​School House Day Care Prospectus

Welcome to School House Day Care and thank you for regi​stering your interest with us.

We know how important your child is and aim to deliver the highest quality of care and education to help them to achieve their best.

This prospectus aims to provide you with an introduction to School House Day Care, our routines, our approach to supporting your child’s learning and development and how we aim to work together with you to best meet your child’s individual needs.

Our setting aims to:

-provide high quality care and education for children below statutory school age;

-work in partnership with parents to help children to learn and develop;

-add to the life and well-being of the local community;

-offer children and their parents a service that promotes equality and values diversity.

Parents

-You are regarded as members of our setting who have full participatory rights. These include a right to be: valued and respected; kept informed; consulted; involved; included at all levels.

Children's development and learning

We aim to ensure that each child:

-is in a safe and stimulating environment;

-is given generous care and attention, because of our ratio of qualified staff to children, as well as our volunteer helpers;

-has the chance to join in with other children and adults to live, play, work and learn together;

- is helped to take forward his/her learning and development by being helped to build on what he/she already knows and can do;

- has a personal key person who makes sure each child makes satisfying progress;

- is in a setting that sees parents as partners in helping each child to learn and develop; and is in a setting in which parents help to shape the service it offers.

The Early Years Foundation Stage

Provision for the development and learning of children from birth to 5 years is guided by the Early Years Foundation Stage. Our provision reflects the four overarching principles of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (DfE 2014):

A Unique Child Every child is a unique child who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.

Positive Relationships Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.

Enabling Environments Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners, parents and carers.

Learning and Development Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates. The framework covers the education and care of all children in early year’s provision including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

How we provide for development and learning

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. The Areas of Development and Learning comprise:

Prime Areas - Personal, social and emotional development. - Physical development. - Communication and language.

Specific Areas - Literacy. - Mathematics. - Understanding the world. - Expressive arts and design.

For each area, the level of progress that children are expected to have attained by the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage is defined by the Early Learning Goals. These goals state what it is expected that children will know, and be able to do, by the end of the reception year of their education.

The Early Years Outcomes (DfE 2013) guidance sets out the likely stages of progress a child makes along their progress towards the Early Learning Goals. Our setting has regard to these when we assess children and plan for their learning. Our programme supports children to develop the knowledge, skills and understanding they need for:

Personal, social and emotional development

-making relationships; self-confidence and self-awareness; managing feelings and behaviour.

-Physical development, moving and handling; health and self-care.

- Communication and language listening and attention; understanding; speaking. Understanding the world Literacy -reading; writing.

-Mathematics - numbers; shape, space and measure.

-Understanding the world; people and communities; the world; technology.

-Expressive arts and design; exploring and using media and materials; being imaginative.

Our approach to learning and development and assessment

Learning through play Being active and playing supports young children’s learning and development through doing and talking. This is how children learn to think about and understand the world around them. We use the EYFS statutory guidance on education programmes to plan and provide opportunities which will help children to make progress in all areas of learning. This programme is made up of a mixture of activities that children plan and organise for themselves and activities planned and led by practitioners.

Characteristics of effective learning

We understand that all children engage with other people and their environment through the characteristics of effective learning that are described in the Early Years Foundation Stage as: -playing and exploring - engagement; active learning - motivation; creating and thinking critically - thinking.

We aim to provide for the characteristics of effective learning by observing how a child is learning and being clear about what we can do and provide support for each.

Assessment

We assess how young children are learning and developing by observing them frequently. We use information that we gain from observations, as well as from photographs or videos of the children, to document their progress and where this may be leading them. We believe that parents know their children best and we will ask you to contribute to assessment by sharing information about what your child likes to do at home and how you, as parents, are supporting development.

We make periodic assessment summaries of children’s achievement based on our on-going development records. These form part of children’s records of achievement. We undertake these assessment summaries at regular intervals, as well as times of transition, such as when a child moves into a different group or when they go on to school.

