Lymington Centre Pre-School

At Lymington Centre Pre-School we meet with you and your child during a Home Visit when you can speak to your child's assigned Keyperson (although all staff will help support your child the SENCo**Special Education Needs Co-Ordinator** will also be on hand.) During a home visit, our highly trained staff start to get to know your child and we will ask to look through your child's Personal Health Check Record including his/her 2-year check. We carry out our own 2-year checks within Pre-School and you will receive a copy of this to add to your child's Personal Record. You will attend a stay and play session with your child before his/her first day which helps with settling your child in. We will also ask you to complete an “All about me” page on admission which can be found on your childs Tapestry and we can use a home school book for communication when you are unable to speak to a member of staff directly. Your child will be observed and monitored throughout his/her time with us by all staff and outside agencies if needed (with Parental consent), although your child's Keyperson will be your first port of call. We hold sharing times termly for one to one discussions with your child's Keyperson. We also cater for children with English as an additional language (we may need to seek advice from elsewhere), speech and language difficulties, behavioural problems, social communication difficulties, autism and some disabilities depending on your child's needs. Please note during a Pandemic we may need to change the face to face meetings to an online platform or over the phone.

At Lymington Centre Pre-School our staff are highly trained in many areas including speech and language, Autism, behaviour management. Our Keyperson system involves planning around your child's individual needs. Monitoring and tracking their development. Sharing Times and “All About Me” page focusing on interests, home life, communication, strengths, areas for development, likes and dislikes to help settle your child. We discuss our routines with you and we also use a timeline. We use an Online Learning Journal system and you will have secure access to your child's account. We will add photos/observations and you can also add them to your child's personal file. Twice a year we send out Questionnaires to each family to ensure we are supporting your child's needs and supporting you as a family. We use the results to develop our setting to the highest standard. The SENCo follows the SEN Code of Practice and ensures all records regarding your child's learning and progress are kept up to date. Our SENCo supports all other Key persons with SEN children and liaises with the Services for Young Children Area Inclusion Co-ordinator (INCo) and other professionals. The SENCo attends local support groups and training and may need to arrange meetings for Transition into School. With your help, we would fill out a referral form for support from outside agencies. Discussions of all children are confidential and we constantly discuss children’s progress daily and during Supervision Meetings and Staff meetings, to ensure we are meeting their needs.

At Lymington Centre Pre-School we take into consideration that every child is different and plan and support your child at his/her own pace, using their baseline and your child's interests. We use the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum) as a guide for child development, alongside Mary Sheridan and inspiring curriculums, theorists and philosophies such as Piaget, Froebel, Bowlby, Bruner, Bronfenbrenner, Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, Te Whariki, Tina Bruce, In the Moment Planning, Forest School, HighScope’ and The Curiosity Approach. Our SENCo (Special Education Needs Co-Ordinator), alongside the Keyperson will help your child with any extra support needed and with activities to help with his/her needs. Progress will be evidenced in your child's PPP (Personal Play Plan) and tracing paperwork, and Tapestry Online Learning Journal following support and input from Pre-School and at home. PPP (Personal Play Plan) are reviewed every 4 to 6 weeks to monitor your child's progress along with observations and assessments which will highlight areas that may need to be focused on. Planning will be carefully looked into to help within these areas.

At Lymington Centre Pre-School we use Tapestry Online Learning Journal which will hold your child's observations along with Tracking (a guide of where your child should be developing), you can also upload on to Tapestry activities and photos of what you do at home together. Your child's PPP (Personal Play Plan) will be linked to these to show how we are supporting and monitoring your child's needs and how you can also help at home. Parents are encouraged to be involved in supporting their child's learning and development at home and we involve you in the areas your child needs support. You can speak to your child's Keyperson or another member of staff daily and at Lymington Centre Pre-School we welcome Parents to volunteer and to help out, supporting the children within our setting. We will endeavour to seek funding if your child fits Hampshire County Council's criteria. We inform you about upcoming events, dates, sharing times, planning, and all relevant information to be shared via Parentmail.

At Lymington Centre Pre-School our staff can administer inhalers with parental consent, these must be kept in Pre-School at all times so you will need to ask your child's GP for an extra inhaler before he/she can stay with us. If your child needs an EPI-PEN you would need to speak to us with any relevant information before he/she could start. The authorisation would be requested from you while you fill out the registration form along with other consents and permissions, we may need to get you to fill out a permission slip during our home visit for specific medical consents. A child with behaviour difficulties is supported by all staff within our setting and they will have a PPP (Personal play plan) to support his/her needs following our Policies. We follow positive behaviour and values at all times. We will work along with families and the INCo (Inclusion Co-Ordinator) and any other Agencies able to help with individual needs such as Portage (who help support families with behaviour difficulties) between us we will work together to support you and your child. Children are encouraged to learn and develop through play and will be listened to. Emotions and feelings are discussed within small groups such as circle times when a small group are encouraged to use positive language, social skills and to build self-confidence.

