Early Years Local Offer response

Learning and development

Systems and strategies we have in place to identify children that may require additional support

Before your child starts at the Garden you will receive a Welcome Pack including an All About Me form where you can give us information about your child. Each child at The Garden is appointed a Key Person who will develop a close relationship with you and your child. Your child's Key Person will complete a Baseline Assessment of your child within the first few weeks to find out if your child is at the appropriate developmental stage for their age.  Your child's Key Person will continue to carry out a range of ongoing assessments while your child attends the Garden. These assessments are linked to the developmental stages within the Early Years curriculum and used to determine whether your child needs additional support.

 

We also carry out Progress Checks at Age 2 in line with guidelines.

How we identify and support children's learning and development needs

We encourage all parents to visit The Garden with their child prior to starting with us, giving you the opportunity to discuss any individual needs your child may have. Following our ongoing assessments, if your child requires further support we will meet with you to explore how best we can meet their needs and set targets for their learning and development. Depending on the level of additional support required we will, with your consent, contact outside agencies for their expertise.

 

We follow the Graduated Approach of Assess, Plan, Do, Review to ensure that any support is appropriate to an individual child's needs and that progress is being made.

Links we have to other agencies

We have developed strong links with all outside agencies that support children in the Early Years. These include the Senior Early Years Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo), Speech and Language Therapists (SALT), Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists. In addition to this we have in the past been supported by Cornwall Development Centre (CDC), Teacher for the Blind, Autism Support Workers and the Vision Support Team. We have also liaised with Portage and Epilepsy Nurses.

How we support children transferring to school

The Garden is not affiliated to one particular school so we have had children transition to all of the local schools as well as some village schools further afield. When the parents know which school their child will attend we invite each child's new teacher and school SENCo if appropriate to visit the Garden to observe the child in our learning environment. If the child receives SEN support, with the consent of the parents our SENCo will attend Transition meetings with the school. If a Team Around the Child (TAC) meeting is in place, the school will be invited to attend with our SENCo and any other professionals involved as well as the parents to ensure a smooth transition to school. If required we can arrange for the child's Key Person to attend some 'taster' sessions in the school with the child prior to the child starting.

Welfare

Specialist skills or training our staff have

At The Garden all our members of staff are trained in Children's Learning and Development, and our Senior Team have experience with supporting children with delayed speech and language development, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, impaired hearing, visually impaired, epilepsy and other medical conditions. Training in these areas is updated on a regular basis and we will access additional training needed to support your child. Our Manager, Deputy Manager and SENCo attend regular network meetings to ensure we are up to date with any relevant changes that may impact on our practice.

 

Both the Manager and the Deputy Manager are Designated Safeguarding Officers. Each of our classrooms have a ‘Room Lead’ allocated to them each day. All staff are trained to at least a level 2 in Safeguarding, and all staff have completed training in the Prevent Duty. All staff undertake First Aid Training and are required to complete Promoting Positive Behaviour training. 

Support we offer regarding children's health and well-being

We encourage and support children and families to make healthy choices and have a healthy lifestyle. 

We offer a diverse healthy snack menu that changes daily and aims to provide a selection of fruit and vegetables to encourage a varied diet as well as a dairy and carbohydrate option. We encourage children to drink water during the day and offer either water or milk at snack time.

If a child has any dietary requirements / allergies, we are able to adapt our menu accordingly.

We have been awarded the MARM mark for Meningitis awareness and have a SunSafe Accreditation.

We plan for physical activity each day as well as giving children opportunities to play outside and/or in the Hall.

We plan daily for Personal Social and Emotional Development and assess all children termly against the Leuven Scales for well being and involvement. We use large visuals for the whole class to help with understanding of daily transitions as well as a visual timetable.

We have a flexible settling in policy, believing that parents need to feel that their child is happy to stay and play when parents leave, and a strong Key Person system helps to ensure that all children feel safe and secure.

Ways we inform parents about how their child is being supported

All new parents are given a Welcome Pack explaining the EYFS, Key Person System, Learning Journeys using Tapestry Online Journal (and their part in completing these), the annual schedule of parent meetings and who to approach if they have any questions about their child's development. Your child's Key Person is available for short chats each day, and longer meetings are arranged twice annually to inform parents about their child's development. The Manager and/or Deputy Manager are always available if you would like to arrange a meeting or discuss your child outside of these meetings. Learning Journeys are available using the Tapestry app and a password is given to parents when their child starts. Where a child has an additional need, half termly meetings are held with parents to discuss and review individual targets and to set new targets for ongoing development. In addition to this, children who have outside professionals working alongside them will have regular Team Around the Child (TAC) meetings.

Our complaints policy

We have a complaints policy which can be viewed upon request.

Access

Alterations we have made to make our building accessible

There are no steps within the pre school rooms and we have wheelchair access in and out of the building. We have removed a large proportion of the furniture from our rooms to enable all activities to be accessed by a wheelchair. We have installed a disabled changing table. On occasions we use other rooms in the building and there is a disabled stair lift installed on the stairs to enable access to these other rooms. We make alterations to the setting based on the individual needs of the child prior to them starting.

Facilities we have for personal care

We have child sized toilets and sinks which can be accessed independently by children or with assistance from adults if required. We have a disabled changing table suitable for older children who still require nappies. If your child has a need which we are not currently set up to cater for we will seek to access suitable equipment/training in order for us to provide the best care possible for your child.

Specialist resources we have

We have a wide range of sensory toys and equipment as well as a dark den and lights. We have a small budget each term to add to our resources and we spend this meeting the needs of the children who currently attend. We have use of a soft play area at least once a week to encourage physical play.

How we include all children in activities, such as trips

At The Garden all children are included in all activities regardless of ability. We plan our trips carefully and carry out risk assessments to ensure all our children can take part and be safe. We always invite our parents to join us on our trips so that we can operate on a very low ratio. We have redesigned the interior layout of the classroom to ensure all children and their equipment/1:1 support can fully access the activities, including the role play areas.