Futurepath Childcare LTD Whiteley

At Futurepath Childcare we work in partnership with parents to ensure we provide full inclusive practice, we do this through observation, assessment and planning of all children’s individual needs. In our settling we have a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) that supports all practitioners, children and families with individual children’s development needs. Each child is appointed a key person to help with the settling in process. We ask all parents to complete setting forms which consist of an ‘All about me’ and permission forms.
    All these help us to build the foundations of a relationship between child, key person and parents. We have an open door policy where parents are free to discuss any concerns at any time with their key person, the nursery SENCO or the Manager.
Once the child has settled in and information has been shared between the key person and SENCO we then review the child’s individual developmental needs through observations, tracking progress and two year checks. We then gain further parental consent to begin additional support which could involve in-house support; this involves, ABCC forms and individual person plans. If further support is needed we work in partnership with outside agencies such as our Area Inclusion Officer (INCO), Portage, Speech and Language therapists (SALT) and Health Visitors. These other professional’s also help families and practitioners to be sign posted to other agencies, we work in partnership with parents to ensure we provide full and inclusive practice. We do this by observing, assessing and planning for all children's individual needs.

  All of our policies are reviewed regularly to ensure that we are up to date with current standards of practise in all areas. The child's Key Person & our Nursery SENCO will support the child with any additional needs they may have.
Our nursery SENCO gains information and advice from termly SENCO support groups and meetings with our Area Inclusion Co-Ordinator.
     If a child has an identified need we will work together with parents and other agencies involved to ensure that we are meeting their needs and providing them with support in all areas. If additional training is required for our staff members then we will ensure that this is arranged to fully support your child. The Key Person will be responsible for completing and following an IPP and will be supported by our Nursery SENCO. The child will be included on our daily planning which includes setting regular, achievable goals/Next Steps and in addition to this they will implement learning opportunities that are required within an Individual personal plan (IPP) 

   Within our setting we follow the Statutory Framework for Early Years (EYFS Framework). We use the EYFS as a guide when implementing our O.A.P Cycle (Observation, Assessment and Planning). The Key Person is responsible for ensuring that all of their Key Children's developmental Next Steps are planned for, taking into account their knowledge of the child and the views of the parents.

Daily planning runs throughout the nursery and is displayed in each room to allow the parents to see the learning opportunities available for their children. Practitioners will use their knowledge of the children to reflect on this planning on a daily basis to ensure that the children's changing interests are noted. These reflections will inform staff if they need to adapt their activity to achieve the planned outcome.

     We use a range of adult led activities along with varied continuous provision within each room set for the ages and stages of the children. Individual Person Plans run alongside this provision and will also be reflected on daily by the Key Person to ensure this is also meeting the needs of the individual child. The SENCO will complete an overview of all children on IPP's each term to ensure that any additional support or requirements are implemented effectively.

    We implement a wide range of methods to ensure that we are working alongside our parents to fully support them and their children.

    Our online Tapestry Journals include a range of different methods of assessment. These methods are as follows Starting Point assessments, All About Me form, Next Step suggestions from the parents, WOW Moments, photographic evidence, spontaneous written observations, and planned written observations. All of these methods are used to capture a true representation of your child's developmental progress.

      Staff conduct verbal handovers and the under 2's have a written handover book.

    As a nursery we are proud of all of the additional activities we implement for our parents and their children to enjoy. We hold two Parent's Evenings a year. We have a Top tips leaflets to support our parents, as well as our Home Learning Bags which are available for parents to with specific resources to support children in their development. Our monthly newsletter is emailed out to all parents and includes a variety of information linked to the EYFS and advice on healthy eating with recipes from our cook.

Staff are trained in first aid and all qualified members of the staff team are able to administer medicines to children. We have individual forms for medicine that we sign on every administration of medicines by staff and then by parents at the end of each session.

    We also have individual health care forms and allergy forms that parents complete in the initial settle sessions, these help us to identify any needs the child may have and to make sure appropriate training is obtained and policies and procedures are followed.

For Example: Using red posters displayed around the setting to ensure all staff are aware of children’s allergies.

    We also have a behaviour policy which we follow and our SENCO is available to help parents and staff in the setting to meet child’s individual needs. The SENCO helps to put plans in place with the key person and parents to support the child’s development whilst in the setting, these plans are reviewed termly or sooner depending on the individual child. The SENCO will regularly liaise with other professionals involved regularly to keep up to date with their needs, so we are always providing the correct care and support ensuring that the goal.

