Busikids Limited

At Busikids we monitor all children's development as part of daily practice, we observe every child regularly to aid us with progressing their learning we do this in conjunction with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Curriculum.

All practitioners are trained with knowledge and experience within the early year’s sector and with good understanding of the EYFS framework, assess each child's developmental requirements and next steps. This skill and information offers practitioners good indications of whether a child may need any extra support with all aspects of their care and development.

Every child has a key person, an adult they are able to develop a special attachment to, and this adult is responsible for making plans for the childs' development and bonds with the child, learning all their little ways and needs.

The key person will liaise closely with the family and encourage two-way communication in order that any information from either party may be shared comfortably.

If parents/carers are worried about anything including their child’s development, they are encouraged to speak with the key person or management so that we may help. There is always an opportunity to speak with a member of staff before and after every session, at parent’s evenings, via email plus the management team always have an open door policy.

The team at Busikids have had experience with helping a number of children with special educational needs and disabilities including autism, speech and language, hearing impairment, and behavioural difficulties.

We have various supports already in place to enable us to begin helping children as soon as possible, from visual timetables, appropriate toys and Picture Exchange Card System (PECS) to the physical environment.

Busikids has also worked closely with speech therapists, occupational health and physiotherapists, health visitors, Portage, outreach services and paediatricians.

During their first settling visits, Busikids invites the parent/carer and child into the nursery, the key person introduces themselves and explains what to expect from Busikids and will talk with the parent/career about all aspects of their child’s needs, likes and dislikes and routines. Plenty of time is allowed to gain as much information as possible about the child’s current development, and any other information relevant to the child which will help them to settle.

If it is thought extra help may be required, staff and management will work closely together to observe and provide for the child. The key person will plan for any help including emotional support, taking into account the child’s interests to make any activity enjoyable. We encourage the support of families and ask them to inform us any comforters or special events, and provide us with photographs of family to keep at the nursery in the form of a book, so that the child may feel completely comfortable and relaxed in the setting.

Busikids has a nominated Special Educational Needs Officer (SENCo) to help staff, families and children. She attends regular training and support meetings to keep up to date with current information and knowledge. Other possible sources for help may be in seeking Inclusion Setting Support Officers (ISSO) advice, or advice/resources from the Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service (EMTAS) who can advise with English as an additional language (EAL) too.

The management team at Busikids will sensitively approach any parents with a confidential conversation if they think other professionals may be able to offer more targeted support. The SENCo can then, with parents’ agreement, refer the child to a variety of support services Including Speech and Language therapy, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Portage)

Busikids will work with these agencies and parents to deliver the best support for the child in their care.

At Busikids we collate an online Learning Journey that documents each child’s progress cognitively, physically and emotionally.

The Learning Journey consists of short observations called Snapshots, photographs and videos. From these, staff are able to identify which areas of the nursery the child feels most comfortable in and the types of activities the child most enjoys.

We also strongly encourage parents/carers to contribute to the Learning Journey either by uploading their own videos and photos or by letting the staff know about the child’s current favourite game, book, toy or TV programme at home, any special events or particular thing that happened at the weekend, for example.

The SENCo will also help staff with suggested activities and may produce Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for children needing more focussed activities.

All of the above helps the key person to plan activities the children will enjoy and therefore achieve the most learning from.

Strong home-nursery links are paramount in helping the child to feel relaxed by identifying similarities between home and nursery. This is important as home can reflect any activities nursery may be doing and vice versa, helping to cement not only the child’s security but also aid in progressing their development more effectively.

• There is an opportunity to speak with a member of staff at the beginning and end of every session attended.

• We have parent’s evenings twice a year.

• Regular Newsletters keep you abreast of any information that you can use to talk to your child about nursery with. Please see www.busikids.com for our latest newsletter.

• At the age of 2 every child has a development report written which is shared with parents/carers via the online learning Connect system.

• Management have an open door policy and should you wish, you can make an appointment for a more in depth and confidential conversation with any member of staff or management.

• Parents/carers are invited into the setting to participate in activities with their children.

To help your understanding of how we progress your child’s development and to help you support their learning at home, we offer home-link bags that consist of books, games and other resources, together with a suggested activity card linked to the EYFS for parents/carers to borrow.

At parent’s evenings, we display examples of an area of the EYFS with examples of activities that we may use to support these areas;

there is always a member of staff on hand to show you these and to talk about how your child learns from these activities.

Each room is led by their Room Supervisor and regular staff team who provide continuity of care for the children. Busikids also has its own supply team of staff to ensure there are familiar faces for the children, the supply team know the children and step in easily to cover when staff are absent. Every member of staff is First Aid and Safeguarding trained.

Only designated senior staff are permitted to administer medicines, with parental consent. For any bumps or scrapes an accident form is completed, a senior member of staff informed and the parent/carer informed upon collection.

Courtesy telephone calls are made to parents/carers if we feel you need to know about an accident, or something that has happened during the day.

