Policies

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Our Nurseries have a whole variety of Policies and Procedures to ensure the nurseries are run to their full potential at all times. All our policies are reviewed yearly and updated throughout the year.
Our complaints policy is placed in the front entrance on the parent information board, we also have a parent policy file which parents can access at anytime as they wish.

SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN.

Our first concern will always be the welfare of your child. As a childcare provider, we are required to follow the local safeguarding board procedures.
As carers for your child we will at all times try to share with you any concerns we may have about your child. However, there may be times we have to talk with social care before we speak with you.

We aim to deliver a high-quality level of care and learning with a warm and safe environment. We strive to support to individuality of each child whilst emphasising that every child matters. Our team provide the children with opportunities to actively learn through play, make positive relationships and achieve the outcome of the Early Year Foundation Stage. Ensuring every child has the first steps towards a better future.

This prospectus aims to provide you with an introduction to Hamond House, our routines, our approach to supporting your child’s learning and development and how we aim to work together with you to best meet your child’s individual needs. This should be read alongside our Childcare Terms and Conditions for a full description of our services.

[Hamond House] setting aims to:

• Provide high quality care and education for children below statutory school age;
• Work in partnership with parents to help children to learn and develop;
• Add to the life and well-being of the local community; and
• Offer children and their parents a service that promotes equality and values diversity.

Parents

You are regarded as members of our setting who have full participatory rights.

These include a right to be:

• Valued and respected;
• Kept informed;
• Consulted;
• Involved; and
• Included at all levels.

Children's development and learning

Hamond House aim to ensure that each child:

• Is in a safe and stimulating environment;
• Is given care and attention, as well as a generous ratio of qualified staff to children, and volunteer helpers;
• Has the chance to join in with other children and adults to live, play, work, and learn together;
• Is helped to take forward her/his learning and development by being helped to build on what she/he already knows and can do;
• [Has a personal key person who makes sure each child] makes satisfying progress;
• Is in a setting that sees parents as partners in helping each child to learn and develop; and
• Is in a setting in which parents help to shape the service it offers.

The Early Years Foundation Stage

Provision for the development and learning of children from birth to 5 years is guided by the Early Years Foundation Stage. [Our/My] provision reflects the four overarching principles of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage :

• A Unique Child
  Every child is a unique child who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
• Positive Relationships
  Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
• Enabling Environments
  Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners, parents and carers.
• Learning and Development
  Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates. The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

How we provide for development and learning

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 all of the children with interesting activities that are appropriate for their age and stage of development.

The Areas of Development and Learning comprise:

• Prime Areas
• Personal, social and emotional development.
• Physical development.
• Communication and language.
• Specific Areas
• Literacy
• Mathematics.
• Understanding the world.
• Expressive arts and design.

For each area, the level of progress that children are expected to have attained by the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage is defined by the Early Learning Goals. These goals state what it is expected that children will know, and be able to do, by the end of the reception year of their education.

The Early Years Outcomes guidance sets out the likely stages of progress a child makes along their progress towards the Early Learning Goals. Our setting has regard to these when we assess children and plan for their learning. Our programme supports children to develop the knowledge, skills and understanding they need for:

Personal, social and emotional development

• making relationships;
• self-confidence and self-awareness; and
• managing feelings and behaviour.

Physical development

• moving and handling; and
• health and self-care.

Communication and language

• listening and attention;
• understanding; and
• speaking

Literacy

• reading; and
• writing.

Mathematics

• numbers; and
• shape, space and measure.

Understanding the world

• people and communities;
• the world; and
• technology.

Expressive arts and design

• exploring and using media and materials; and
• being imaginative.

Our approach to learning, development, and assessment

Learning through play

Being active and playing supports young children’s learning and development through doing and talking. This is how children learn to think about and understand the world around them. We/I use the EYFS statutory guidance on education programmes to plan and provide opportunities which will help children to make progress in all areas of learning. This programme is made up of a mixture of activities that children plan and organise for themselves and activities planned and led by practitioners

Characteristics of effective learning

We understand that all children engage with other people and their environment through the characteristics of effective learning that are described in the Early Years Foundation Stage as:

• playing and exploring - engagement;
• active learning - motivation; and
• creating and thinking critically - thinking.

We aim to provide for the characteristics of effective learning by observing how a child is learning and being clear about what [we/I] can do and provide in order to support each child to remain an effective and motivated learner.

Assessment

We assess how young children are learning and developing by observing them frequently. We use information that we gain from observations, as well as from photographs or videos of the children, to document their progress and where this may be leading them. We believe that parents know their children best and We will ask you to contribute to assessment by sharing information about what your child likes to do at home and how you, as parents, are supporting development.

We make periodic assessment summaries of children’s achievement based on our on-going development records. These form part of children’s records of achievement. We undertake these assessment summaries at regular intervals, as well as times of transition, such as when a child moves into a different group or when they go on to school.

The progress check at age two

The Early Years Foundation Stage requires that we supply parents and carers with a short-written summary of their child’s development in the three prime areas of learning and development - personal, social and emotional development; physical development; and communication and language - when a child is aged between 24 - 36 months. Your child’s key person is responsible for completing/ the check using information from on-going observational assessments carried out as part of our everyday practice, taking account of the views and contributions of parents and other professionals. We are also required to complete on behalf of Locala if your child attends our nursery setting age 2 years old. All parents must give consent for us to inform Locala Community partnerships with their child’s name, Date of birth and address if we are completing a 2-year check on their behalf.

Records of achievement

We keep all data on our online system First Steps. We record personal details, daily reports, and observations.

We keep a record of achievement for each child. Your child's record of achievement helps us to celebrate together her/his achievements and to work together to provide what your child needs for her/his well-being and to make progress.

Your child's key person/ will work in partnership with you to keep this record. To do this you and [she/he/I] will collect information about your child's needs, activities, interests and achievements. This information will enable the key person to identify your child's stage of progress. Together, we will then decide on how to help your child to move on to the next stage.

Working together for your children

We maintain the ratio of adults to children in the setting that is set by the Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements.

This helps 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/I] provide; and
• allow the children to explore and be adventurous in safety. The staff who work at our setting are