Swanmore Pre-School

The manager of the group decides the allocation of sessions for your child and the SENCo applies for extra support as needed. The SENCo will talk with you and any outside agencies involved and the key person in order to monitor your child’s progress. Individual Education Plans (IEPs) or Behaviour Plans are drawn up in consultation with all who are involved with your child. The SENCo and key person will liaise with you regarding your child’s individual needs and explain the educational plan.

The pre-school will set up an IEP and Behavioural Plan which will inform all those involved with your child. Regular observations are taken of your child’s interests, abilities and needs and recorded via the Tapestry system. This system allows us to link each observation to specific areas of development (prime and secondary) and an age group using EYFS Development Matters. It can then be used to help us identify areas where the child is performing below his/her age group expectations. Key person and SENCO together with any other support and parents/carers can use this information to come up with specific individual, achievable and measurable next steps for the child. Continuous observations and assessments recorded in Tapestry will be used as a tool to monitor further progress and help identify any other immediate and long term next steps. A progress report and parental meeting will be used to document achievements, progress and next steps.

We do starting point reports and termly reports for all children.

Termly parents/carers afternoons are held and this is used as an opportunity to share your child’s progress. Your child’s key person is available to talk to you at the beginning and end of each session your child attends. IEP’s or Behavioural Plans are reviewed on a regular basis with you, your child’s key person and the SENCo. The pre-school uses the Tapestry system to record your child’s development, helping to link observations to areas of development and age groups. It provides parents with an instant update and allows the key person to not only report on child’s interests and progress, but also to make suggestions for supporting short term next steps in the home environment. We also hold fortnightly staff meetings where all staff members exchange information about the child’s interests, progress and developmental needs. We use these in our planning for the next key groups and activity based group times. All of our parents/carers receive newsletters and our notice board and website are updated regularly with our planning themes.

Your child’s key person is responsible for ensuring your child is safe and secure; both emotionally and physically throughout the transition from home to pre-school and on to school. Risk assessments are conducted at the beginning and end of every day. All staff are trained in Makaton. All staff are trained in first aid. All prescribed medication is stored in a secure place. A record book is kept of all medications held and dosage, time of administration is recorded and signed by you. All staff are CRB checked and have attended Safeguarding training. All students and volunteers are not allowed to be left on their own or take any child to the toilet. An accessibility toilet with nappy changing facilities is available. An Individual Health Care Plan is displayed in the kitchen for children with an allergy or dietary need. We do not allow any form of nut into the setting.

All staff are qualified to level 3 or above in early years.

A number of staff are trained in Makaton.

The SENCo is qualified to level 6. The pre-school liaises with the Area Inclusion Team, Speech and Language and other agencies. The SENCo attends regular meetings and training courses. Staff members attend regular training to ensure we keep up to date with any changes and to ensure we provide a safe, stimulating and caring environment.

* In house training takes place in our staff meetings. * All staff have attended Makaton training. * We operate a Language group at some group times. All staff will work with you and outside agencies to learn specific skills to support children with additional needs.

We have the use of our adjacent Primary School field and Library and visit regularly. Always ensuring staff to child ratio. All other outings are undertaken within our local area. Ensuring staff to child ratio at all times.

Our building is wheelchair and buggy accessible, but our path leading up to our building may become inaccessible to wheelchairs at different points throughout the year, due to adverse weather conditions. This is because after a lot of rain it becomes flooded and muddy. The path is owned by the local parish council and we are in talks at the moment to have this problem solved. We do have an accessibility toilet with nappy changing facilities. We have one main room; operate with a maximum of 24 children per session, so our main room can become very loud at times. We have a fenced, secure wheel chair accessible outdoor area and children are free to move from indoor to outdoor. (or vice versa) throughout the session.

When visiting our local primary school to use the library, the school field or visit year R. We access it by the school field, so this could be unsuitable at different times of year with a wheelchair. 

We work with all agencies to ensure that the appropriate equipment and care will be in place to make entry into the pre-school as smooth as possible. We always arrange visit sessions for all children. This is a time for your child and yourself to meet with their key person and other children attending the setting. We also offer home visits. We have a transition to our local schools, where the teachers come and meet the children in their setting and have the opportunity to discuss any special requirements with the child’s key person. We also prepare a final report, which summaries child’s abilities in each developmental area and this is passed on to the schools. We arrange visits during the summer term, for the children to go with staff to see their feeder school. For children requiring extra support to access their local main stream school an inclusion partnership agreement (IPA) is set up in collaboration with the pre-school and the feeder school to ensure the transition as smooth as possible. A transition meeting is held at the new setting, all relevant agencies are involved as well as the key person, SENCo and new teacher.

We have a transition to our local schools, where the teachers are given the opportunity to meet the children in their setting and have the opportunity to discuss any special requirements with the child's key person. We arrange visits during the summer term, for the children to go with the staff to see their feeder school. Parents are asked to attend for songs and rhymes. 

As we are a charity organisation, we run several fund raising events throughout the year. Money raised is spent purely on upgrading and improving children’s equipment. This could include any resources required by children’s special educational needs. 

All children receive up to 570 hours per funded year of free early year's education the term following their 3rd birthday or children who are on the 2 year funding for 15 hours and an extra 570 for children who are claiming 30 hours.

If your child has already had a diagnosis then a TAC meeting will be held before starting at the setting. Decisions are made through consultation with all parties involved with the child’s care: this includes you, specialists, as well as the pre-school’s SENCo and key staff. If your chid has no diagnosis but you have expressed concerns or the key person has identified a problem at the 2 year old or starting point report (which is carried out within the first four weeks of child’s starting date) then a meeting will be held with you to explore ways of supporting your child. The amount of support is dependent upon your child’s needs and is decided through consultation between the manager and the committee. The SENCo organises an Individual Education Plan (IEP) with you and the key person; this is reviewed each half term. Monitoring of progress is carried out termly and recorded this is to ensure that the curriculum is covering progress in all Areas of the Early Years Foundation stage.

The pre-school is a charity and owned by a committee of parents/carers. This is open to all. We are always pleased to welcome new members to join the committee and contribute to the running of the pre-school. Parents/carers/grandparents are always welcome to visit our setting and share their special skills and interests with the children or to simply read a story. We are always happy for them to stay and play with their child. Questionnaires are distributed to all parents/carers during the year, which gives you the opportunity to evaluate and comment on our pre-school. A feedback book is available in the lobby. We have a policy about making complains and it is available as a printed version as well as online. Our website provides parents with the current policies and procedures, funding information, term times, events and planning. It provides links to local schools. We have termly newsletters which go out from the staff and committee.