete Allergy Awareness training, and each setting is equipped with emergency adrenaline auto-injectors provided by Kitt Medical.  
• Allergens are highlighted on our Parent Menus and each meal is labelled with an allergen sticker before leaving the kitchen – ensuring early educators who serve the children can be aware of the allergens present.  

We have a legal responsibility to keep a close eye on each child’s attendance, and to follow up on any absences as part of our safeguarding duties. 

Please do your best to ensure your child attends all their booked sessions regularly, and on the occasions where your child will be absent you should let us know with as much notice as possible. As per our Terms and Conditions, no fee reductions are made for absences due to holiday, sickness or any other reason.

Whether your child takes medication at home or you’d like our early educators to administer it within the setting – you must let us know about any medical needs or medication, before your child starts and if anything changes during their time with us. This includes long term medication such as inhalers or eczema cream, or short term courses such as antibiotics. Our family sharing app EYParent makes it easy to upload information about medication before handover time, and allows you track and sign off every dosage given during the day if it’s needed.  

We do not accept children who have been given Calpol before their session, unless in certain circumstances where it has been given more than 4 hours before attending and the child is showing no symptoms. In the event your child develops a temperature whilst at the setting, we will administer a single dose of Calpol and ask that parents collect their child within the hour. We are also able to administer the antihistamine Piriton when required.

When your child is unwell, we know it can be tricky to know if you should keep your child off from nursery or not. Whilst we take steps to prevent the spread of infection, it is not our policy to care for sick children – who ideally should stay home until they are well enough to return. 

If your child experiences vomiting or diarrhoea, they must remain at home for 48 hours following their last episode. Similarly if a child experiences vomiting or diarrhoea whilst at the setting, parents will be contacted to collect and the 48 hour exclusion rule applies. Certain illnesses require that a child should be excluded from the setting for an amount of time, in those situations please speak to your nursery who can advise how long your child needs to stay home for.  

Always let us know if your child won’t be in for their session and why, so we can inform our early educators and other families whose children attend in their room. 

We understand there are times when you can’t help running late, but we ask that you collect your child by the end of your child’s booked session. If late collection becomes a regular occurrence, we will charge a late collection fee of £15 for every 15 minutes, or part thereof. 

Our early educators hold Early Years qualifications from Level 2 to Level 6. They’re supported by Assistant Early Educators, who bring valuable experience, and by trainees at the start of their careers. Everyone takes part in ongoing training, including first aid, child protection, Makaton and music.

All children have the right to feel safe at nursery, and the safeguarding of your child is the most important responsibility we have. All of our settings are held to the highest security standards when it comes to the children in our care. The front door is always locked, and can only be opened by an approved member of staff. Only early educators are able to open internal doors, and we have rigorous security measures in place with regard to your child being collected. We train our staff in the importance of security, encouraging them to feel confident in noticing anything unusual and challenging anything that doesn’t feel right.  

Our environments are deliberately designed open spaces, so that everything happening within the setting is visible to others – without detracting from a child’s privacy. All early educators are DBS checked with active and thorough training plans to ensure safeguarding is paramount. We also make use of CCTV technology within our rooms and entrances. 

Safety is paramount to us at Chalk, you can find out more by visiting our Safeguarding page. 

Yes. Settling in is how we get to know your child, and how they come to feel they belong here. There’s no fixed number of sessions: some children are happy by the second visit, others need a few weeks, and both are normal. Your child’s key person plans each step with you, building a strong bond from the first day, and you can call any time to hear how they’re doing.

We have detailed policies and guides that cover a variety of topics, and our early educators are on hand to support you with any queries.  Please speak to your nursery manager to see our full policies and procedures, or if you have any further question we haven’t answered here.