Dear Families,

Thank you for choosing Good Shepherd Christian Nursery School for your child’s early childhood educational experience. Our goal is to provide an environment that is safe, fun and conducive to lots of learning. All age groups will participate in activities that encourage academic success, social interaction, problem solving, independent thinking, emotional and spiritual growth as well as having fun. The children will enjoy arts and crafts, stories, music, indoor and outdoor play, parties, special events and once a month, Chapel with Pastor Bruce.

This handbook has been prepared to acquaint you with Good Shepherd Christian Nursery School, its purpose, policies and philosophy. You, the parents and guardians are the first educators of your child and our staff strives to help you in this important endeavor.

We trust that you will read this handbook, discuss the contents with your family and keep it in a handy place for frequent reference. If at anytime you need to speak with me or another staff member, please do not hesitate to call and we will meet with you as soon as possible.

Everyone is looking forward to an exciting school year!

In God’s Love,

Kay L. Muehlberger, Director

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Our website address is goodshepherdchristiannurseryschool.com

You can email us at gscns@verizon.net

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Teacher Staff

Playgroup 

Lead Teacher: Jeanette Herster

Assistant Teachers: Jamie Parry, Tiffany Pursell, Charleen Burik

AM/PM 3x3's

Lead Teacher: Lynn Christenson

Assistant Teachers: Lori Sassano

AM/PM Pre-K

Lead Teacher: Kay L. Muehlberger

Assistant Teachers: Darlene Creazzo, Charleen Burik, Amy Coopersmith

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Nursery School Board

Chairperson: Marge Drake

Treasurer: Stacy Shriver

Secretary: Jennifer Zingales

Members: Dottie MacLaughlin

Cathy Martin

Marlowe Wacik

President of Church Council: Raylene Frankenfield

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Goals

There are specific goals for each age group as well as for all of our students.   We encourage the Playgroup students to separate easily from their Parents, increase language skills and vocabulary and learn to play with their friends.   Of course playing well with others is an important skill for all children.   Part of playing with others is learning problem solving skills.   For only children or children with much older or younger siblings, there are fewer times when they have to take turns, etc...because they are interacting mostly with adults.   Here at school, we encourage them to use their words during conflicts and try to figure out how to solve problems and make decisions for themselvers.   The decisions are small but the skill is big.  

The 3 year old students are encouraged to continue with the skills they learned in Playgroup.   We also want them to add increasing their attention span, mastering more difficult fine motor skills and refining more of their social interactions.  

Pre-K students spend a great deal of time on more fine motor and academic skills specifically needed for Kindergarten.   However, it is still important for them to continue improvingtheir problem solving skills and becoming more independent during class.   We also want all the children to have fun while learning all these new skills.

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Admission

Age per Group:

Playgroup students must be 2 by September 1^st.

AM/PM 3's students children must be 3 by September 1^st.

Pre-K students must be 4 by September 1^st.

Early admission to be determined by the director.

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Arrival Times

AM classes - 9:00am to 11:30am

Parent’s arrival - 8:50am and 11:20am

PM classes - 12:30pm to 3:00pm

Parent’s arrival - 12:20pm and 2:50pm

We ask that you respect our parent arrival times. If children have to wait too long in the hall they are bound to become more anxious or bored or rowdy. When parents come too early for pick up and chat in the hallway, the children listen to you or for you instead of the teachers. The staff’s goal is to provide your child with the full class time scheduled.

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2010-2011 Tuition Rates

Playgroup 1 & 2                     $160.00 per month

Playgroup 3&4                       $135.00 per month

AM/PM 3x3                            $160.00 per month

AM/PM 3x2                            $135.00 per month

AM/PM Pre-K                         $160.00 per month

Registration Fee                      $  35.00 per child  

$5.00 per month multiple child discount

Extended Care   $5.00 per hour  $2.50 per half hour

5% discount for full year payment in advance

                         Summer Program                     $20.00 per day                                  

Payments should be made by check or money order on the 1st of each month starting August 1st through April 1st.   The first tuition payment must be made no later than August 15th to maintain your child's position in class.   If payment is not received by this date you will receive one notice.   If after this notice payment is still not received, your child will be withdrawn from the class.   The payments may be made by mail or at school.     Simply place your payment and coupon in the mailbox outside the Pre-K classroom.   Returned checks will be subject to a $35.00 fee.

We ask that you always use your payment coupon.   Duplicate and different family names make record keeping difficult without a completed coupon.

If there is a outstanding tuition balance you will receive a statement showing the current amount due.   If this amount is not paid by the end of the month your child will not be able to attend school until payment is made in full.

Tuition refunds will be given only with the approval of the Nursery School Board.   No refunds will be given due to absence on a daily basis or days missed due to vacation.

