Badgers Pre-School

At Badgers all the staff are highly trained and will make observations on each child and what they can do. if there are any areas of concern then the key person will meet the parents and discuss these. If it is felt intervention is needed then outside agencies will be contacted. If you a parent are concerned about your child you can speak their key person at any time. The key person will discuss with the SENCO and then further help and support for you all will be found. 

The manager will allocate a key person and co key person to each child and their family, who will give continuous care and support to the child whilst they are away from home. This helps the child to build positive self-esteem and makes them feel emotionally stable and physically secure. The key person observes and assesses each child using a variety of monitoring tools. As a result of these, we plan for each child’s individual needs. If required the key person works with the Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator (SENCO) on putting various strategies in place. These will be shared with the parents to ensure that consistency is met both at home and in the setting. Special Educational Needs (SEN) funding can also be applied for. Where needed the Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator will liaise with other outside agencies such as the Speech and Language Therapist, Area Inclusion Officer, Behaviour Co-Ordinator (BECO), ELSA (Emotional, Literacy Support Assistant) etc. If needed behaviour plans or Person Plans may be drawn up by the key person and parent in conjunction with the setting Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator and all who are involved with your child. The amount of support given is tailored to fit the individual needs of your child. Additional adult support assistance or small group work can be arranged.

The key persons uses their knowledge of the child and observations to prepare individual targets which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound (SMART). These ‘next steps’ are shared with the parents through their child's online learning journals (Tapestry). Activities and play based opportunities are planned around children’s interests, to meet their individual needs; these also support the ages and stages of development across the 7 areas of learning, as defined in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and early year’s outcomes. We review each individual child’s speech and language monitoring tool to assess whether specific children should be included in language groups. Observations and assessments of your child whilst they are in the setting and at home are recorded in their own personal learning journal.

At Badgers we value parent/carer partnerships and recognise that they hold the key to their child’s development and knowledge. We: • Build and develop relationships and trust with both parent and child through home visits, initial setting visits, being approachable and friendly but professional, maintaining confidentiality, being available at the start and end of every session as well as during the session via phone, email or face to face if need be. If for any reason your key person is absent, your co-key person will be available to you. • Hold termly parent meetings to discuss child’s progress. • Give out newsletters, texts, flyers, questionnaires, ‘ask me about’ stickers and proud cloud slips. We encourage parents to contribute to their child’s learning journal and comment on next steps which we have set for their child. We use observation, assessment and planning as a way of accurately recording the development of each child ensuring that we use consistent judgements throughout to support the child in reaching good outcomes within their development. • Undertake the ‘2 year progress check’ assessment with the parents. • Hold activity/fun days and ‘stay and play’ sessions for all families. • Have a parent comment box where parents can leave suggestions, comments or compliments. • Provide communication books when requested.  • Reassure parents/carers at all times.

We ensure the health and wellbeing of all children and adults by adhering to our policies and procedures • Carrying out daily safety sweeps, inside and out. • Ensuring risk assessments are in place and regularly reviewed alongside the Health and Safety Act 1974. • Good practice in safeguarding and health and safety procedures are followed. • All staff and children take part in regular fire drill/emergency evacuation practices. • Asking children for their views on acceptable rules and behaviour e.g. resources, any changes in the setting etc. We also send out children’s questionnaires. • Providing a co-key person system for children and families. • Regular supervisions are carried out with all staff/students. • Healthcare plan for individual children to ensure medical intervention, personal medication, allergies, significant medical needs and intimate care are met. Your key person will complete paperwork with you ensuring that your child receives the correct dosage of any medication needed. The key person will assist with personal care where needed whilst still encouraging the child’s independence. • All staff are first aid trained. • Providing aids and resources to support learning. • Accessing health visitors for help and advice. • Support and training will be undertaken by staff if and when required for individual children’s needs. • We have a SENCO and a ELSA who, when needed will work with parents and key persons to produce (ABCC) charts to monitor behaviour. As mentioned previously Person Plans can be put into place by the SENCO and key person.

Badger Pre-School ensure health and safety procedures are followed. The Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator attends initial induction training and regular Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator support groups as part of updating knowledge. This also applies to the Designated Safeguarding Lead The Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator is able to signpost families to outside agencies, libraries, Hants website. They are also able to liaise with children’s therapy services and refer where needed. We have an Early Years ELSA - Early Years support Assistant who is fully trained to deal with children's emotions and feelings and will work on a 1:1 with a child or in group work with a group of children. We invite external professionals into the setting i.e. health visitors, educational psychologists, area Inclusion Co-Ordinator (INCO), the Speech and Language Therapist (SALT) . As a result of these visits referrals may be made and we implement and record any actions or reports. If requested by the parents the SENCO or key person is able to accompany them to any appointments for their child, with outside agencies.

Badger Pre-School staff are all level 3 trained in child care and education and three ember of staff have degrees in Childhood Studies. All have a wealth of experience. All mandatory and specialist training is undertaken i.e. managing positive behaviour, first aid, health and safety, Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator, safeguarding etc. This is updated regularly. We invite external agencies in to give us ‘in-house’ training e.g. Speech and Language Therapy Assistant, specialist advisory teachers etc.

