Fleet Baptist - The Views

As a parent, or carer, you know your child the best. You know what they like, what they enjoy and what motivates them. You understand some of their struggles and you may have some small concerns about where they appear to be developing slightly behind their peers.

We want to get to know them and given them the best pre-school experience they can have. In order to do this and hear from you, we ask you to come and visit so that you and your little one can meet us and see what we can offer. As well as the tour of the preschool we will listen to you and spend some time with your child. As you leave, we will give you our registration forms which we use to collect some basic data. The forms also allow for parents to share any more information they think that it’s important that we know.  

When you have made the decision to be part of our preschool family we provide you with a welcome pack which includes an ‘all about me’ form. This is an opportunity for you and your little one to give us valuable information about themselves to ensure a smooth transition between home and preschool.

Once your child starts (and before they start) we have an open door policy where you can speak with the manager or your child’s keyworker about specific concerns. If you want a longer time to talk through concerns you can book an appointment at a suitable time during the preschool day.

In addition to our special educational needs coordinator (SenCo) who will liaise with you and outside agencies when required, all of our staff members have gained experience of working with children who need additional support or targeted programmes for medical reasons, for learning needs or because they are differently abled (disabled).

This work extends beyond the child and includes their families and professionals from outside agencies. This experience allows us to spot the signs that may indicate a child has some additional needs and look to provide support at an early stage.

On top of this experience and anything that you may share with us we also track your child’s developmental progress through observation, assessment and monitoring against the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and (if appropriate) a two year old check. The outcomes from these are shared with parents and any areas of concern or delay will be highlighted and discussed.

At Fleet Baptist Preschool, each child is seen as unique with their own character, an individual developmental pathway and their own learning needs.

On this basis, we will support your child as an individual in their own right rather than adopt a generalised “this is how we do it” approach.

If there are areas where your child appears to be struggling or developing below the expected range, the SenCo will ask to meet with you to consider how we support your child together and if we need to approach key professionals from external agencies for specialist support. You will be asked for consent before we discuss your child with professionals from outside agencies.

This may require individualised plans (individual education plan / education health care plan / individual behaviour plans) to be developed in partnership with you as parents and potentially other professionals.

These other professionals could come from a number of agencies including: Services for Young Children; Family Support centres; ISSO (Inclusion Setting Support Officer) SALT ( speech and language therapy); Children’s Social care teams; Primary Behaviour Service; Health Visitors; Community and Charity based services.

The curriculum works on a number of different levels and the planning in place looks to reflect opportunity for all ages and stages to develop from it. The same activity can be used to:- support fine motor skills with a 5 year old; gross motor skills with a 2 year old; understanding language of a child with English as an additional language; and numeracy for all children. Our staff will look to encourage children to develop more through each activity and continually re-enforce those skills they have already developed while improving and learning new skills. 

For some children we will enhance the activity to meet their individual needs set out in IEP’S (Individual Education Plans) and behavioural plans.

Within the setting there is opportunity for children to safely explore a self-directed learning experiences (playing by themselves, playing with peers, using imagination, creating their own play through equipment provided) or to engage with directed and guided activity that can be extended or adapted, giving each child a chance to push their potential.

To understand your child’s developmental profile (a way of describing what they can do, how confident they are in doing it and where they need to focus on next) our staff team use a combination of planned, child led, adult led and spontaneous activities to observe your child's developmental areas in the 7 areas of the EYFS.

Within the setting we believe that face to face conversation is a better way to communicate than a home/school book. When you drop off and pick up your child, we will talk with you about how your little one has been and what they have done or achieved in order to encourage informal two way discussion regarding your child’s development.

In July we provide you with a report on your child’s development so that you have a formal record of your child’s progress and providing you with the opportunity to make comments and be part of your child’s learning. If you want to come in at any point during the year, an appointment can be made to review how they are progressing.

If your child happens to be on a more formal education plan this will be reviewed on a frequent basis.

Parents are invited in for special days/events, and to be part of the daily activity of the preschool.

Your child lives in a family, as part of a community as well as being part of our preschool. If your child is experiencing difficulties or issues in any part of their lives, it effects all parts of their lives. 

We need to consider your child’s wellbeing on different levels.

Within the preschool:

Whilst there is a key person for your child who has a level of responsibility for them, each member of the team provide support to the child and each other throughout the sessions.

We follow policies and procedures for administrating medicines which includes recording doses, times and signatures. All medication in kept in a named box and out of children’s reach.

Children sometimes need support with toileting and we understand that for some children they need additional time, support and help during this time. We will never shame or blame a child for having an accident.

3 members of staff at the setting hold relevant and up to date first aid qualifications, with training for Epipen use and Diabetes management.

Staff have a solid understanding of each other’s additional roles and know who to go to for particular issues. 

The preschool setting and equipment is checked daily for damage whilst setting up and any broken equipment is repaired, discarded or replaced.

Staff are all aware of those children who cannot have their photographs displayed outside of the setting.

We follow safer recruitment processes and all staff are DBS Checked. 

Within the community:

There are strict restrictions on who can come into the preschool during sessions, and we limit entry for those who are not family members, carers or childcare professionals to limit those who have access to your children.  

The police will come to visit the preschool and allow the children to explore their car, their equipment and understand that the police are adults who can help us. 

Within the home:

As parents/ carers, we are continually learning how to respond to our children and occasionally we make mistakes. Mistakes are learning experiences and as long as the child has not been harmed, we will support you in learning from this and point you towards help if that is wanted.  

