Blossom Day Nursery Ltd

If your child is found to have any additional needs to access the curriculum the Nursery SENCO will discuss with yourself and set up an Individual Education Plan (IEP) a Behaviour Support Plan (BSP) or an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), you would be involved in deciding the contents of the plan and your child’s keyperson would be trained on how to implement the plan and the Nursery SENCO would spend time playing with your child to continue observation. The SENCO and Nursery Manager would continue to monitor your child through the daily monitoring sheets filled in by their keyperson, through regular review the plan would be adjusted to continue support your child. At handover periods you can be kept informed of progress made or any extra support that has been needed, as well as hearing about their fun day. Regular discussions between relevant staff would take place to keep all informed of success or changes in support. The Nursery SENCO is supported by the Area Inclusion Advisor. • Blossom Day Nursery Special Educational Needs (SEN) policy adopted 30/11/11 reviewed yearly last reviewed 16/5/18.

All of our activities and toys are inclusive, within your child’s individual plans it will be detailed how to help your child get the most from the curriculum and how to adapt activities. We work to the unique child, the child does not adapt to us. Every child has a learning journey and a set of tracking sheets which shows what learning objectives they have accomplished, from this the keyperson sets next steps(targets) for their children in half termly summaries that are shared with parents, the room leader takes children’s targets into account when completing the weekly planning and adult focussed activities. Everyday a focussed activity takes place and learning objectives are detailed on the planning for 3 different age bands and within each band this can be differentiated for more able and less able children, children with English as an additional language and those with speech, attention and listening difficulties. Within each focussed activity the keyperson can adapt to suit your child and document this. • Blossom Day Nursery Early Learning Opportunities Statement: Adopted 13/11/11, reviewed yearly ,last reviewed 16/5/18.

We know how your child is doing by constant monitoring and observation, every parent has a detailed handover daily which will include any plans your child is under, there are places to go to have a private discussion if needed as well but all children’s details are discussed sensitively, positively and confidentially. As a parent you are very welcome to look at your child’s learning journey, IEP, BSP or EHCP monitoring sheets and EYFS tracking sheet, however the keyperson will also keep you up to date. We have a board outside the door that tells you what activities are planned for the day and the outcomes we are looking for. At any time a parent/carer can suggest a target for their child and we also have WOW sheets that you can fill in at home for an achievement that we may not see at nursery. On a weekly basis a newsletter is sent to every family via email or paper copy, this informs you of the topic we are covering, colour, shape, number and sound (depending on the room) and the activities we have planned, we also include keywords we might be using. This gives you opportunity to continue with the learning at home and feel part of your child’s education. On admission you will be given Parents guide to the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework and a Role of the keyperson pack. Each term we have an appointment system parents evening.

Children’s health and safety while at the nursery is protected at all times, risk assessments are in place and policies adopted and reviewed by the Nursery Manager. A daily risk assessment is carried out to check structural surroundings signed each day by Nursery Manager. A member of staff is allocated to supervise individual areas during play to monitor safety and a member of staff at each table at mealtimes.The garden is fenced and padlocked, the back doors are locked and alarmed, the room doors are locked with high locks, visitors are not permitted until signed in and verified by Senior Staff/ Management, mobile phones and any camera devices are taken from visitors and locked away. All staff phones are locked during the day (unless on break) and kept with admin officer. No employed adult or volunteer are allowed in the children’s toilets or nappy changing area until a full DBS report is obtained for them. Your child’s keyperson wherever possible will assist your child in the toilet or change nappies maintaining dignity and privacy. If your child becomes poorly whilst at nursery we would take them to a quiet area whilst the keyperson and room leader assess the nature of illness and whilst conferring with nursery manager as to what action to take. Your child’s health need details are taken from you at initial registration, any medication your child needs will be written up in the medication book and signed for and if your child has specific needs they will have an Education, care and Health Plan (EHCP), a risk assessment written and all staff briefed on this. Any child with a physiotherapy plan would also have an EHCP written after training from the child’s Paediatric Physiotherapist. All staff are given in house safeguarding training and within their probation period