If a child withdraws for health or personal reasons, a written notice of at least two weeks prior to withdrawal is required.   Forfeiture of tuition will occur for the month in which withdrawal occurs if a not is not received.

Exception to these policies will be at the approval of the Nursery School Board.

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Extended Care Services

Extended Care will be provided Monday through Friday.

We offer three Extended Care Services:

Early Bird service is from 7:00am to 9:00pm.  

Lunch service is from 11:30am to 12:30pm

After School service is from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.  

We also provide escort service from Wilson Elementarty School Am Kindergarten for your child, if requested.

The cost for each child is $5.00 per hour, $2.50 half hour.   There are limited number of spaces available; 15 per session.   You may indicate your need for Extended Care on your registration form.   You must sign TIME IN an TIME OUT and CONTACT NUMBER daily on the Extended Care Sign In sheet located on the bulletin board outside your child's calssroom.   We ask for a time in and out so we know who to expect and for how long.   Maintaining accurate attendance is important.   In case of an emergency we use the sign in sheet to make sure all of the children are accounted for.   The contact number is helpful in the event there is an illness or accident or the pick up person is running late.   Please let your child's teacher know when your child is attending Extended Care,

If there are spaces available, parents may reserve one as little as 24 hours in advance.   Please do not assume there are spaces available without first contacting the school.   Mrs. B is in charge of Early Bird and After School Extended Care and Mrs. Lori Sassano is in charge of Lunch Extended Care .   Questions may be directed to either teacher or Miss Kay.

Payments for Extended Care must be made weekly in the full and exact amount due by check or money order.   Payments need to be made in the exact amount owed.   We do not keep cash on hand to make change.   If payments are not made on time you will not be able to use this service until the balance is paid in full.  

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Discipline Policy

The staff will make every effort to supervise the children, design the program and set up the classrooms to encourage the least amount of conflict between students.   Classroom rules are kept simple; inside voices, walking feet and gentle hands.   The school's discipline policy allows 3 warnings to be given before a Time Out occurs.   If aggression of any kind occurs, no warnings are given and a Time Out is served.   The length of the Time Out will be the same number of minutes as the child's age.   Following the Time Out, the child and the teacher will discuss what happened, what is the correct behavior and when needed, apologies are made.   You will be notified of the event with a "notes home".   Following is our Incident Report Policy.   This policy has been designed to inform you of a Time Out, injury or any other significant event that occurred during the class.

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Incident Report Policy

In order to keep parents informed and aware of any negative incidents that occur while your child is in school, we have developed the following policies and practices.

1. An Incident Report will be sent home in the event your child received a Time Out during class.   The report will be given to you the same day the event occurred.  

The school's discipline policy allows 3 warnings to be given before a Time Out occurs.   If aggression of any kind occurs, no warnings are given and Time Out is served.   Following the Time Out, the child and the teacher discuss what happened, what is the correct behavior and when needed, apologies are made.  

If you child was the recipient of aggressive behavior, we will also notify you.   Parents need to know when their child did not have the ideal school day.   It is upsetting when a friend 'hurts' you.    

To report an incident you have witnessed or your child has reported to you, please tell any teacher as soon as possible.   Please see a teacher or call the school so we may investigate the event and resolve it satisfactorily.   An incident report will be completed at the time it is reported to us.

Incident Reports will include:

A. Child's Name

B. Date

C. Explanation of event

D. Teacher's signature

E. Parent signature to be added upon receipt of report.

II. Follow Up Procedure:   There are several options for follow up after an incident report is received if you would like further information or explanations.

1. Immediate conversation with the teacher of record and/or director following class in person or by phone.

2. Phone conference with teacher and/or director

3. Conference with teacher and/or director scheduled at a later date.

III. Incident Report/Follow Up Log:   The log will contain the following:

A. Copy of the incident report

B. Record of times and dates of staff/parent phone conferences.

C. Record of times and dates of staff/parent conferences.

IV. Nursery School Board Involvement:   A parent may request that an incident be reported to the Nursery School Board.   You may request that the board be notified with a written report of the incident.   You may also ask to attend the monthly meeting to discuss the incident with the officers and members of the board.   This request must be made in writing addressed to Chairperson, Nursery School Board.   Your request will be passed along to the Chairperson and you will be contacted in writing to notify you of the date and time of the next monthly meeting.

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Dismissal Policy

The Nursery School reserves the right to remove a child from his/her class if the child’s behavior is disruptive and/or could cause harm to the other children or teachers in that class.

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Registration

Registratiom for the 2010-2011 school year will begin February 1, 2010 for the families that are currently enrolled and for the members of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.  Registration is open to the public as of February 15, 2010.  A non-refundable regisgtration fee of $35.00 per child is due at the time of registration.  Registration for our Summer Program starts at this time as well.