- Work in partnership with parents to help children to learn and develop.
- Add to the life and well-being of its local community.
- Offer children and their parents a service that promotes equality and values diversity.
- To enhance the development and education of children under statutory school age in a parent-involving, community - based group.
- To provide a safe, secure, and stimulating environment.
Children start to learn about the world around them from the moment they are born. The care and education offered by our setting helps children to continue to do this by providing all of the children with interesting activities that are appropriate for their age and stage of development.
Our setting aims to:
- Work in partnership with parents to help children to learn and develop;
- Add to the life and well-being of its local community; and
- Offer children and their parents a service that promotes equality and values diversity.
- To enhance the development and education of children under statutory school age in a parent-involving, community –based group.
- To provide a safe, secure, and stimulating environment.
We aim to ensure that each child:
- Is given generous care and attention, because of our ratio of qualified staff to children, as well as volunteer parent helpers;
- Has the chance to join with other children and adults to live, play, work and learn together;
- Is helped to take forward her/his learning and development by being helped to build on what she/he already knows and can do;
- Has a personal key person who makes sure each child makes satisfying progress;
- A specially tailored curriculum working towards the Early Years Foundation Stage.
Parents
Our setting aims to support parents by:
Helping them feel:
- Valued and respected
- Kept informed
- Consulted
- Involved and
- Included at all levels.
Our Parents are welcomed:
- To work in the group with children
- To assist with funding
- To take part in management of the setting by becoming Committee members
- To represent the setting at branch and county activities of the Pre School Learning Alliance
- To attend open meetings, training courses, workshops and conferences organised by the Pre-school Learning Alliance.
How parents take part in the setting
As a member of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, our setting recognises parents as the first and most important educators of their children. All of the staff sees themselves as partners with you in providing care and education for your child. There are many ways in which parents take part in making the setting a welcoming and stimulating place for children and parents, such as:
- Exchanging knowledge about their children's needs, activities, interests and progress with the staff
- Helping at sessions of the setting
- Sharing their own special interests with the children
- Helping to provide, make and look after the equipment and materials used in the children's play activities
- Being part of the management of the setting
- Taking part in events and informal discussions about the activities and curriculum provided by the setting
- Joining in community activities in which the setting takes part; and
- Building friendships with other parents in the setting.
The parents' rota
The setting has a daily rota for each month where parents can sign if they would like to help at a particular session or sessions of the setting. Helping at the session enables parents to see what the day-to-day life of the setting is like and to join in helping the children to get the best out of their activities.
Joining in
Joining the rota is not the only means of taking part in the life of the setting. Parents can offer to take part in a session by sharing their own interests and skills with the children.
We welcome parents to drop into the setting to see it at work or to speak with the staff.
Working together for your children
In our setting we maintain the ratio of adults to children that is set though the National Standards for Day Care. We also have volunteer parent helpers where possible to complement these ratios. This helps us to:
- Give time and attention to each child
- Talk with the children about their interests and activities
- Help children to experience and benefit from the activities we provide; and
- Allow the children to explore and be adventurous in safety.
Learning opportunities for adults
As well as gaining qualifications in early years care and education, the setting staff take part in further training to help them to keep up to date with thinking about early years care and education. The setting also keeps itself up to date with best practice in early years care and education through the Pre-school Learning Alliance's magazine Under Five and publications produced by the Pre-school Learning Alliance. The current copy of Under Five is available for you to read.
From time to time the setting holds learning events for parents. These usually look at how adults can help children to learn and develop in their early years. Courses on similar topics are held locally by the Pre-school Learning Alliance: watch out for information about these.
Children's development and learning
The provision for children's development and learning is guided by the framework issued by the Sure Start Unit of the Department for Education and Skills.
Children start to learn about the world around them from the moment they are born. The care and education offered by our setting helps children to continue to do this by providing all of the children with interesting activities that are appropriate for their age and stage of development.
For children between the ages of 4 months up to five years, the setting provides a curriculum bases on the Early years Foundation Stage. Play helps young children to learn and develop through doing and talking, which research has shown to be the means by which young children think. Our setting provides a range of play activities, which help children to make progress in each of the areas of learning and development. In some of these activities children decide how they will use the activity and, in others, an adult takes the lead in helping the children to take part in the activity.