We have policies regarding all aspects of health and safety, including safeguarding and nutrition. We also have policies regarding equal opportunities, behaviour, and special educational needs.

At Busikids, we place a lot of emphasis on emotional and social development with adults and children alike. We encourage independence, self-worth and positivity through pastoral care as well as providing fun and enjoyable activities and resources.

Most members of staff are trained to level 3 or above in a relevant child care qualification and regular staff are trained in the delivery of the EYFS and attend regular updates. We have a nominated staff for safeguarding, special educational needs, behaviour, health and safety and equal opportunities. These staff attend regular training and meetings to keep their knowledge as up to date as possible.

Most staff at Busikids have experience in helping children with special educational needs and disabilities. However, as well as training, the setting’s SENCo can help provide focussed activities and targeted knowledge. We also have staff trained in Makaton signing.

Busikids works closely with the ISSO for support and advice and has worked closely with many other professionals including speech therapists, occupational health and physiotherapists, health visitors, Portage and Outreach services and paediatricians.

If a child is already registered with professionals such as these, or others, we would ask for contact details for the agency in order that we may work closely with them and support any activities we can within the setting.

 Regardless of which professionals or type of support a child receives, we ensure that the family is involved every step of the way.

Most Busikids staff are trained to level 3 or above in childcare, and the Manager has Early Years Professional Status.

All staff are also Safeguarding and First Aid trained and attend regular training to maintain their knowledge. Most staff also have

basic Makaton training. Management and the SENCo attend regular meetings and training to keep up to date with current legislation and new ideas.

Busikids arranges regular outings into the local community. We always ask for parental consent prior to the outing. We have plenty of pushchairs and  walk-o-diles to keep the children together and we encourage parents to help us on walks whenever possible.

We maintain high staff to child ratios enabling plenty of adult support. We will walk to the post box to post letters we have written, walk to one of the many parks nearby, take a trip out into the local community or the local library.

All children are assured a trip out as we stagger the outings on different days to make sure we include everyone.

All playrooms at Busikids are located on the ground floor apart from the baby room. The ground floor level is completely flat and one of our front doors has slightly wider access. We have a disabled toilet and spacious nappy changing facilities. Resources promote a variety of skills and there is easy access to low level sand and water trays.

We have a visual timetable in every room and resources to aid transitions to help children prepare for any slight change. We have dual language books and resources to represent all walks of life.

Access to the rear garden is via patio doors. We have an all-weather play surface patio on the same level as the ground floor of the nursery and the grass area can be accessed from the patio by one of two ramps with banisters. The garden is large and offers a variety of play from climbing to swinging to balancing to calmer activities.

There are also dens made from shrubs and a wooden play house.

Busikids invites children and their parents/carers to come along for two settling visits initially. The first visit involves meeting your key person, other staff and familiarising yourselves with the playroom and surroundings.

The key person will chat with you to gather information on anything we would need to know from a practical point of view and anything that would help your child settle easier. Questions may be asked about comforters, any words for the potty, routine at home, sleep times, allergies and dietary requirements, etc. The second visit would involve you leaving your child for about an hour to see how they and you get on. If you are not yet comfortable, further visits can be arranged. This is entirely a personal choice and we find that some families book more visits prior to their start date and some do not.

We are flexible as it is important to us that everyone feels comfortable before they start at Busikids.

When your child is ready to move on to the next age group the transition is managed by introducing you and your child to the next key worker and regular visits to the next room again when the child is happy they will move through permanently.

When transferring to another setting, we will liaise with the new setting and send a current overview of the child’s stage of development. If the child attends two different settings, we liaise with the other setting to establish current goals to try and work together on targets if appropriate. When transferring to school, Busikids works closely with the surrounding feeder schools to ensure as smooth a transition as possible. We invite the teachers into Busikids to meet with the children in a familiar environment and go with parents and children to the school on some visits.

We provide school role play with school uniform for dressing-up and have photographs of the schools and places within the schools they will be seeing, e.g. hall, library, playground, coat hooks, etc. to be available for the weeks running up to the end of summer term time.

Resources are provided based on the child’s needs, resulting from input from the key worker and other professionals involved in the support for each individual child.

This could focus on physical, emotional or cognitive ability in particular. We also include resources from all walks of life in the setting so that the specific resources are not exclusive to the child or particularly highlight any individual needs.

Should funding be allocated, then we would normally provide 1:1 staff support for your child. The key person and SENCo will be there to support your child in any case.

Your child’s key person will observe and bring questions to the SENCo if they feel your child may benefit from extra support.

The SENCo will then put appropriate resources in place, e.g. IEP or visual support and liaise with you regarding the types of support we are implementing and the progress together with anything you can do at home to help.

If the SENCo feels it would be beneficial for outside agencies to become involved with your child they will discuss this with you.

We encourage parents to be an active part of our nursery. We value any contributions you may have towards your child’s learning journey or current

interests/activities at home. We invite parents into the setting to take part in activities in the playrooms. We hold parents evenings for time to have

a proper chat with your key person and discuss their progress at Busikids too.