Dear Parents,
We are happy to welcome you and your child to Copythorne Pre-school.
Copythorne pre-school was first established in 1964 and is held in Copythorne Parish hall. We are a community pre-school based in a rural area. Our pre-school is a registered charity run by a committee of parents and carers. We are registered and inspected by Ofsted.
This prospectus will give you valuable information concerning the running and management of our pre-school.
Our aim is:
• To enhance the learning and development of all children, by working together with parents to provide tailored planning to meet their individual needs.
• To provide a safe, secure and stimulating environment.
• To work within a framework which ensures all children and families have equal opportunities.
We offer your child:
• An enabling environment specially tailored to the children in line with the Early Years framework.
• Individual care and attention made possible by a high ratio of adults to children.
• Fun and friendship by children and other adults.
• The support of a personal Keyworker.
• Regular opportunities for you and your family to be directly involved in the activities of the group and in your own child’s progress.
OPENING TIMES
We are open during term times and plan our dates in line with the local authority. We are open Mon 8.30 – 12.30, Tues, Wed, Thursday and Friday 8.30 – 3pm.
Sessions run from 8.30, 9.00, 9.30 or 10.00 until 11.30, 12 or 12.30. and collection is at agreed times until 11.30,12.00,12.30,.and if staying till end of session 2.30, or 3pm. We open at 8.30 on all mornings. You can decide the hours your child attends. Lunch time is the last ½ hour of the session. If your child is staying for lunch they will need to bring a packed lunch in a named lunch box. We do have a blanket no nut products to maintain safety of all children who attend.
Fees are charged hourly at £5.50 and are billed on a half term basis. We aim to be as flexible as possible. The fees are non-returnable for holidays and sickness. Bills are issued at the beginning of each half term. If you have any concerns regarding payment please speak to the treasurer as soon as possible. We take Computershare vouchers, and are registered to accept nursery funding for two, three and four year old children.
Copythorne pre-school is registered to take children from the age of 2 to school age. We are registered to accept 2 year old funding.
POLICIES
All of our policies are designed to offer the best possible experience for the children and families within the group. Our policies are reviewed on an annual basis and comments and suggestions from parents/carers are always welcomed.
Policy statements are available to be seen by parents/carers at any time. Please see a member of staff. Our working policies are;
Admissions policy
Behaviour policy
Allegations against staff policy
Welfare and Safe Guarding children policy
Collection of children policy
Complaints policy
Confidentiality policy
Curriculum policy
Disciplinary policy
Emergency actions for welfare of children policy
Equality and Diversity policy
Fee paying policy
Food and drink policy
Health and safety policy
Looked after Children policy
Lost children policy
Payment of fees policy
Parental involvement policy
Record keeping and information security policy
Selecting toys and equipment policy
Social networking policy
Settling in policy
Special additional needs policy
Staffing and employment policy
Non collection of children policy.
PRE-SCHOOL STAFF
We have a committed team of qualified and experienced staff and our high ratio of adults to children is beyond regulations set by Ofsted. As a pre-school we consider it important that staff have the opportunity to up-date their training and keep informed about changes in policy and practice in Early Years. We have a training programme in place for all staff that is reviewed on an annual basis.
INCLUSION
The number of adults present within pre-school enables us to provide individual attention for each child. Each child is able to progress at his/her own rate in all areas of development. Our full Inclusion / Special Educational Needs Policy is available to be seen at any time.
Our INCO Officer is Tracey Denness. They are responsible for:
• Implementing our SEN Policy and ensuring equality of opportunity for all children.
• Supporting the identification and assessment of children with SEN.
• Helping plan suitable activities for children with SEN.
• Ensuring that each child can develop at their own pace
• Providing support and information to other members of staff working with children with SEN.
• Ensuring that appropriate records are kept on children with SEN.
• Developing good working relationships between our pre-school and the parents of children with SEN.
• Providing a link with other relevant agencies.
Tracey and Kirsty are familiar with the requirements of the Code of Practice on the identification and assessment of Special Educational Needs and all current legislation regarding SEN. If you would like to discuss our ability to meet your child’s needs please talk to Tracey or Kirsty.