The session
Outdoor activities contribute to children's health, their physical development and their knowledge of the world around them. The children have the opportunity - and are encouraged - to take part in outdoor child-chosen and adult-led activities, as well as those provided in the indoor playroom/s.
Key carers
Our setting has a key carer system. This means that each member of staff has a group of children for whom she/he is particularly responsible. Your child's key carer will be the person who works with you to make sure that what we provide is right for your child's particular needs and interests. We will try and make sure your child gets as many sessions with their key carer as we can, when your child first starts at the setting, she/he will help your child to settle and throughout your child's time at the setting, she/he will help your child to benefit from the setting's activities.
Records of achievement
The setting keeps a record of achievement for each child. Staff and parents working together on their children's records of achievement is one of the ways in which the key carer and parents work in partnership. Your child's record of achievement helps us to celebrate together her/his achievements and to work together to provide what your child needs for her/his well-being and to make progress.
Your child's key carer will work with you to keep this record. To do this you and she/he will collect information about your child's needs, activities, interests and achievements. This information will enable the key worker to identify your child's stage of progress. Your Childs key carer will then decide on how to help your child to move on to the next stage,
Snacks and meals
We provide a choice of healthy foods, milk or water. Parents are asked to bring a piece of fruit in a week, which we cut up and the children all share .A freshly prepared two course cooked lunch is offered to all children who stay over the lunch period.
The setting makes snacks a social time at which children and adults eat together. We plan the menus for snacks so that they provide the children with healthy and nutritious food. Do tell us about your child's dietary needs, so all staff will make sure that these are met.
Policies
Copies of all the setting's policies are available to read in the entrance hall. The setting's policies help us to make sure that the service provided by the setting is a high quality one and that being a member of the setting is an enjoyable and beneficial experience for each child and her/his parents. The staff and parents of the setting work together to adopt the policies and they all have the opportunity to take part in the annual review of the policies. This review helps us to make sure that the policies are enabling the setting to provide a quality service for its members and the local community.
For further information about the Pre-school Learning Alliance, to which we belong, send a large SAE for a free publications catalogue to the Pre-school Learning Alliance, 69 Kings Cross Road, London WC1X 9LL.
Special needs
We aim to provide equality of opportunity for all members of our group, and this includes children with special educational needs. The number of adults present in the setting enables us to provide individual attention for each child. Each child is able to progress at her/his own rate in all areas of development, and this is true for children with and without disabilities or learning difficulties. We are experienced in working in close liaison with professionals across the range of special needs, and we operate in accordance with the government’s Code of Practice on special educational needs. If you would like to discuss the group's ability to meet your own child's special needs, please talk to the room leader or your child's key carer. Our full special needs policy is available on request.
The setting works to the requirements of the 1993 Education Act and The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice (2000).
The management of our setting
A parent management committee - whose members are elected by the parents of the children who attend the setting - manages the setting. The elections take place at our Annual General Meeting. The committee is responsible for:
- Managing the setting's finances;
- Employing and managing the staff;
- Making sure that the setting has - and works to - policies that help it to provide a high quality service; and
- Making sure that the setting works in partnership with the children's parents.
Our Annual General Meeting in June is open to the parents of all of the children who attend the setting. It is our shared forum for looking back over the previous year's activities and shaping the coming year's plan.
Starting at our setting
The first days
We want your child to feel happy and safe with us. To make sure that this is the case, the staff will work with you to decide on how to help your child to settle into the setting. The setting has a policy about helping children to settle into the setting.
What to wear
In order to feel free to explore and experiment with all kinds of materials, including messy ones, it is best to send children dressed in clothes, which are easily washable or not too new. We sell polo shirts £5.50, T-shirts at £3.00 and sweatshirts £6.50. Please see a member of staff if you would like to purchase any of the above.
It is good for children to practise the skills, which will make them independent. Simple clothing, which they can handle themselves, will enable them to go to the toilet when they want to and to put on and take off their outdoor clothes without being too dependent on other people's help.
We hope that your child's time in our setting will be a very happy and productive one. If you have any queries or if we can be of any help, please contact the staff committee/management at any time. |
