Early Years Local Offer response

Learning and development

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

We take time to speak to parents about their child's needs and abilities before the children start in the holiday club.  We assign a Key worker to each holiday club child and the key worker monitor's each child's progress and development while they are with us.  Any concerns we have will be shared with the parents.

If a child needs additional help, we work closely with the parents/ carers and outside agencies to provide a progressive plan of activities to help the child tackle specific difficulties. We are proud of the work we do to help children with their language development. We monitor this closely and have staff trained in the Every Child a Talker programme.

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

We observe and monitor each child's development, ensuring they continue to progress across all areas of learning. We record the observations on an online Learning Journal which individual parents can access with a personal password.  Parents are invited to termly parents meetings where we talk to them about their child's development and work with them to identify specific areas of development to progress. We then plan activities where the children will learn while they play.

Links we have to other agencies

We liaise with the Senior Locality Senco and regularly attend Area Senco meetings. We regularly have visits from and communication with Speech and Language Therapists.

How we support children transferring to school

We care for young children and educate them through play activities. We support and prepare children for their transition into Reception class and full time education. In the summer term prior to a child going into the Reception class, we liaise with Reception teachers at the school the child will attend. We pass on relevant information and will work with the school to ensure the child's transition goes as smoothly as possible. Where necessary we will attend meetings with the school to ensure a smooth transition.

Welfare

Specialist skills or training our staff have

Our Nursery Manager has a Post Graduate Degree which qualifies her as an EYP (Early Years Practitioner).   All other staff are qualified an NVQ Level 3.  Staff have attended 'Every Child a Talker' and 'Communication Counts' training which covers language development from babyhood through the early years. We have a member of staff who has undergone training on English as and Additional Language and one who has attended Emotion Coaching workshops.  Our staff have Paediatric First Aid training, food hygiene certificates and training in the use of Visual Aids. We have a chef who cooks all our meals from scratch and involves the children in choosing health recipes for our menus. We have staff who are confident in cooking with the children and using cooking activities to cover all aspects of the early years areas of learning.

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

Physical and social well being is very important to us. We have a well-balanced, comprehensive menu of healthy snacks served with lots of vegetables and fruit. The older children are encouraged to serve their own food and are learning to taste small amounts of different foods and to self-regulate their portion sizes. At breakfast and snack times we offer the children a choice of milk or water, and water is served with their midday meal. Children have access to water throughout the day. Our menus adhere to the Healthy Under 5s guidelines and are low in salt and sugar. The children engage in daily movement and music activities in our dedicated physical room and have a 'dance mat' in the preschool room where they can choose music and movement CDs to dance to during the day. We aim to spend part of every day outdoors doing planned and free play activities. We start our outdoor day with a 'Mini Mile' a fun activity where staff and children explore different ways of moving around our outdoor space, finding numbers, engaging in number specific movements and learning new ways to go over, under, around and through different obstacles. We plant, nurture, water, harvest and eat our own vegetables over the summer months. Our garden has plenty of space for children to run, climb, ride bikes and scooters, move objects with wheelbarrows and build low-level pathways to walk along. We have shaded spaces and all children are educated on what is appropriate clothing for weather conditions.  Welly boots, hats and sun cream are always available. 

Indoors, the children have their own dedicated areas where they have age appropriate toys and activities but will join together for meals and large group activities where appropriate to foster a 'family' feeling. It also allows siblings to spend time together through the day. Children are treated with respect and as individuals by our dedicated members of staff. Special quiet areas include a heuristic play area for quiet investigation in the morning and a sleep room for children who nap after lunch, a physical room where children can get active whatever the weather and a library where toddlers and pre-schoolers go to engage in listening activities and to choose story books. Parents are encouraged to help their child choose a book to take home from our library.

 

We have experience in working with children with delayed speech and have staff who have completed a course on 'Communication Counts'. And 'Every Child a Talker'. We regularly carry out checks to monitor language development and work with Speech and Language Therapists to carry out language development programmes.

Ways we inform parents about how their child is being supported

Key Workers give feedback to parents when they collect their child at the end of their day.

Progress checks will be carried out for holiday club children at the end of the holiday period and meetings will be held with parents and outside agencies when necessary.

 

Our complaints policy

We take any complaint seriously and hope to resolve any complaint informally and quickly. by an informal approach with the particular member of staff. If this does not have the desired result, we have a set of procedures for dealing with concerns. We aim to bring all concerns about the running of our setting to a satisfactory conclusion for all of the parties involved. If there is not a satisfactory conclusion to the complaint or if the complaint recurs a written complaint should be made. The complaint will be investigated and once the investigation has been completed the setting manager will meet with the parents and discuss the outcome. If the complaint is resolved, a record of the complaint will be kept on file. If the parent and the setting cannot agree on the outcome of the investigation, an external mediator will be invited to help resolve the problem. A parent may contact Ofsted at any stage of the complaints procedure. Their telephone number and address is displayed on the parent notice board in the setting.

Access

Alterations we have made to make our building accessible

There is ramp access into the entrance of the building and out of the main room into the playground.  

Facilities we have for personal care

There is a bank of four toilets and two hand washing basins for children who are toilet trained. There is also a separate, spacious nappy changing area with a sliding door and accessible toilet. There are additional separate toilets for male and female members of staff.

 

Children clean their hands on entering the nursery and wash their hands after taking off their shoes and coat.  Children wash their hands after going to the toilet and before meal times and are encouraged to wipe their face and hands after every snack and meal.

Specialist resources we have

We have ramp access in and out of the building and an accessible toilet. Staff are trained in the use of visual aids.

How we include all children in activities, such as trips

We do not take the children out of the nursery grounds on trips but will take them for nature walks within the premises. All children use a walking rope and we ensure that there are a susitable number of adults to help. All walks are risk assessed. Within the nursery, all rooms are on a single level. Wide gates with no lower bar ensure ease of access from one area to another. Activities are adapted to ensure that all children can benefit from them