KEYPERSON ROLE
Our staff are all given Keyperson roles, which allow them to have responsibility for a group of children. Every child is allocated their own Keyperson, and it is this staff member who will provide you with regular development updates on your child, and if necessary discuss any concerns with you. You can talk to your allocated Keyperson at any time. We encourage all children to form relationships with all staff. This can make the “settling in period” much easier. By forming a bond with both you and your child your Keyperson is in a position to tailor the environment to the unique needs of the individual child. Because of the high ratio of adult help within the group, we are able to implement an excellent record keeping system. Observations of the children within the group are noted and used as a basis for tailoring the learning needs of the children.
ILLNESS; HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICY
Please keep your child at home if he/she has an illness and inform the pre-school as to the nature of the infection. This way we can inform other parents if necessary and make careful observations of any child who appears unwell. To comply with health and safety regulations, please DO NOT bring your child into pre-school if they have sickness or diarrhea for at least a clear period of 48 hours. You will be contacted if your child is considered to be too unwell to continue in the session. It is therefore important that we are kept up-to-date with all contact numbers.
COLLECTING YOUR CHILD; CHILD COLLECTION POLICY
Only yourself or an adult nominated by yourself will be allowed to collect your child from pre-school. Please inform the Manager if anyone unknown to staff members will be collecting your child. A collection book is available for you to complete if another person other than yourself is collecting your child. If you are unable to collect your child you may call the pre-school and give a password that must be used by the adult before we can pass your child over. The number is 02380 812478.
SECURITY; HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICY
To ensure your child’s safety and security, all external doors are kept locked when the children are within the building. If you need to gain entry during session you will find a doorbell attached to the A frame outside the front door. Please ring the doorbell and a member of staff will let you in.
INSPECTIONS
We are inspected by Ofsted and are eligible for the Early Years Education Grant that applies to children above the age of three. We are also registered to offer funding for 2 year olds. Copies of our report are available for parents to read.
STARTING PRE- SCHOOL
Children cannot play and learn successfully if they are anxious or unhappy. We begin your child’s journey into pre school with a home visit. Our settling in procedures aim to assist parents in helping their children to feel comfortable and confident in the pre-school. We recognise that the settling in period can differ from child to child, and parents should not feel worried if their child takes a while to settle. We are happy for you to stay and help your child to gain the confidence needed to stay with us, and for a short time period your child can bring a comfort toy from home. We must remind you that other children may pick up these items.
Early Years Foundation Stage for children birth to five.
Children start to learn about the world around them from the moment they are born. The care and education offered by our setting helps children to continue to do this by providing the children with interest related activities that are appropriate for their age and stage of development.
The Early Years guidance divides the children’s learning and development into three prime areas and four significant areas.
The three prime areas are;
• Personal, social and emotional development – Making relationships, self confidence and self awareness, managing feelings and behaviour.
• Communication and language development – Listening and attention, Understanding, Speaking
• Physical development – Moving and handling, Health and self care
Significant areas of development are;
• Literacy – Reading, Writing
• Mathematics – Numbers, Space, shape, measure
• Understanding the world – People and communities, The world, Technology.
• Expressive arts and design – Media and materials, Being imaginative
.
Each area is divided into bands that are used as a guideline to monitor your child’s progress until the end of reception year. We use these bands to help us trace each child’s progress and enable us to provide the right activities to help the children to achieve and progress.
Personal, social and emotional
This area of children’s development is working towards;
Making relationships;
• Children playing co-operatively, taking turns with others. They take into account of one another’s ideas about how to organise their activity. They show sensitivity to others needs and feelings, and form positive relationships with adults and other children.
Self confidence and self awareness;
• Children are confident to try new activities, and say why they like some more than others. They are confident to speak in familiar group, will talk about their ideas, and will choose the resources they need for their chosen activities. They say when they do or don’t need help.
Managing feelings and behaviour;
• Children talk about how they and others show feelings, talk about own and others behaviour, and its consequences, and know some behaviour is unacceptable. They work as part of a class or group, and understand and follow rules. They adjust their behaviour to different situations, and take charge of routine in their stride.
Communication and language
Listening and attention;
• Children listen attentively in a range of situations. They can listen to stories, accurately anticipating key events and respond to what they hear with relevant comments, questions or actions. They give their attention to what others say and respond appropriately, while engaged in another activity.
Understanding.
• Children follow instructions involving several ideas or actions. They answer how and why questions about their experiences and in response to stories and events.
Speaking
• Children express themselves effectively, showing awareness of listeners needs. They use past and present and future forms accurately when talking about events that have happened or are to happen in the future.
