Toye Box Early Years Centre

Our Key Person approach involves each Key Person to plan around their children’s individual needs. Each Key Person tracks their child’s development and reviews their progress half termly through the use of a communication book, and more formally at termly parent’s meetings. The communication book supports communication between parents and the Key Person. The Key Person will record what your child has been learning about during the half term, what their next learning priority will be and suggest ways and activities in which you can do at home to support learning. When starting at preschool each parent receives an ‘All About Me’ booklet to fill in with their child which focuses on their strengths, home life, interests and language. Our preschool SENCO will plan and oversee all support needed for any child needing extra support within the preschool. Your child’s Key Person or 1:1 Support Practitioner will work with your child to ensure that progress is being made and following an Individual Education Plan which will have been devised by parents, the SENCO and Key Person or 1:1 Support Practitioner. We will also work closely with any outside agencies such as SALT, Portage, OT’s, EP’s etc to ensure we are all working together on the same targets to give as much support to your child as possible. Parents are invited in at any time an outside agency comes in to work with their child to ensure they get to see them to discuss progress and/or concerns.

Throughout the nursery we use the Statutory Framework for the Early Years and Foundation Stage. When we plan activities for the children we plan for each individual child to ensure we are using their interests to support areas of their development. For whole group activities we ensure that all activities will be differentiated to suit each child’s needs and that all children will be able to access it and it will suit their stage of development. The level of supervision and support will also be differentiated based on the activity and the children involved and their needs. All of this ensures that every child is included and able to learn at their own level.

Learning journals hold each child’s observations and assessments, tracking sheets (this form is a guide of what age and stage your child is working at), the child’s creative work, along with a photos telling the story of your child’s progress. If your child has additional needs, they have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) which will have targets on it to support your child’s development. This will also be found within learning journals. It will explain what area of learning your child needs support in and how the Key Person or 1:1 Support Practitioner and parent can support this at home and at the preschool. We assess each child’s development through 2 year old progress checks. Parents are their child’s first educator; we involve parents in their child’s learning and development. Parents are encouraged to be involved in supporting their child’s learning at home. We have an open door policy, parents are welcome to come in at any time. Key Persons will discuss daily with you, how your child is doing and any progress made. We hold two parent’s evenings a year and are focused on your child’s development.

The preschool manager and deputy manager are responsible for overseeing the administering of all medicines and if a child needed support that we were not trained to give we would ensure staff attended the appropriate courses. We aim to ensure all staff have relevant up to date first aid training along with all staff receiving safeguarding training. Then safeguarding officer will update staff on any changes to safeguarding policy discovered on the safeguarding support meetings. Our behaviour Coordinator works with staff and parents in supporting children with behavioural needs. We will put strategies in place to support them and the other children in the preschool including them in all activities in an appropriate way. Children may be given a behaviour plan to outline the support we will be giving them and we will discuss and review this along with parents. The preschool has access to a sensory room which encourages calm time. Choice boards are located around the preschool to encourage different types of play. Emotions and feelings are discussed in small groups using the PATHS (Positive Alternative Thinking Strategies) programme once a week.

We have links with lots of different specialist services due to our current children receiving support. If we do not currently have links with a service your child needs to access we would ensure we develop links with outside agencies or specialists your child needed to ensure they are receiving as much support as possible. We currently work with SALT, EP’s, Portage, Area Inco’s and the Early Year’s Advisory Team. 92% of staff are fully qualified in National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) (or equivalent) level 3 or above in child care. Most are first aid trained, and all have attended safeguarding training. The preschool SENCO and manager have attended the SENCO Induction training, and the SENCO attends termly SENCO network meetings which contain important changes, legalisation or new ideas and resources to support children with SEN. Thomas training for autistic children has also been completed by a member of the preschool. The preschool has had basic Makaton training. We use Makaton signing through songs and rhymes, within language activity groups and through general play, snack time, etc.

We have fourteen members of staff, twelve who are qualified level 3 in childcare. The manager and deputy manager are qualified to Level 4 and will have completed their foundation degrees in June 2015 (Level 5). The preschool’s SENCO and manager have completed the SENCO Induction Course and another member of staff is ‘Thomas’ trained for children with autism. The preschool’s BeCo, and manager have attended Behaviour management training. The staff have attended basic training in Makaton. Each member of our team is qualified in First aid and has attended Safeguarding training (level 3). The manager and room leader for the 2-3’s have attended the advanced Safeguarding training (level 4). The manager has attended Critical Incident training.

>All of our activities are adapted to ensure all of the children will be able to access them in their own way. When going out we lower the ratio to ensure we have enough staff to supervise the children and we base this ratio on. A risk assessment is carried out prior to any trips to ensure everyone’s health & safety will not be compromised and that we have the correct number of staff to adequately supervise the children. In the unlikely event that we determine it is unsafe for a child to take part in this activity then we may ask for parents to come with us on the trip if possible

We are fully wheelchair accessible. Each member of staff supports their key group, and is there to support your child when needed. We have the facilities for nappy changing. Our outside environment is spacious. We have access to a hoist if required.

We encourage all children and parents/carers to visit setting before starting. For children with SEND we would speak to parents to assess their child’s needs and if appropriate put strategies into place before the child starts e.g. 1:1 practitioners, training etc. For transitions into school, we invite the school to come in to see the children in preschool. For children with SEND we would encourage the school to arrange more visits for the child to the new school to ensure the transition is as smooth as possible. If your child has SEND we may arrange an IPA or Transition meeting to get all of the professionals working with your child together to ensure the school or new provision knows how best to support them and what they may need to put into place before your child starts with them.

We ensure that all children with SENDs needs are met to the best of our ability with the funds available. This may mean employing a 1:1 support practitioner or providing extra resources for your child.

Your child’s Key Person, SENCO, Area InCo, parents and any other outside agencies will discuss what support would be appropriate for your child’s needs. We will monitor the support by reviewing targets on IEPs and looking at how they are achieving on their developmental milestones and what should be put in to place next.

We encourage parents to be as involved in the preschool as they can be. There are lots of ways you can be involved such as contributing to your child’s learning journeys and development and communication books. Parents are encouraged to attend Christmas Sing-alongs, graduations summer fetes. We hold parent evenings twice a year and encourage parents to attend.