The progress check at age two

The Early Years Foundation Stage requires that we supply parents and carers with a short-written summary of their child’s development in the three prime areas of learning and development - personal, social and emotional development; physical development; and communication and language - when a child is aged between 24 - 36 months. Your child’s key person is responsible for completing the check using information from on-going observational assessments carried out as part of our everyday practice, taking account of the views and contributions of parents and other professionals.

Records of achievement

We keep a record of achievement for each child. Your child's record of achievement helps us to celebrate together his/her achievements and to work together to provide what your child needs for his/her well-being and to make progress.

Your child's key person will work in partnership with you to keep this record. To do this you and she will collect information about your child's needs, activities, interests and achievements. This information will enable the key person to identify your child's stage of progress. Together, we will then decide how to help your child to move on to the next stage.

Working together for your children

We maintain the ratio of adults to children in the setting that is set by the Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements. We also have volunteer 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 a safe environment.

How parents take part in the setting

Our setting recognises parents as the first and most important educators of their children. All of our staff see themselves as partners with parents in providing care and education for their children. There are many ways in which parents take part in making our setting a welcoming and stimulating place for children and parents, such as: exchanging knowledge about their children's needs, activities, interests and progress with our staff; contributing to the progress check at age two; helping in sessions at the setting; sharing their own special interests with the children; helping to provide and look after the equipment and materials used in the children's play activities; 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; building friendships with other parents in the setting.

Joining in

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.

Key person and your child

Our setting uses a key person approach. This means that each member of staff has a group of children for whom he/she is particularly responsible. Your child's key person will be the person who works with you to make sure that the childcare that we provide is right for your child's particular needs and interests. When your child first starts at the setting, he/she will help your child to settle and throughout your child's time at the setting, he/she will help your child to benefit from our activities.

The setting's timetable and routines

Our setting believes that care and education are equally important in the experience which we offer children. The routines and activities that make up the day in our setting are provided in ways that: help each child to feel that he/she is a valued member of the setting; ensure the safety of each child; help children to gain from the social experience of being part of a group; provide children with opportunities to learn and help them to value learning.

The day

We organise the day so that children can take part in a variety of child-chosen and adult-led activities. These take account of children's changing energy levels throughout the day. We cater for children's individual needs for rest and quiet activities during the day. Outdoor activities contribute to children's health, their physical development and their knowledge of the world around them.

Snacks and meals

We make snacks and meals 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. Please tell us about your child's dietary needs and we will plan accordingly.

Clothing

We provide protective clothing for the children when they play with messy activities. We encourage children to gain the skills that help them to be independent and look after themselves. These include taking themselves to the toilet and taking off, and putting on, outdoor clothes. Clothing that is easy for them to manage will help them to do this.

Policies

Our staff can explain our policies and procedures to you. Copies of which are available at School House Day Care.

Our policies help us to make sure that the service provided by our setting is a high quality one and that being a member of the setting is an enjoyable and beneficial experience for each child and his/her parents.

Our staff and parents 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 our setting to provide a quality service for its members and the local community.

Safeguarding children

Our setting has a duty under the law to help safeguard children against suspected or actual ‘significant harm’. Our employment practices ensure the likelihood of abuse is minimised in our setting and we have a procedure for managing complaints or allegations against a member of staff.

Our way of working with children and their parents ensures that we are aware of any problems that may emerge and can offer support, including referral to appropriate agencies when necessary, to help families in difficulty.

Special needs

To make sure that our provision meets the needs of each individual child, we take account of any special needs a child may have. We work to the requirements of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years (2015).

Fees

The fees are displayed on our website and will soon be hanging in the main entrance, and are payable monthly in advance.

Fees must still be paid if children are absent without notice for a short period of time. For your child to keep his/her place at our setting, you must pay the fees. We are in receipt of nursery education funding for two, three and four year olds; where funding is not received for your child or for any additional hours you request, fees will be incurred.

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 our staff will work with you to decide on how to help your child to settle into the setting. Our policy on the Role of the Key Person and Settling-in is available from the Nursery Manager upon request. We hope that you and your child enjoy being members of our setting and that you both find taking part in our activities interesting and stimulating. Our staff are always ready and willing to talk with you about your ideas, views or questions.