Physical
Moving and handling
• Children show good control and co-ordination in large and small movements. They move confidently in a range of ways safely negotiating space. They handle equipment and tools effectively, including pencils for writing.
Health and self care
• Children know the importance of good health of physical exercise and a healthy diet, and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe. They manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs successfully, including dressing and going to the toilet independently.
Literacy
Reading
• Children read and understand simple sentences. They use phonetic knowledge to decode regular words and read them accurately. They also read some common irregular words. They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read.
Writing
• Children use their phonetic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds. They also write some irregular common words. They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others. Some words are spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible.
Maths
Numbers
• Children count reliably with numbers from 1 – 20. place them in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number. Using quantities and objects, they add and subtract two single digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer. They solve problems including doubling, halving and sharing.
Shape, space and measure, Gaining control over small movements they can make with their arms, wrists, and hands so they can pick up and use objects, tools and materials
• Learning about the importance of looking after their bodies and being healthy
Creative
This area of development covers
• Using paint, materials, music, dance, words, stories, and role-play to express their ideas and feelings
• Becoming interested in the way that materials, paint, music, dance, words role-play and stories can be used to express ideas and feelings.
Play helps children to learn and develop through doing and talking. Our pre-school uses the observations on children to plan and provide a range of play activities which will help children make progress in each of the areas of learning and development. In some of these activities the children decide how they will use the activity and, in others, an adult will guide the children taking part to ensure they are getting the best out of it.
Working together for your children
In our setting we maintain the ratio of adults that is set through the welfare requirements. We also have a volunteer parent list, which allows us to
• Give time and attention to each child
• Talk with the children about their interests and activities
• Help children to experience and benefit from the activities we provide
• Allow the children to explore and be adventurous in safety
Staff who work in our setting are
Tracey Denness – Manager NVQ 4/ NVQ 3
Kirsty Rowley – Deputy manager Cache Diploma level 3
Danielle Beckett – Early Years Practitioner and B25 advisor B Tech level 3
Lucy Barrow – Early Years Practitioner Level 3 and Senco
Natasha Abbott – Early years trainee undertaking B Tec level 3
Management and Administration:
The pre-school is run by a parent committee which is required by our adopted constitution and is elected at the Annual AGM. All parents/carers who have children attending the setting have the right to stand for election and become part of the decision making team. The team forms the much needed structure of our group and we are unable to open as a pre-school without them.
The Role of Parents:
The pre-school acknowledges parents as being the first and most important educators of their young children. Our Pre-school aims to support parents.
Parents are welcome to:
• Help in the group with the children
• Assist with the fundraising
• Take part in the management of the pre-school
• Receive advise from staff about local adult education facilities if wishing to further their own language, literacy or numeracy skills
• Undertake training in Early Years
Off-site visits:
We have visits every term out of setting. You will always receive plenty of notice about this and be issued with a permission form which will need to be completed and returned to the pre-school. We always have one adult to every two children during all off-site visits. On most occasions parents will be invited to attend should they wish. Further details regarding off-site visits are available from the Manager. All off-site visits are “risk assessed” before the day of the trip to ensure suitability.
Liaison with parents:
Should you have a concern or complaint about any matter, please speak to the Manager or Chairperson of the Committee. Information about the formal complaints procedure can be found in our policy book in the lobby.
Links with the local school:
Copythorne Infant School is our main feeder school. We have excellent links with them and work in close partnership under the sharing professional expertise scheme. We work with smooth transitions to school by meeting with the teachers to ensure they know the children before they start
Committee:
Copythorne Pre-school is charity run by a committee of enthusiastic volunteers and is funded through fees, donations and fundraising activities. The majority of committee members are parents of children currently attending the pre-school who are dedicated to ensuring the best possible environment for your child, to stimulate them and to encourage early learning through play activities.
We welcome all parents, whatever their skills, becoming actively involved with their child’s pre-school learning. This participation can vary from attending pre-school, or giving up a small amount of your time to be a member of the committee. The more you are able to get involved, the more opportunities there are for fundraising , sharing new ideas, getting to know the staff better and consequently, the more your child will benefit from their time at Copythorne Pre-school.
Joining the committee is fun and a good way to get to know other parents and have a say in the way your child’s pre-school is run. If you are interested in joining the committee please complete the slip below and return it to the Manager. A member of the committee will then contact you with further details.
On behalf of the whole committee, we look forward to hearing from you soon