Gillingham Nursery

At Tops Day Nurseries we feel that parents are their child’s first educators and it is important to work together to help children develop to their full potential. We are always available to discuss any concerns or worries you may have as they arise, we always provide a daily handovers when you drop off and collect your child at the nursery. We invite you to join us at the end of each term to discuss your individual child’s development, progress or areas that require further support. If it has been identified that further support is required we can support you as parents and carers to deliver some fun activities at home by developing at home activity sheets, borrowing selected resources such a counting materials, books, dolls etc. We have strong links with the children’s centre who also provide activities and sessions that may support you and your child.

Using the Early Years foundation stage and our secure partnerships with outside agencies we are able to support you to receive additional help where required. We work closely with the Local Authority and discuss children’s needs as required and access support groups, referrals to other professionals that may be able to support your child. Through daily monitoring and development trackers we are able to have a clear understanding of your child’s current development mile stones and next steps to work towards. The SENCO and your child’s key person work closely together within the nursery to ensure early identification and support is put in place as quick as possible

Parent are asked to complete an annual parent questionnaire to support us to work better together. The questionnaire highlights any issues or celebrations within the nursery which we can work better and smarter together.

As the parents and carers you will have constant access to their development profile online and can add your own observations to share in their profile and with their key person, sparking conversations, new ideas for activities or record a special achievement/ success moment. This process is also shared with you termly at a private parent consultation where you can discuss your child’s current development as well as any concerns or worries you may have. The Key Person in turn will support you through any additional processes that may need to be instigated and monitored. We strive to share information with any professionals that are working with your child including speech and language therapist, physiotherapists, educational physiologist, health visitors and school teachers when your child reaches school leaving age. Supporting your child within the setting the Key Person will ensure they become familiar in their surroundings, we are aware of your child’s individual routine, we are able to create a social story which can be designed specifically for your child to take home, allowing you to talk about nursery at home with your child to ensure they settle well. The social story will show pictures of the key features of the nursery that relate to your child, it will display a picture of their key person, their room and where their belongs lives, on occasions we have used a toy or object special to the child to make these stories more relevant for them. All documents shared with and by other professionals are thoroughly read and implemented in the form of an Individual Education Plan (IEP).

We believe that parents know more about their children than anyone else and that they have a right to be involved in decisions relating to their child’s care and education. Whilst your child is in our care we are committed to involve parents in the following ways:

• Sharing up to date records on your child’s development,
• Hold termly meetings to discuss achievements and areas of support being provided for your children, Provide a termly summary of your child’s achievements and future focuses,
• Up to date newsletters, website and social networking opportunities.
• Parents display boards,
• Opportunities to join the site parent committee,
• Parenting training support and courses
• An open door policy for all parents to be able to drop in to the setting at any time.

All these ways can ensure that you get all the information you need about your child and the nursery while your are with us all these methods allow you to share your views and opinions with us along the way.

On arrival of the setting each child is allocated a Key Person who is responsible for learning about your child’s current interests, favourite things and form a special bonds to ensure they feel happy and secure within the nursery. Each Key Person strives to work closely with the parents as well as the children, on arrival they will discuss your child’s current learning and development stage using an online development profile. They will update the information that is provided by yourselves to ensure we have a secure starting point for your child and to develop interesting and fun activities to support and progress their development. We regularly relay this information to yourselves through the means of email, you will be notified every time a written, photographic, video or audio observation is created to document their progress and achievements.

Transition is a “change or passage from one stage to another” here at Tops Day Nurseries we recognise that all children will experience transitions in their early years especially in relation to their care and education. Whilst transition is necessary and a part of our natural development it can also be stressful and upsetting for both parents and children. Mini transitions happen daily as children change from home to nursery or from activity to activity. Large transitions happen less frequently and will need greater support and planning for. Practitioners will work with your family to support your child’s journey before, during and after the transition. Our aim is to help the child and family deal with these changes to ensure they feel comfortable, confident and emotionally secure during times of transition. We will support this in a number of additional ways, parents will be requested to provide the nursery with their child’s development record from their previous setting (where available) to support in planning for your child’s development and learning. With parental permission Tops practitioners will contact the previous setting to share information that will help us to care and plan for your child’s education and a new child form will be completed by the nursery administrator/key person. We want to be involved in supporting other transitions that happen for our children outside of the setting and aim to create an environment where parents can communicate information regarding such circumstances to enable us to work together. We use play as a medium to support the children through these times, and believe through working together we will be able to make transitions as smooth as possible.

On arrival of the setting each child is allocated a Key Person who is responsible for learning about your child’s current interests, favourite things and form a special bonds to ensure they feel happy and secure within the nursery. Each Key Person strives to work closely with the parents as well as the children, on arrival they will discuss your child’s current learning and development stage using an online development profile. They will update the information that is provided by yourselves to ensure we have a secure starting point for your child and to develop interesting and fun activities to support and progress their development. We regularly relay this information to yourselves through the means of email, you will be notified every time a written, photographic, video or audio observation is created to document their progress and achievements.

The SENCO has attended an accredited course in Special Educational Needs (SEN). They will co-ordinate the provision for all SEN pupils and give advice and support to staff members and families. They will liaise closely with the child’s keyworker and oversee the child’s records along with outside professionals. The Manager holds an up to date list of relevant staff training that has been completed as well as the local borough courses that are available, they will liaise with the SENCO to ensure that training opportunities are maximised for the setting and for the individual staff members. Each nursery has a minimum of one member of staff fully trained to be a SENCO and aims to have two. All nursery nurses qualified to Level 3 have completed basic awareness of special needs as part of their training, including observations and evaluations of children’s development. Our staff team are all committed to continuous professional development to further develop their skills. Recently all staff have attended a Makaton session to support the children speech and communication development, along with a refresher on the importance of commenting and role modelling speech throughout their daily routine.

Within our setting we have a SENCO, this person has attended specific training to ensure they have the correct knowledge and understanding in all aspects. Regular updates and training are given to this person and the Area Inco is always available for help and support. There is a deputy SENCO who steps up to take on the role when our SENCO is not present. We also have access to lots of different professionals who can support us when needed, these include speech and language therapists, occupational health, health visitors. We are able to contact many outside professionals to support when needed these are called upon when we deem the children, staff or parents need support.