Merton Pre-School

The setting will support your child by ensuring their individual learning needs are tailored for. The SENco will refer your child to the local inclusion co-ordinator who will provide them with support and strategies. They can also sign post to other agencies such as; outreach workers. In cases where additional resources or staff are needed to meet the needs of your child the setting can either apply for a SEN funding specifically for your child, or we can raise the case to our committee to ensure we have the best opportunity of gaining resources for individual children. The money will be spent on toys that meet your child’s age, stage, ability and interests. Makaton is used throughout the day to provide a language rich environment for all the children. Our ECAT lead supports children who have English as an additional Language and language delay, she will sign post key staff to strategies to use and will also spend time in session, working alongside children, modelling language and providing a language rich environment. Your child’s key person will be carrying out IEP strategies or strategies suggested from outside agencies within their sessions. Gather time help bring the class together in the morning with a short Hello song to each other. Small groups may form during the session where interests come together and children's learning is extended. At the end of the morning, children in their Pre-School year come together to reflect on their learning in the morning and share a story, song or similar. Smaller groups are available for children who require it. 

The curriculum is very personalised and tailored to your child’s needs. Before your child starts you will have a home visit from the settings manager and your child’s key person. This will give you the opportunity to fill out an ‘All about me’ booklet so we can learn all about your child. Your child will come in with an initial starting point, which is how we assess the amount of learning and development that takes place every 12 weeks. They will have a learning journal which is a personal on-line learning journal which logs their journey. Your child’s key person can use their observations to support and recognise what areas of learning your child is strong in and enjoys, and where support is required. We use Individual education plans (IEP) to support children that we have an initial concern with or who need additional support in any particular area. We understand that every child is an individual and what works for one will not work them all. If your child struggles with any part of the routine, they are not expected to have to participate. For example; if your child struggles with group time they do not have to join in. Staff members will work with introducing parts of the routine slowly and in a way your child understands.

Parent partnership is paramount at Merton Pre-school. We understand that parents are their child’s first educators. We use Tapestry to allow families to share learning from home.  This allows staff to share what activities your child has enjoyed during their session and so staff can see what they have been doing at home or with a child-minder. Staff can then plan activities around their interests. If your child has an IEP they are reviewed by their key person every 6-8 weeks. This is to ensure their targets are changed to suit their interests and also to set new targets when their old ones are met. Parents are part of setting targets to ensure consistency and partnership. Parents are encouraged to come in to the setting to every term to discuss their child's progress. We also host regular coffee afternoons where parents can come in and speak to the manager, key person or Senco. Parent events also happen during a session time, where you can come in and see what a normal day looks like, joining in with activities and reading stories with groups of children.

Merton Pre-school have a range of policies and procedures to ensure that the safety of your child is our main concern. Key staff monitor your child's well-being using a well-being scale. This is used to ensure appropriate targeted support is implemented from their early days with us. We take part in weekly yoga sessions, Mindfulness sessions and use strategies which support breathing through feelings they are not yet able to communicate. We have a worry monster and feelings board which support the children to discuss or indicate how they are feeling.  Children have access to their own learning stories and share these with their key person and peers, this supports their sense of self and belonging. 

In the setting we have a trained behaviour lead and Senco. The role of the behaviour lead is to write behaviour plans with support from the key person and to ensure consistency throughout staff strategies. The setting work really hard to try to prevent negative behaviour before it occurs and deal with most situations with conflict resolution. The role of the Senco is to oversee the children with SEN and to ensure appropriate tools are in place for them. Her job is to ensure an inclusive setting for all of the children that attend. We also have a ECAT lead  who has attended the ‘keep on talking’ project to help promote good communication and language skills. If there is a concern about your child’s speech the Senco can refer to either a speech and language therapist or a speech therapist assistant. 

The Senco has attended various inclusion training sessions and is currently training the Senco level 3. In the setting we use Makaton to communicate with all our children; 1 member of staff has the advanced Makaton training, another with the foundation training and the remainder of staff have had the Makaton taster session.  

When planning a trip the setting place, we ask for suggestions from our parents and committee.  Wherever is chosen is then risk assessed by a member of staff and checked for accessibility. As a charity/ parent committee setting, partnership with parents is paramount. Parent's/ guardians are asked to join us with their child. Forest School and Gardening club, parents/guardians will not be expected to attend. However, we do ask for Parent helpers to join us for these sessions. 

Makaton is used in the setting. We have a large visual time table for all of the children to use and refer to during the day. However if your child likes routine and likes to know what is coming up next in the day, an individual time table can be made for their reference. All our toy boxes in the setting are labelled which makes it easier for the children to make their own choices in play and enables them to self-select. Key people make choosing boards for some children that find it hard to access all of the curriculum. This allows them to make their own choices in regards to what activities they would like to do. Our outside areas has a mixture of flat and raised. This allows the opportunity for children who require a wheel chair or frame, can access both gardens. 

The setting is attached to a school and has good links with catchment schools in the area. Parents are invited to attend meetings at their chosen school where they get a chance to meet the teachers. In the last term before your child goes to school, your key person will have a meeting with your child’s new teacher to share their learning journal, strengths and areas for development. If your child needs more support going in to school transition meetings or IPA meetings will be held. This involves an agreement between the current setting, the receiving school and parents. It is then written up and adhered to going in to school. If a strategy has worked well for a child we will share this at the meeting and try our best to send up resources that have worked with it. We will share any recent IEP’s and trackers with the school so they can carry on with methods that have been working.

We have a selection of different age and stage toys available for the different children that we have in the setting. We take the children’s interests into account when selecting toys and also let them for vote for particular items that they would like via a board. We have access to a resource library where we can borrow items that benefit individual children. Dependant on your child’s needs we can provide 1:1 support.

We use IEP’s in the setting as an effective tool to support our children. The IEP’s are wrote with parent involvement and a discussion will take place to ensure the targets are small achievable steps. IEP’s are reviewed every 4 week by key people who will evaluate whether they are working or being achieved. They can then be changed or adapted. A copy of these are sent home for the parents. The Senco will review all of the children’s IEPs and trackers to monitor improvements and reflect on the support that is being given.

Parents are welcome to volunteer in the setting and see how our routine pans out and work with the staff. You can be involved by joining our committee and having your say about the Pre-School with termly meetings. Parents are welcome to volunteer on our trips and provide support for the children going. We also hold parent coffee afternoons where all staff are available to talk to you whilst your child plays. Merton Pre-School also have their own Facebook page which only parents of children who attend can be part of. We place copies of our letters on there for parents to view electronically.