GENERAL INFORMATION
THE EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE (EYFS)
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a statutory framework that all OFSTED registered early years settings adhere to. The seven areas of learning are divided into two categories, Prime and Specific. The Prime areas include: Communication and language, Physical development and Personal, social and emotional development. The Specific areas include: Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the world and Expressive arts and design. The pre-school has had six OFSTED inspections to date: the latest was in March 2020. A copy of this is available on here, or you can access it online at www.ofsted.gov.uk.
ACTIVITIES
The pre-school session is planned to provide children with a balance of activities and experiences across the curriculum. We believe that young children learn constantly from everything that happens around them, and that play is their natural medium for learning. As such, our goal is for children to have plenty of purposeful play throughout the session. We aim to balance our daily activities between child-initiated and adult-directed experiences. At the end of each session any work your child has completed will be available for you to take home. Your child’s keyperson will also update Tapestry – our learning journal platform – to share the experiences that they have engaged with. You will be told who your child’s keyperson is via email, face to face and it will also be displayed on a keyperson list within your child’s group. If you are unsure who your keyperson is, please ask a member of staff who will be happy to help you.
TOPICS AND THEMES
Since the introduction of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) the themes and topics are initiated and affected by the children’s interests and life-experiences as well as environmental factors eg: seasons; weather; and religious and secular celebrations eg: Halloween; Harvest; Eid; Christmas; Chanukah; etc.
SNACK AND CONSUMABLES
We ask for a 50p contribution towards your child’s snack per session, and also a 50p contribution for the consumable products per session that they attend. This is added to your termly invoices and is marked as a voluntary contribution. We do not receive any funding from the government for the healthy food we provide for your child whilst they are in our care. Are you in a position to make an extra snack donation to help a family in need? If you’d like to make this kind gesture please click on the donation link.
CLOTHING
Children should be dressed in hardwearing clothes, that can withstand mud, glue and paint, and suitable shoes (no flip flops or shoe laces please) However hard we try, we cannot guarantee that their clothes will not get splashed with paint or soaked during water play, hand washing etc. Please ensure your child brings 2 spare sets of clothes every day. We have pre-school fleeces and waterproof trousers and jackets for the children to wear outside when it is cold and/or wet.
NAPPIES
If your child is still using nappies, please provide enough nappies, wipes and appropriate disposal bags on a daily basis. We ask that you dispose of any changed nappies at home as we don’t have the appropriate facilities at pre-school. We are happy to work with you and your child in the toilet training process, but ask you to ensure that your child is clean and dry at the beginning of each session.
BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT
We have clear boundaries for both staff and children, and focus on caring and being kind to each other. There are stages in a child’s development when they may become a little antagonistic with each other – we work through these, identifying a programme in partnership with parents, to ensure a consistent approach to any inappropriate behaviour. We believe that a calm but ordered environment leads to relaxed and settled children. It is important that parents keep us updated about any events in family life that may affect a child’s behaviour – for example, a change in household circumstances, illness or bereavement. Any information divulged about children and their families will be held in the strictest confidence.
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
Children are happier when the adults in their life work together as part of a team. As parents, you are part of a two-way process of sharing knowledge and information about your children. We want to work closely with you, drawing upon your detailed knowledge of your child.
We ask you to fill in an application form, providing details about your child and any relevant medical history, as well as a home information form, and the ‘About me’ form on Tapestry, which establishes a starting point for your child’s learning.
We strongly encourage parents to support the pre-school by volunteering to spend a couple of hours with us from time to time for stay & play.
Volunteers are not included in the staff ratio. Parents and carers are welcome to join us at any time during the pre-school session. If you are unable to volunteer during the session, you may be able to help in other ways, such as becoming part of our management committee. Please let us know if this is the case and we can organise that and provide you with more information.
Regular e-mails and letters are sent home with details of current news and future events.
As a charitable organisation, we aim to hold fundraising events, such as sponsored events, fun days, OLR ‘Big family Alumni group’ to raise crucial funds to enhance our provision for your children. We are always looking for new ideas from parents. Please let us know if you have an new and exciting ideas, or maybe you work for a company that wishes to support a local charity organisation.
All parents are invited to join the management committee, made up of parents and friends of the pre-school, who oversee the running of the organisation. There is an AGM in the autumn term, and a committee meeting every term. This meeting can be held on Zoom to make it possible for parents of young children to attend.
Details of roles and responsibilities of committee members are available here.
SECURITY
Entry to the pre-school is through the main door via the ramp for Puppy and Bunny children and through the white double doors for Kitten children, which are secured while children are on site. The main perimeter gates will be locked when the children are using the outside area. Parents and carers must collect their children at the agreed time, and parents must give prior notice if anyone other than the named carer collects a child. You will be asked to provide a password, which must be used if another authorised adult collects your child. If necessary we will ring you to verify the adult collecting your child. Please ensure that we are able to reach you at all times via the phone number that you have given us.
OUTSIDE
We are incredibly lucky to have a large garden filled with exciting learning opportunities, and we use it on a daily basis – whatever the weather. It is therefore important that your child brings warm outdoor clothes in cold weather, wellies when it is wet or muddy, and summer hats and sun cream when it is sunny. Both wellies and hats must be named and put in the welly box or hat box at the beginning of each day. We do not have space to store wellies for every child so please take them home with you at the end of each session.
INSURANCE
Old London Road Pre-school has appropriate public liability insurance – (our certificate can be found on the noticeboard in the main hallway) – organised through the Early Years Alliance. We regret that OLRPS cannot be held responsible for loss or damage to children’s property or clothing.
CHILD PROTECTION
The children’s welfare is paramount. As such, we have a legal duty to report any concerns – particularly those about the protection of a child – to the relevant authorities.
COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
We encourage parents who are unhappy about any aspect of the pre-school to discuss their concerns with a member of staff or the pre-school leader immediately. There is a 5 stage complaints procedure on the noticeboard in the main hallway.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Please speak to a member of staff if you require further information about health and safety, fire drills, policies and procedures, or domestic details. Our regularly updated policies and procedures folder is in our office and available for you to view at any time.