>Most of our outings are undertaken within our local area e.g. walks to the shops, church etc. A member of staff walks along the route beforehand to ensure that it is safe and suitable for all children and a risk assessment is completed. We use a ‘walking bus’ for trips out but also during emergency evacuation practice. Alongside these we also have an annual trip with parents and children to an attraction decided by the parents. The pre-school has a Christmas party, Christmas singing in church, Easter fun day, summer fayre and celebration days e.g. St Georges Day, Jubilee days etc. All children are invited and the areas used are wheelchair friendly.

Badger Pre-School aim to: • Provide an enriched environment that supports the needs of the children and their families. • Promote equality and diversity. We have a fully inclusive policy. • Talk with parents/carers, local authority for advice on the support we can give to both child and parent before they attend. We then continue to communicate and gain support from these agencies and signpost the family to our local support hubs for any further support. English as an additional language is catered for by the ‘Ethnic Minorities and Travellers Achievement Service’ (EMTAS) http://www.hants.gov.uk/education/ema/htm who help with translation of information for parents. We provide books, posters and culturally appropriate items whenever possible. During parent meetings etc. we offer to record their comments etc. for them. We clarify information regularly. • Provide a free-flow environment in which equipment and furniture is accessible and adjustable for all children. • Provide premises on ground floor with moveable ramps for wheel chair access. • We loan or buy equipment/resources to support children’s individual needs. Our Toilets are accessible for toileting and have a nappy changing area. • Provide lots of photo’s to give clues to aid independence. • Apply for any available funding to support the setting and the child to enhance the child’s development.

Home visits are offered to families, during which the key person begins bonding with the child in their own environment, whilst the co-key person chats to the family and completes paperwork. The child and family are invited to attend a session at Badgers and agree with key person a settling in process tailored to meet the individual needs of their child. Any Inclusion Partnership Agreements (IPA’s) are upheld. For a child moving to a new pre-school, we ensure that all relevant paperwork is up to date and forwarded to the new setting. If the new setting uses Tapestry then we forward their journal on. For a child due to start school, we visit our feeder school frequently. The reception teacher visits us in the setting. We are invited to play in the reception class. All ‘school leavers’ have the opportunity to have lunch in the school hall with their key person. Children not attending the feeder school visit their new school with their key person where applicable and teachers from those schools visit our setting. Photo books of all schools including reception classes, teachers, school library etc. will be in our book area for children to look at and discuss with other children and members of staff. All staff speak to reception teachers to discuss each individual child. Where children have additional needs the SENCO and key person attend specific transition meetings with the school and family so that their needs continue to be met.

Badger Pre-School receive 15 hours’ worth of Early Years Education (EYE) funding per week for every child at the start of each term following their 3rd birthday. We receive up to 15 hours of 2 year old funding where the parent qualifies for this. We also offer the 30 hour funding so an additional 15 hours of funding can be claimed by working parents.  Additional funding can be claimed for children with Special Educational Needs. A child receiving additional funding for Special Educational Needs will have access to all facilities provided by the pre-school and in addition may be allocated additional adult support, have access to specialist equipment and appropriate toys to aid their development and reach their full potential as per their age and stage. This is decided upon through consultation with all involved with the family. Our setting has lots of aids throughout to help and encourage all children to be as independent as possible.

If your child has already had a diagnosis then a Team around the family (TAF) meeting may be held before he or she starts at the pre-school. Decisions are made through consultation with all parties involved with your child’s care, this includes you, specialists as well as the pre-schools Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator and key staff. If your child has no diagnosis but you have expressed concerns or the key person has identified a problem (either through the two year check or our assessments) then a meeting will be held with you to explore ways of supporting your child. Behaviour plans and Person Plans are completed where necessary and shared with you. These are reviewed on a regular basis. The amount of support is dependent upon your child’s individual needs and is decided through consultation between you the parent, key person, setting, Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator and outside agencies. Monitoring of progress is carried out termly and recorded to ensure progress is being made in all seven areas of learning. Communication and language progress is monitored through the use of the ‘Keep on Talking’ monitoring tool. This helps us to focus on children who need additional support i.e. through language groups, and their progress is evaluated weekly.

The pre-school is owned by a committee of parents and carers, members of which are nominated and seconded on a yearly basis at the Annual General Meeting, which is open to all. We are always pleased to welcome new members to join and contribute to the running of the pre-school. You are encouraged to share any specialist ability or interests with the pre-school such as nursing, playing a musical instrument, woodwork, gardening, sewing or cooking skills which could benefit your children in the pre-school. Even if you feel you have no appropriate skills, we would welcome you in to play! ‘Stay and play’ sessions are held regularly where you can stay for an hour of a session and see first-hand the daily running of the group. We also hold various activity/fun days where parents come in with their child and participate. Questionnaires are distributed to all parents and carers twice yearly, giving you the opportunity to evaluate and comment on our pre-schools performance. We pass on information to parents and gain feedback in a variety of ways e.g. newsletters, texts, flyers, through our facebook page , through each childs online learning journal, ‘proud clouds’.