At Lymington Centre Pre-School our staff are well qualified and experienced we are BA Hons degree led and have a qualified teacher as one of our practitioners, we also have 1 x Level 4, and 1 x Level 3. We are all 1st Aid trained and attend advanced safeguarding training. We have 2 Safeguarding Officers and two SENCos (Special Education Needs Co-Ordinator) who attend courses such as SEN induction Training, SEN Plus, Behaviour Training and positive approaches, Communication (friendly spaces), termly network meetings which include new ideas, resources and support and important legislation and future changes. All staff use Makaton and the Manager has attended Thomas Training. At Lymington Centre Pre-School the Manager is highly trained within the KOT (keep on talking) group and is the ELLP (Early Language Lead Practitioner) working within our setting. At Lymington Centre Pre-School we work together with local health visitors, local children’s centre, outside agencies including INCo (Inclusion Co-Ordinator), Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language, First Opportunities group, social workers, Portage to support children with behaviour needs. Between us, we have developed our Pre-School into a calm sanctuary for your child to learn, play and feel safe in.

At Lymington Centre Pre-School all staff has received basic Makaton training and we use this throughout the session during circle time, good morning song, rhymes, Featured Makaton signs, Language Activity groups, snack time and through general play. Signs and photos are displayed in the setting. Staff have attended speech and language training and letters and sounds focus groups, and our SENCos have also attended Behaviour Management Training. Our manager took part in the year long Keep on Talking group, she is also trained in Makaton, speech and language, environmentally friendly places, and is the settings ELLP (Early Language Lead Practitioner). All the staff at Lymington Centre Pre-School attend training and actively keep themselves up to date and are well-read when it comes to new ideas and techniques. At Lymington Centre Pre-School we follow our policies and procedures at all times and these are working documents that are updated throughout the year if needs be and are available on our website or available to view in our setting. 

At Lymington Centre Pre-School we inform Parents about trips/ outings and events through Parentmail. (Organised trips may incur a cost). Consent for small local outings is given when you complete your child's registration form and for larger organised group outings we will require volunteers to help with ratios for everyone’s safety especially if your child needs one to one support, and we will request a further consent form is signed. Visual time tables could be used to help prepare your child before an outing if needed to ensure inclusion.

Lymington Centre Pre-School is based within 'The Lymington Centre' and is wheelchair accessible with no steps indoors. There is a wheelchair-accessible toilet and shower room within our room. We have large windows on three sides of our room which lets in lots of natural daylight and fresh air. We have timelines with photos to help with routines and Makaton signs and photos around the room. We have a spacious free flow outside environment that is wheelchair accessible and that offers many experiences with a wide range of resources including a water kitchen and digging area, deconstructed role play including guttering/crates etc…providing challenging activities for children to enjoy and take part in. We adapt the activities and resources used depending on the children’s needs and interests.

At Lymington Centre Pre-School we carry out Home Visits which is an ideal opportunity to meet with your child's Key Person and we also invite you to attend a stay and play session before starting Pre-School. This helps to support your child with settling in and an opportunity to meet again with your child's Key Person and other members of staff. We also attend other meetings to help children and their families such as TAC (Team Around the Child) meetings. Home School picture books of our staff and Pre-School can be used for children to use prior to their start if needed. Gradual short visits prior to starting Pre-school could be arranged to suit your child's needs. For children going up to Infant school, the transition is supported well and the Teacher visits your child in our setting. Your child will also attend a few visits that you as a Parent will take them to through the school system. Lymington Centre Pre-School has school transition books for some schools in our local area. These include photos and we also have a school uniform box we include in our role play area and this is widely enjoyed especially helping with the transition. An IPA meeting could be arranged with other settings and schools if needed. Please note during a Pandemic face to face meetings etc. may need to be suspended and another alternative will be found such as over the phone or using an online platform.

At Lymington Centre Pre-School we will endeavour if needed, and your child fits Hampshire County Council's checklist, apply for Special Education Needs Funding (please note this may not be successful). If necessary a meeting may be held with you and your Keyperson to discuss how the funding should be spent although the majority of the time especially in the early stages would be used to support one to one time. We would endeavour to ask outside agencies for help to provide us with any equipment we may need. We accept 2-year-old funding and would require your Unique reference number to claim this.

At Lymington Centre Pre-School along with yourself, your child's Key person and the SENCo (Special Education Needs Co-Ordinator) will make a decision if your child would benefit from additional support. This is done through discussions and observations, if needed extra support is put into place as soon as possible and supported by all staff. We would contact the INCo (inclusion Co-Ordinator) for advice and support. A PPP (Personal Play Plan) is written for your child with your input and reviewed over 4-6 weeks to see what impact this has had on your child, and what we can do next including extra support from outside agencies. We also accept 2-year funding.

At Lymington Centre Pre-School your Keyperson would work with you on your child’s learning and development needs, and sharing times are held termly. Progress is observed and monitored through the term and added to Tapestry our online Learning Journal. Informal discussions are often on a daily basis face to face. We have a book lending service to encourage families to read together along with activity packs to extend the learning from Pre-School into the home, therefore, embedding your child's learning. We also invite parents in to share their skills and knowledge including careers, hobbies etc. from day one. Parents views from our questionnaires help to shape our provision alongside what we offer, such as our opening times changing to provide the service our current families need.