About our Childcare

How we provide for learning and development

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

The Areas of Learning and Development 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.

We refer to non-statutory curriculum guidance to support our professional judgment as we assess each child’s progress and level of development as they progress towards the Early Learning Goals. We have regard to these when we assess children and plan for their learning by creating a curriculum that is ambitious and meets every child’s needs. Our educational programmes support children to develop the knowledge, skills and understanding they need for:

Personal, social and emotional development

• self-regulation
• managing self
• building relationships

Physical development

• gross motor skills
• fine motor skills

Communication and language

• listening, attention and understanding
• speaking

Literacy

• comprehension
• word reading
• writing

Mathematics

• number
• numerical patterns

Understanding the world

• past and present
• people, culture and communities
• the natural world

Expressive arts and design

• creating with materials
• being imaginative and expressive

Our approach to learning and 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 use the EYFS statutory 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
• creating and thinking critically – thinking

We aim to provide for the characteristics of effective learning by observing how a child engages with learning and being clear about what we can do and provide to support each child to remain an effective and motivated learner.

Assessment

We assess how young children are learning and developing by observing them. We use information that we gain from observations of the children, to understand 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 may make periodic assessment summaries of children’s achievement based on our on-going observations. These help us to build a picture of a child’s progress during their time with us and form part of children’s records of achievement/learning journeys. We undertake these assessment summaries at regular intervals, as well as at 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 observations carried out as part of our everyday practice, taking account of the views and contributions of parents and other professionals. 

Records of achievement/learning journeys

We keep a record of achievement/learning journey for each child. Your child’s record of achievement/learning journey 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 will collect information about your child’s needs, activities, interests and achievements. This information will enable the key person to identify your child’s progress. Together, we will then decide on how to further support your child’s learning and development.

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. We also have volunteer / apprenticeship helpers, where possible, to complement these ratios. 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 provide
• allow the children to explore and be adventurous in safety

The staff who work at our setting are:

How parents take part in the setting

Our setting recognises parents as the first and most important educators of their children. All our staff see themselves as partners with parents in providing care and education for their children. There are many ways in which parents take part in making our setting a welcoming and stimulating place for children and parents, such as:

• exchanging knowledge about their children’s needs, activities, interests and progress with our staff
• contributing to the progress check at age two
• taking part in events and informal discussions about the activities and curriculum provided by the setting
• sharing regular feedback.

Key person and your child

Our setting uses a key person approach. This means that each member of staff has a group of children for whom she/he is particularly responsible. Your child’s key person will be the person who works with you to make sure that the childcare that we provide is right for your child’s particular needs and interests. When your child first starts at the setting, she/he will help your child to settle and throughout your child’s time at the setting, she/he will help your child to benefit from our activities. 

Learning opportunities for adults

As well as gaining childcare qualifications, our staff take part in further training to help them to keep up-to date with thinking about early years care and education. We also keep up-to-date with best practice, as a member of the Suffolk Childcare Agency and Childcare.co.uk.

The setting’s timetable and routines

Our setting believes that care and education are equally important in the experience which we offer children. The routines and activities that make up the day in our setting are provided in ways that:

• help each child to feel that she/he is a valued member of the setting
• ensure the safety of each child
• help children to gain from the social experience of being part of a group
• provide children with opportunities to learn and help them to value learning 

The session

We organise the day so that children can take part in a variety of child-chosen and adult-led activities. These take account of children’s changing energy levels throughout the day. We cater for children’s individual needs for rest and quiet activities during the day. Outdoor activities contribute to all areas of children’s learning and development including their health, their physical development and their knowledge of the world around them.

Snacks and meals

We are qualified to prepare food; however, meals are not routinely provided as part of our service. If we do provide food in exceptional circumstances, it will adhere to high standards of food hygiene. Parents are required to provide a healthy, balanced and nutritious lunch, morning snack for their children as food is excluded from the cost of your childcare.  Fresh drinking water is available throughout the day and accessible at all times. Please tell us about your child’s dietary needs, particularly any known allergies or food intolerance for instances where there is the need for us to provide food to your child.

Clothing

We provide protective clothing for the children when they play with messy activities. We encourage children to gain the skills that help them to be independent and look after themselves. These include taking themselves to the toilet and taking off, and putting on, outdoor clothes. Clothing that is easy for them to manage will help them to do this.

Policies

Our staff can explain our policies and procedures to you. Copies of which are available on request and on our website at  https://kiddys.org/registered-parents-portal/

Our policies help us to make sure that the service we provide is of high quality and that being a member of the setting is an enjoyable and beneficial experience for each child and her/his parents.

Our staff work together with SCA to adopt the policies and these are to reviewed annually and when needed. This review helps us to make sure that the policies are enabling our setting to provide a quality service for its members and the local community.

Information we hold about you and your child

We have procedures in place for the recording and sharing of information/data about you and your child that is compliant with the principles of the General Data Protection Regulations (2018) as follows:

The data is we collect is:

1. processed fairly, lawfully and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject [you and your family].
2. collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed for other purposes incompatible with those purposes
3. adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which data is processed
4. accurate and, where necessary, kept up-to-date
5. kept in a form that permits identification of data subjects [you and your family] for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data is processed
6. processed in a way that ensures appropriate security of the personal data including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures

When you register your child with us, we will provide you with a privacy notice that gives you further details of how we fulfil our obligations with regard to your data.

Safeguarding children

Our setting has a duty under the law to help safeguard children against suspected or actual ‘significant harm’. Our employment practices ensure that people looking after children are suitable to fulfil the requirements of their role and help to protect children against the likelihood of abuse in our setting and we have a procedure for managing complaints or allegations against a member of staff.

Our way of working with children and their parents ensures that we are aware of any problems that may emerge and can offer support, including referral to appropriate agencies when necessary, to help families in difficulty.

Special educational needs

To make sure that our provision meets the needs of each individual child, we take account of any special educational needs a child may have. We work to the requirements of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years (2015).

The management of our setting

Fees

Our fees are flexible to accommodate diverse needs of parents and payable monthly in advance. Please see Fee Policy for details. Fee’s remain due if children are absent. For extended absences, please discuss the situation with Irene A. A. Nyanu, the Owner.

For your child to keep her/his place at our setting, you must pay the fees. We are in receipt of nursery education funding for two-, three- and four-year-olds; where funding is not received, then fees apply.

Starting at our setting

We want your child to feel happy and safe with us. To make sure that this is the case, our staff will work with you to decide on how to help your child to settle into the setting.

We hope that you and your child enjoy being members of our setting and that you both find taking part in our activities interesting and stimulating. Our staff are always ready and willing to talk with you about your ideas, views or to respond to any questions.

Settling-in

In our setting, we use the Leuven Scales of wellbeing and involvement to note how new children are settling in and forming attachments which will enable them to learn and develop well here.