What specialist services and expertise are available at or accessed by the early years setting? Our Nursery has formed good relationships with many outside agencies: • Portage. • Speech and language services. • Health visiting services. • Children’s Services. • Paediatric dept. at North Hants Hospital. • Local Children’s Centres. • Area Inclusion Officers. • Local feeder schools. We take advice from these services and liaise with them regarding individual children that are already being seen by them. Within Blossom the Nursery manager has 24 years’ experience in working with children including those with additional needs, her expertise being in Diabetic care, childhood asthma care and use of Epipens. The Deputy Manager and SENCO has also worked in child care for almost 30 years, her expertise is communicating with children with communication difficulties and Epilepsy (or febrile convulsion). The SENCO has worked with children and young adults with mild and severe behaviour difficulties, autism, dyspraxia, congenital heart disease, stroke and Cerebral Palsy also studying mental illness in children. We provide a time line, picture exchange cards, which help children with Communication difficulties and children with English as an additional language. The Nursery managers have level 4 qualification in Foundation Degree Early Years qualification,we have a Senior practitioner with a level 6 Undergraduate degree in Child and adolescents, the Baby Room Leader has a Foundation Degree at level 5 , a Senior Practitioner has just begun Level 5 studies, 9 staff have a level 3 qualification in Childcare Learning and Development, 2 apprentices are studying a level 2 qualification in Early Years and 2 studying a level 3 in Childcare, learning and development.

The SENCO has undertaken SEN and inclusion training in Wiltshire and in Hampshire, Common Assessment Framework training, Open University Patterns for living (living in the community with mental health, learning and physical disabilities, Makaton training, behaviour management and Picture Exchange Card training, all staff regularly receive in house updates on SEN and behaviour support via staff meetings. The SENCO attends support groups with the Area Inclusion Team. Some staff have received Epipen training from North Hants Hospital. All staff have received Makaton training.

When we go for a walk outside of the nursery any child that needs one to one supervision gets this completely as we always have extra staff than our ratio requires, this would include a child that might find walking in a group difficult, a child that may need a carry periodically or a child in a wheelchair. Any organised outing from nursery would be fully inclusive regardless of level of disability behaviour or emotional support needed. The keyperson, SENCO or manager would supervise your child during the outing or as a parent you would be more than welcome to join us.

All entrances/exits to the nursery are flat and fully accessible to all. The disabled toilet is large enough for a child or adult wheelchair and we have 3 high and 2 low nappy changing areas. The environment is visual with time lines, signs and learning areas clearly labelled. We have a dark tent with sensory items in and calming measures for children with sensory impairment or need help with controlling anger and frustration. Families that have English as an additional language can access visual displays, picture cards and the keyperson would find a comfortable way for you both to communicate, if needed we could get policies and newsletters translated.

Your child would be invited in to Blossom for two settling in sessions, at the first session you would be able to pass on lots of details about your child while your child’s keyperson bonds with them, at the second session you are welcome to stay or leave for a while to have a well-deserved coffee, this is sometimes a good time to ask to see the SENCO and/or Nursery manager if you have any worries. If you are very concerned about your child settling the staff will support you. The keyperson will need to know times for sleeps, dietary requirements, habits, signs of distress, comforter details which will all help the settling of your child. If your child is due to go a new setting a transition report would be written and the learning journey passed on, if your child has additional needs we would arrange a meeting with new settings SENCO as well as passing on IEP, BSP or EHCP . When your child goes to school we write a transition report and have a meeting with their new teacher which gives them an insight into the real child. If a child has support of a higher level we would arrange a formal meeting for your child with yourselves, the receiving schools SENCO, class teacher, Portage and Speech and language professional also any other professionals felt to be relevant, at this meeting the transition into school would be carefully planned and actions agreed.

As an inclusive setting all of our resources are available for all to use, any relevant toys or sensory items would be purchased by our Finance Manager once requested or we can apply for extra funding for this equipment through the Area Inclusion Team, they also have a borrowing service which enables us to try equipment before purchasing from elsewhere, if your child needed any specialist equipment for physiotherapy support/ health needs this would be obtained from outside agencies and stored at the nursery for your child to use with their keyperson or SENCO.

Each child is monitored by the key person senco and management , after initial assessment of your child if needed an Individual Education Plan or an Individual Behaviour Plan will be set up ,agreed with parents and implemented daily ,the amount of support and the type of support will be discussed at length with parents and relevant staff this will be regularly reviewed and advise sought from Early Years Inclusion team. All targets will be relevant and achievable , as we work through the targets we will note down evidence for any future plans and referrals. Support given will be individual to needs, if one to one support is required we will apply for SEN funding and allocate staff hours to your child.

As parents you are our partners in your child care , we would always welcome you to our nursery and have an open door policy, we would welcome any news from home and any details that may have affected your child (e.g. your partner being away from home, relative in hospital) we can then support you at these times. Our support of our parents is as important to us as supporting the child and we pride ourselves on our relationships with parents. We love to have parents to come in as a volunteer, help us understand different cultures; introduce us to visiting family members. You can also be involved by making suggestions for activities, sending in items for our topics, supporting learning at home, commenting on the half termly reports, giving us WOW moments for your child’s learning journey, coming to parents evenings and play opportunities at weekends.