Developmental checks are carried out to ensure that children are progressing as they should be. Any concerns are monitored and appropriate action will be taken to support the child. Each key person will have a regular termly meeting to discuss the development of their key children. Any concerns are immediately reported to the manager or SENCO and actions are put in place to support the child.

We have links with different outside agencies that can help us to support individual children. The main services we currently use are our Area Inclusion Coordinator that can help us signpost parents and families to different services such as Speech and Language and portage. If we currently don’t have links with specific services your child requires, then we will help to work alongside you and that service to meet your child’s needs.

We work closely with Hampshire County Council and regularly attend workshops/support meetings to further knowledge and keep up to date with changing legislation and updates.

   All staff are given behavioural training and use the ‘Attending’ Method throughout the setting to promote behaviour.
Staff & parents are supported by our trained SENCO and Behaviour coordinator.

When we go on an outing, we ensure each child has had signed permissions to go. The outing is then risk assessed and staff are on a 1:3 ratio for under 2’s, 1:4 2-3 year olds, 1:8 3-4years old, following the government guidelines. We use this ratio as a basis but we always send an extra member of staff to support on the outing. If children need extra support we will send them out on a smaller ratio to ensure that all of their needs are met. We ensure that any medication required is taken along with a first aid kit and a qualified first aid member of staff. Children wear stickers with the nursery number and the staff member whose group they are in for the outing.
We endeavour for children to be fully included in all activities and can adapt the activity to meet a child’s individual needs were necessary.

Our setting is accessible via our front. Downstairs you can access our Toddler Room and Baby Room. Pre-School is located upstairs via stairs with no lift access. The gardens are flat and accessed through doors in both the Toddler Room and Baby Room with a slight step into the garden. There is also an additional garden space that we call our Forest Garden. To gain access to this there is three wide steps. Access to this is gained through the Toddler/ Pre-school garden. 

When a child registers with us we invite them to attend 2 settle sessions. Before these sessions the child’s Key Person will be set and parents are required to complete an All About Me form which details all of the child’s routines, needs and requirements, this is so staff can refer to this whilst they get to know your child to support them as they settle. During the settle sessions the parent and child get a chance to build a relationship with the Key Person and familiarise themselves with the setting.
    For children who attend more than one setting we will share information termly via the Key Person completing a report and sending it to the other setting.

    Children who are leaving to attend a different setting we invite their new Teacher/Key Person to visit us so the child can meet them and begin to build a relationship with them with the support of familiar carers around them. Reports are shared with the new setting
To enable children to prepare for this transition we conduct a wide variety of additional activities all themed around school.

We have a wide variety of indoor & outdoor continuous resources available for all ages and stages of the children who attend our setting. These are freely available for the children to select and enjoy at their leisure. We regularly rotate toys and equipment to meet the children’s interests. We enhance our provision areas with different resources that work alongside the children’s current interests. Areas within each room & gardens are set up to cater for all areas of the EYFS to maximise learning. Additional resources can be sourced to suit the children’s individual needs.

    Alongside our continuous provision we also plan daily Adult Led activities which allow the children to explore a certain amount of risk whilst the presence of an adult ensure that they are staying safe.

     We receive a termly budget where each room looks at the ways they can support children’s learning and develop their rooms. We discuss how it will benefit the children and will purchase new resources. This could be to support them in their language development.

      An initial meeting will be held with the parents, SENCO and any outside agencies that are working with the family to discuss the care of their child and what we can offer as a setting. We will take into account all advice given from the appropriate professional.    

  Once a plan has been agreed the appropriate steps will be taken to support the child and their parents and specific resources will be sourced if needed. 

We have daily handovers with parents at drop off and collection to ensure they are fully informed of their child’s day. We work alongside parents by sending out a Next Step sheet which includes a section for the parents to let their Key Person know if there is anything in particular they would like their child to work towards

    We have our Home Learning Bags which parents are free to take home to enjoy some additional activities and our Top Tips folder includes a wide range of information about children’s learning and development which parents are free to use.

      For children who may have any additional requirements for their health we complete Health Care Plans to ensure that their needs are being catered for. We complete these plans for any dietary/cultural requirement.

Each individual child’s learning & developmental Next Steps are catered for on the weekly planning. Developmental targets detailed on an IPP form will be additional to our weekly planned activities with parents being consulted at every step.