Little Oaks Pre-School And Day Care 2538372

Each child has an allocated key person who is responsible for monitoring their learning and development.  Ongoing observation and assessment allows us to ensure your child is making progress in all areas of their development equally, this allows us to identify any areas which may require additional support.  Should it be identified that your child requires a little more support in any area of development, our initial action would be to discuss this with you.  We will then continue to work in partnership with you whilst tailoring and implementing the most appropriate support strategies.  Similarly, if you have any concerns in relation to your child's learning and development, your child's key person will be readily available for you to share your concerns. 

Little Oaks settings Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO), in partnership with your child’s key person and you, as parents, will plan and oversee any additional support identified. In partnership, we  tailor and implement an Individual Education Plan (IEP), agreeing targets to meet the individual need. Your child’s key person and the SENCO will then provide additional support for your child in order to work towards, and meet their targets through the implementation of small group work and one to one sessions. Progress made towards the identified support will be recorded in an Individual Learning folder in conjunction with observation and photographic evidence of learning and development in your child’s learning journal. Your child’s key person will meet with you regularly to discuss and review progress made and adjust and amend the IEP as necessary, the reviews will take place at ½ termly intervals, however, our team are always available to discuss any concerns you may have in between time. We will work closely with our partner agencies to ensure that we are all working together to achieve the same targets.

In building effective relationships with you, we will gather important information from you as the child’s primary educator, to ensure we are incorporating your child’s interests within our planning of the curriculum. Activities and experiences will be tailored to meet the age and stage of development your child is at. In line with the EYFS, the staff team complete regular observations and assessment of your child’s learning journey, the information gathered forms your child’s ‘next steps’ which are used to inform our planning for forthcoming activities. Activities and experiences are adapted to meet the needs of each child and ensure that they are suitably challenged for future learning.

Your child will have an individual Learning Journal which will be available for your child and you to view freely. We encourage parents contributions to form part of the learning journal therefore by keeping us informed of what your child is doing at home, we can include this within their journal. You will receive a summative report of your child’s learning on a termly basis along with an annual meeting with your child’s key person followed by a comprehensive end of year report. Staff will be available for intermittent updates at the beginning and end of each session and appointments are available should you wish to discuss your child’s learning and development. We emphasise the importance of sharing any concerns you may have with us promptly so that we are able to provide the necessary support, this is why we endeavour to create an open door policy. 

Our team approach will allow for your child to be supported by not only their key person, but all staff collectively.  All staff are suitably qualified and will care for and nurture your child to a very high standard. We build effective relationships with families in order for the children to feel confident and secure in our environment. We ensure our learning opportunities and experiences allow for your child to contribute ideas, be listened to and, are valued. We strive to promote experiences for your child to become confident, independent learners and celebrate their uniqueness. All staff are first aid trained and, with parental consent, will administer prescribed medication as required in order to support your child’s needs in accordance with our administering of medication policy. We work in partnership with you to support your child’s personal care, and welcome children irrespective of whether they are wearing nappies, pull ups or using the toilet.   Any incidents or accidents which may occur whilst in our care are recorded and, reported to you at the most appropriate time following the incident. At this point, you will be required to sign your acknowledgement of having been informed. Injuries which have occurred outside of our care will be recorded in our existing injury folder, again, you will be required to sign as acknowledgment of this. All staff are trained in safeguarding and child protection, and our Designated Safeguarding Lead attends regular training whereby important information is shared with the team during regular training events. 

The staff team demonstrate a positive approach to all children’s learning and development and are sensitive to children’s needs. Positive behaviour is promoted through positive role modelling and we will work closely with you in order to ensure the children achieve positive behaviour.

We actively communicate with specialist partner agencies such as; the Inclusion Setting Support practitioners, Speech and Language therapy services, The Portage Service and the Health Visiting team to ensure that the most appropriate specialist support is available for your child if needed. Good working relationships with our local feeder schools will ensure your child’s transition into school is as smooth as possible.

Our SENCO lead has a good knowledge in supporting children with additional needs and requirements. She has a broad range of strategies and, knowledge of adaptations which can, and will be made as necessary in order to promote the best outcomes for our children who have been identified as requiring additional support.

Makaton and visual cues will be used to support and enhance language and communicate difficulties and barriers.

The manager and / or our nominated SENCO attend regular briefings in order to keep all staff up to date with any changes and inclusive practice.

Our activities and experiences are adapted to ensure all children can access them in their own right. We undertake a comprehensive risk assessment for all experiences which are scheduled to take place offsite to ensure the Health and Safety of all participants is not compromised. A first aid kit and any medication which is required to be administered throughout the day is taken on the visit.

Little Oaks is situated in the Gratton Pavilion which benefits from accessible entry, accessible toilets, support rails and low level basins. Activities and experiences are offered on a variety of levels and, will be adapted in accordance to individual needs and requirements. We are fortunate to have extensive car parking facilities for ease at drop off and collection times.

Preparation for transitioning begins from the moment your child joins us at Little Oaks. Ensuring that we support children to be confident, independent and resilient little learners is of paramount importance. We welcome visits to the setting prior to your child starting with us and, settling in visits whereby your child can spend a short amount of time to familiarise themselves before starting their scheduled sessions. We offer a home visit if preferred, to complete registration paperwork, which allows us to gather important information from you in order for us to gain a good understanding of your child. This allows for us to plan for their individual requirements and interests to be incorporated into our environment and curriculum.

School transitioning preparation includes; ample opportunities for your child to communicate freely, to be heard and valued, support of the understanding of turn taking; book bags and communication diary; weekly book borrowing, both of which supports their understanding of transporting information between home and school. The children will participate in PE sessions which will help develop their understanding of what PE is, and their physical self-help skills when changing their clothes. We liaise closely with feeder schools to ensure the information exchange is comprehensive and that the new setting will have a thorough insight into your child’s stage of development.

We will work in partnership with you to ensure we have a good understanding of your child’s interests, likes, dislikes, needs and individual requirements which allows for us to be able to incorporate this within our planning of the curriculum. We have an array of resources which will be rotated to ensure your child remains interested, stimulated and challenged appropriately. Where possible, we make reasonable adjustments in our provision to ensure we remain to be inclusive. Makaton and visual aids used in the setting will support the exchange of communication.

Identified Individual needs and requirements will be supported by an IEP which allows for us to tailor your child’s learning appropriately.

All children require different levels of support in order to bridge the gap in achieving age expected milestones. All decisions about the level of support your child will receive will be discussed and agreed during regular meetings with you. Little Oaks manager, your child’s key person, the setting SENCO and any additional partner agencies working towards supporting your child will liaise closely with you, and, in partnership, the level of support you child requires will be agreed. Your child’s progress is continually monitored in order to ascertain the impact of the tailored support. Your involvement in the process is of paramount importance.

We consider parental engagement a key factor to the smooth transitioning of your child into our setting, therefore, we commit to working in partnership with you in all aspects of our provision. We encourage you to contribute not only to your child’s learning journal by the means of sharing and celebrating your child’s WOW moments with us, but to share with us celebrations and events which are important to your child and family. We can then share your child’s important moments and memories with the other children during our together time. There are occasions whereby you are invited to join us should you wish to do so to share this experience. Parents are welcome to volunteer. You might be interested in storytelling with the children, or joining us for an offsite learning experience, just let us know and we will happily welcome you within the planning of our curriculum. Your feedback about the service we provide, your ideas and contributions are extremely welcome as this is how we evaluate our practice in a bid to ensuring we are providing the very best outcomes for your child.