Little Munchkins

The main persons responsible will be the SENco and your child’s key person, an individual plan will be devised (including next steps) as a collective group of key person, SENco and yourselves to ensure it is achievable and personalised (outside agencies may also be involved if beneficial with parental consent). This will be observed, assessed and implemented by your child’s key person and monitored by the SENco, from this we will liaise with yourselves regularly (approximately every 6 weeks) to discuss progress and further next steps. We have an open policy with parents and will always make time to discuss progress/ concerns at anytime, parents will be invited to attend any meetings with outside agencies to ensure they are involved with all areas of their child’s wellbeing and care and that we are all working towards the same goals.

Key workers and parents work together in ensuring each child has a set of next steps to aid in progressing with their development and learning. Every child’s next steps will be covered in the weekly/termly planning to support all areas of learning and development. All our planning is made to be adaptable to ensure it can be beneficial to all children regardless of ability, if required extra supervision and support will be provided to make sure it is a fun learning experience for everyone. All next steps and planning is in line with the statutory frame work and foundation stage.

Each child has a learning journey in which progress can be seen and will contain observations, work and photos as evidence of their progress, also there will be next step sheets and progress reports. All next steps and reports are shared with parents and your input is welcomed , learning journey’s are available for parents to access at all times and can be taken home to be looked at. If your child has additional needs they will also have an individual education plan which will be discussed and updated half termly or as required. We offer an open door policy for parents to come and discuss their child’s progress as often as they like.

With parental consent staff at Little Munchkins can administer medication, we will ensure the appropriate staffs attend any training required to administer any medications or treatments they are not already trained in. There is an administering medication policy in place. All staff in the setting will be briefed and updated on any medical conditions to make sure they are aware of how best to manage any situations that may arise. We try to maintain that all staff is updated with their first aid training and regularly reminded of our safe guarding policies and procedures. Children with behavioural difficulties will be supported by all staff and management, with regular consultations with parents, individual plans and strategies can be put in place if required to help ensure the inclusion of all children in activities and the daily routine. Children’s interests and opinions are taken into account and used when planning for activities and deciding on themes/ topics, this can be done through verbalisation for those that are able or through monitoring and observation.

We currently work closely with The Early Years Advisory team, Area Inco’s and SALT using them for support for the children currently on role. If there was the need to involve further agencies/specialists we would ensure to build links to gain the best possible support for your child. Behaviour training is given to all staff and basic makaton signs are used to aid communication skills.

At Little Munchkins we have a SENco who has completed the SENco induction and behavioural management training. Other training accessed within our staff is Thomas training which helps us support children on the Autistic spectrum and Makaton training. All staff is encouraged to learn and use basic Makaton signs. A refresher in behavioural management is due to take place in September for all staff to ensure our knowledge is up to date, the SENco is also accessing Enabling Environments and the latest SENCo induction to refresh and ensure knowledge is up to date and accurate.

>Throughout the planning process all children’s abilities will be taken into account and activities are adaptable to inclusive practice is maintained, it is our aim to make all activities a fun and enjoyable learning experience. Providing extra support if needed. A full risk assessment is carried out prior to any trip to ensure the health and safety of every child and staff member is maintained, staff ratios are lowered according to the age, ability and needs of the children, ensure there is adequate supervision and support. Parents may be invited along to further ensure their child’s needs are met and that they can be fully included.

Our nursery is based in a 2 story building, the under 2.5 year old children are upstairs and the plus 2.5 year olds are down stairs. There are multiple toilets and changing facilities on both levels, wide doors ways connecting all the ground floor rooms, there is no lift, stairs being the only way to gain access upstairs. Once in the garden there are wide paths with ramps leading to the different areas, most of these areas have flat even surfaces. Entrance in and out of the building is restrictive for those that have physical disabilities as steps lead to and from all entries and exits; we have outlined improvements for this within our nursery development plan. Along with labels, images, symbols and pictures displayed around the nursery flash cards are in use regularly in large and small group situations to encourage communication. We encourage parents to right down familiar words for key staff to learn and will also research the many different languages as needed. We have access to EMTAS (Ethnic Minority Traveller Achievement Service), as members of the local library we also have the opportunity to gain access to dual language books.

Visits to school/new setting are encouraged to help children get to know their new environment and key people before starting, aiding the settling in process and also key staff from the new setting are invited to come and meet the children while at nursery. If your child has additional needs extra sessions may be arranged if needed to help your child and the new setting with a smooth transition. Also for children with additional needs meetings will be arranged with parents, new setting, any outside agencies that maybe involved and ourselves to ensure all relevant information is passed on and to outline any changes to the new environment or procedures that may need to be made are done so before the transition. As with all children leaving to start a new setting learning journeys, a recent progress report and a general transition/information sheet will be passed on to the new setting. During the summer term children will be spoken to about the changes that are about to happen, pictures of the schools logos will be displayed alongside a picture of the children who are attending letting the children know which of their friends will also be attending the same school, school role play and a variety of different activities will be included in the planning.

If appropriate SEN funding (special educational needs) is allocated to your child and with this we endeavour to ensure your child’s needs are met to the best of our ability, a big part of this will be having age/stage appropriate recourses and activities freely accessible. Included in this will also be one on one support where/if required.

Parents, key workers, SENco, Area Inco and any other outside agencies will make a decision as a collective to decide on the type and amount of support your child will need, every child is individual and this will be assessed purely on your child’s needs through observations and assessments. Support and IEP’s put in place will be reviewed regularly to ensure the correct level of support is in place and that progress is being made, if it is deemed your child has made significant improvement and no longer needs the support it will then be withdrawn.

Our open door policy allows parents to come and discuss their child whenever it is convenient for them, key persons will discuss all next steps/progress with parents and use their input to meet each child’s individual needs. Daily feedback will be given verbally and/or with home cards/day books. Parent questionnaires are sent out yearly to help us to continue to improve and move forward, our parent partnerships are very important and help us in providing the best care for each individual child.