We are also aware that some children are harmed unintentionally, or less frequently deliberately abused, within their own homes. Without making any judgement on the parents, as part of our commitment to your child, if we become aware that a child has been harmed, or may have been harmed, we will report this to children’s social care.

To be able to spot signs of abuse and understand the impact on children we hold in-house safeguarding training annually and review our preschool policy and procedure.

Our staff team come with a range of expertise and experience. All of them are qualified in early years education from diploma to degree level and qualified teacher status.

We also have qualifications and training in Makaton, British sign language, speech and language, portage, behavioural management, autism, and supporting children with hearing impairment.

These skills and training allow us to work with a range of children with a range of needs, but we also recognise that some children require a more specialised intervention and support.

As a preschool we have a wealth of experience and are able to provide early interventions prior to specialist help is needed.

For those children who would benefit from a specialist intervention we liaise with various professionals and teams. Over the last three years we have worked with: Inclusion Setting Support Officer (ISSO); Speech and Language Therapist (SALT);  Portage; Educational Psychologists; Health Visitors; Physiotherapists: Specialist Teachers; Occupational Therapists; Paediatricians; Social Workers; Safeguarding leads; (HCC) Children and Family Support Workers; Primary Behaviour Support Service; in order to offer support to our children within the setting.

While staff have training and experience to understand various specific needs, particularly Autistic Spectrum Conditions, the approach taken by the preschool is to look at what is needed to support each child, rather than focus on the condition that child has or may have.

As such we will use tools like PECS, Makaton, and Widgit, to support communication for all children. Additionally  the manager has L1 BSL training, which has been cascaded throughout the whole team as an additional means of communicating. We use these systems throughout the setting on a daily basis to help support all children with the daily routine, snack time and toileting.

In addition, training has been received from portage, speech and language, behaviour support and local SENCo support groups to look at techniques that can be used to respond both to various individual needs but also to support the learning and experience of all children.

These various means of communicating and responding to behaviours gives a solid foundation to support most children. We have sought additional training and support from external agencies, charities and support groups when we need to offer something far more specific for a child.

Regardless of the needs that your child has, they will be included in our programme of activities. All of our trips are planned to be fully inclusive, 1 to 1 support offered if needed and a high ratio of staff/parents to children is used.

Activities on trips are accessible to all who attend, we have a variety of Annual activities which include, sports day, Christmas nativity, Farm Visit.

When it is required, social stories are prepared and used. A social story is a visual tool used to explain what will happen, where we will go, and what we will do to prepare for those children who struggle with change or new experiences.

If there is a potential that there could be difficulties or issues with a trip or activity we will work with you as parents or carers and seek your thoughts, suggestions and ideas and work together to find the best solution.

We operate from The Point centre, that is owned by Hart District Council and managed by Fleet Town Council. The building is open plan and single story with an accessible ramp to the front door. We have an accessible toilet for those children who require additional space.

We use the Views Park as our outside space, which is a short walk across the access road from the centre. We also run an outdoor club called Green Rangers that runs from January - July every year. This lets the children access the wider environment and explore nature. 

At the start of the Summer term, we will find out from you which school your child has been admitted to.

Organised trips are arranged between preschool and feeder school, this includes visits to preschool and externally supported visits to new school. Communication with feeder school will determine the best strategy for each individual. We have established relationships with the key stage 1 schools in Fleet and some of those in the surrounding areas, additionally we have worked with special schools for those children who have an EHCP and a named specialist school.

We have used social stories for some of our graduating children to prepare them for the next stage in their education journey, and given the resource to parents or carers to use during the summer holiday period in preparation.

We will support parents of children who have additional needs who wish to access their local mainstream school using TPA (Teacher Parent Agreement) where appropriate and liaising with school and outside agencies.

We have worked with families to provide both deferred and decelerated reception provision for them when it is clear that their needs are going to be better met in a smaller pre-school environment rather than the reception class.

All developmental tracking records will leave with children and act as an overview of their time and achievements at preschool.

Any additional reports required will be completed on an individual basis.

While we have developed a ‘bank’ of specialist resources, additional funding can be claimed for children with special educational needs through Hampshire.

We are realistic to the current situation with decreasing funding from the government to the local authority. If we have children who are not going to be eligible for the SEN grant, but need specific targeted equipment as a preschool we will look to fund raise to provide that equipment for the setting.

All children who attend preschool are observed, assessed and their developmental progress is monitored. This provides us with a baseline for continuous assessment for learning (AFL) to enable your child to reach for their full potential. 

Using the 7 areas of development within the  Early Years Foundation Stage as a guide to provide our staff with indicators of what support each child needs to enable them to reach their next stage of development.

Regardless of any diagnosis that may be in place, if our observations and assessment indicate there is a concern for any child, then the key person will liaise with the manager and SenCo about appropriate next steps, using our graduated approach.

The amount of support provided is decided on an individual basis taking into consideration the needs of the child, any also the available resource that can be accessed.

The preschool is a charity overseen by a committee of Trustees and Parent representatives. Members of the committee which are nominated and seconded on a yearly basis at the Annual General Meeting, this AGM is open to all parents, carers, staff, along with attendees of Fleet Baptist Church.

The preschool welcomes anyone who would like to join the committee and assist in the running of the preschool.

We welcome parents into the setting to share any interests/skills such as job roles, cooking, crafts, singing, reading and playing.

At Fleet Baptist Pre School we operate an Open-Door policy and all parents are able to discuss their child’s needs on a daily basis with their child’s key person, this can be at the beginning or end of session.

We communicate with families via our welcome pack, website, facebook (public and restricted), Tapestry (on-line tracking programme that parents can access), letters, notices boards, text messages for additional communication, as well as talking to you.