Little Acorns Day Nursery - Eastleigh, Hampshire

In each room there will be a Room Manager, Room Deputy, and Early Years Educators. Your child will be assigned a Key Person and this person will work closely with your child on a daily basis. The Key Person will be teamed with a buddy to support in the key person role. The Key Person will work closely with the Room Manager and Nursery SENCo to observe, assess and record any development your child makes alongside the Early Years Foundation Stage and the Graduated Approach. Observations of your child will be made to track their developmental progress.

Our Special Educational Needs Coordinator ( SENCo) will oversee all support and monitor the progress of any child who requires additional support. We can gain external support from external agencies when we need too and will work closely with parents to discuss if external support is needed from Hampshire Inclusion Support, Portage, Speech and Language, physio, or occupational therapists. 

At Little Acorns, we pride ourselves on catering for each child's individual needs. We recognise all children are unique and we take into consideration your child’s progress to plan and support your child at their own pace. We use the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Curriculum as a guide for your child’s development.

Activities are planned to support your child's specific needs and interests. The nursery’s SENCo helps to plan in extra support where needed.  Progress will be evidenced in your child’s online Tapestry Learning Journal and Individual Education Plans will be written to support learning in the nursery and in the home.

We have an open door policy and you are welcome any time to make an appointment to meet with the Key Person, Room Manager, Manager or SENCo and discuss how your child is getting on. We believe that your child’s education should be a partnership between you and us.

Additionally, we hold regular Parent Evenings where you are invited in to discuss your child's progress. 

If your child has additional needs, they will have an IEP with SMART targets, this is looked at in partnership with parents and any other agencies. These will be reviewed every 6 weeks and parents are given a copy of the plan.

We are an inclusive Nursery, we welcome and celebrate diversity. All  our wonderful team strive to nurture independence. 

We have a policy regarding the administration and managing of medicines in the Nursery that applies to all children. Parents/Carers must complete a medication form in order for us to be able to administer any medicine. We will ask you to complete a care plan with us which enables us to clearly discuss and plan any medication, personal care or special requirements your child might need while they are with us.

Within our nursery team we are proud of the expertise of our practitioners. We are continually supporting our team in their professional development in order to improve the outcomes for your child. The vast majority of the team are First Aid trained and have attended advanced safeguarding training.

The Nursery SENCo has attended courses such as SENCo (special, educational needs co-ordinator) induction training.

We have links with a variety of different specialist services including Area INCO’s, Early Years Advisory Team, Speech and Language Therapists,  and Portage. 

At Little Acorns, all our team undertake training in Safeguarding, behaviour management, food hygiene, and first aid. The Manager, Deputy Manager and Third in Charge have all received Advanced Safeguarding 'Train the trainer' training so they can lead and train the team in Level 3 Safeguarding training. 

Our team have regular reviews and supervisions which includes identifying training needs and areas for development within our provision.

We use an online package called 'Noodle Now' which offers long and short CPD courses in a variety of different areas to upskill the team. 

All of our activities are adapted to ensure all of the children will be able to access them based on age or developmental stage. When going out of the nursery we plan and assess each trip individually. Risk assessments are carried out prior to any nursery trips to ensure everyone’s health and safety. 

Little Acorns caters for 84 children on one ground floor that is wheelchair accessible. There are disabled toilet facilities. We also have a sensory room. 

When a space is confirmed we would plan settling in visits. We would encourage you to provide us with key information regarding routines, likes and dislikes, care needs and medical conditions. Your child’s Key Person will be working in partnership with the Room Manager and Nursery Manager to assess the stages of development and discuss with you when a move is likely to occur. We plan visits between rooms, initially this would be with Key Person to encourage new relationships.

If a child is transitioning to school we would contact the school to make links, prepare the children through the activities and write a transition report. For children with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) we would work with the school to plan a transition which meets your child’s needs; we would also arrange a Transition meeting and an EHCP (Education Health Care Plan) to get all of the professionals working together with your child together to ensure that support is put into place before they start school.

Within the setting we have four age groups; Babies, Toddlers, Pre School and Pre Prep. Each room is set up with the correct resources for this age and stage of development. If a child needed additional resources we would ensure these resources were in the room for them to access freely.

Equipment and facilities to support children and young people with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) will be secured by observations, record keeping, and referrals to outside agencies who will support us with additional targets and signposting to funding. 

If your child is joining us with a known special educational need or disability our welcome process for all children is an important time to share the level of support you child has already been receiving and to share any previous involvement with external agencies so that we can plan the support from the start. We would welcome a meeting with families and other professionals to discuss your child's individual needs. 

We encourage parents to be as involved in the nursery setting as they can be. We encourage all families to keep us updated on a daily basis when dropping off and collecting your child. We encourage parents to use Tapestry to inform us of any important milestones, wow moments or significant events in your lives. 

We hold lots of special occasions and evenings that parents are encouraged to attend such as Mother’s and Father day events, Saturday clubs,  Grandparents get togethers, and a Christmas Nativity.

We formally survey all parents every year to find out their views on all aspects of the nursery.