PUTTERIDGE COMMUNITY NURSERY
OUR MISSION
We aim to provide a safe and secure environment where each child feels valued and where a stimulating environment enables them to reach their full potential
My name is Jane Dixon and I am the Nursery Manager of Putteridge Community Nursery. I would like to offer you a warm welcome to our nursery.
I have worked at the nursery for 23 years and have been manager for 14 years. I have completed my Honours Degree in Early Years which I feel has given me a greater knowledge of child development. Myself and my staff are fully committed to the children in our care, to ensure that they are given the best possible start and are prepared for their formal education. Our curriculum is well structured to offer a wide variety of activities to meet all areas of development.
Your child will be able to experience such activities as painting, craftwork, music, cooking, construction, books, and fantasy play, as well as an opportunity to learn about their environment and other cultures.
We operate a free- flow as much as possible where children can choose to play inside or outside. This allows their self-confidence and self-esteem to grow and develop as they make choices for themselves.
All our staff are highly qualified and all hold first aid certificates. Through having a high ratio of staff to children at the Nursery, we are able to ensure your child has the attention they need and deserve, this also maintains a high safety standard. We have Ofsted inspections, the last one being in November 2013, when we were graded ‘good’ in all areas. In their inspection report, Ofsted said “Children lead their learning in a stimulating environment and, as a result, make good progress”.
We firmly believe that learning is very important but it is also essential we feel, that children learn to care for each other and their surroundings in a loving and caring environment. If we make activities fun and stimulating, then your child will learn without realizing it. We believe one of the main strengths at our nursery is the individual care we give to each child and also, the good relationships we build up with you, the parents and carers.
I would like to personally welcome you and your family to our nursery. Myself and my staff will do all we can to ensure your child’s time with us is fun, constructive and above all happy. If you ever have any worries or concerns, always feel welcome to discuss these with myself or any member of staff. How the Nursery is run
The nursery is managed by a committee. The committee is made up of parents who act as trustees for the nursery and who are elected on an annual basis. All decisions are made by the committee with the advice of the nursery manager. Your input as a parent is vital so please help and support our Annual General Meetings and if you would like to be more involved with the committee, please see Jane Dixon, the nursery manager or talk to Clare Bowling who is Chair of Committee. Clare is also a Family Worker at the adjoining Putteridge Primary School. She would be able to give you information regarding the roles of committee members. Similarly, if you have any suggestions on how we can further improve our nursery, please do not hesitate to talk to us about these. We sometimes send home questionnaires where you are able to say how the nursery is performing in all areas with regard to the care and education your child is receiving.
Without the support from you, the parents, the nursery would not be able to run.
The Pre-School Learning Alliance
Putteridge Community Nursery is registered with the Pre-school Learning Alliance and we are supported/advised by them if needed.
The Nursery Staff
Our staff team is as follows :
Jane Dixon Nursery Manager – Designated Safeguarding Officer Sheryl McGarry Deputy Nursery Manager – Inclusion Officer Rachel Cole Supervisor – Deputy Safeguarding Officer Gillian Ferrell Nursery Assistant Sharon Chamberlain Nursery Assistant Karen Glencross Nursery Assistant Dorothy Mills Nursery Assistant Jackie Noble Nursery Assistant Lora Thompson Nursery Assistant Jenny Knight Nursery Assistant Mirela Hortolomei Nursery Assistant Tracey Brindle Accounts Manager Tina Hopkins Lunch Time Supervisor
All staff members hold a current level 1 in safeguarding and those working directly with the children hold a level 3 qualification in early years with the manager having a degree in early years. All staff also have a current first aid qualification.
Key-person System
Each child is allocated a key person. This is a member of staff who works with your child, keeping a ‘learning journey’ folder with simple development sheets, recording progress and helping them with all aspects of nursery life. You will be informed of the name of your child’s key person shortly before or after your child begins at the nursery. Obviously, even though all staff have their own key children, we work with all of the children and this enables continuity of care should a member of staff be absent. Also, it is not always possible for your child’s key person to be at nursery during every session your child attends as some staff members work part time. Your child’s key person will look at their development and will record their ‘next steps’. This is an area of the curriculum where they are going to plan activities to help your child to progress in a certain area. We have a ‘next steps’ display board in our smaller room where each child’s next steps are recorded on a laminated footprint. Only the child’s initials appear on this, not their full name. This is very helpful for the key person so that they have an instant view of all of their key children’s next steps. It is also good for all staff especially if any member of staff is going to be absent for any length of time. They are then aware of each child’s next area to work on.
Fees and Opening Hours
The Nursery is open 7.45am-5.00pm, Monday - Friday, term time only.
Fees are as follows: (Children must attend a minimum of 2 sessions/6 hours per week)
Breakfast Club - 7.45am- 8.45am £4.50
Morning session - 8.45am - 11.45am £12.00
Lunch Club - 11.45am- 12.15pm £2.00
Afternoon session - 12.15pm - 3.15pm £12.00
After School Club - 3.15pm-4.15pm £4.50 4.15pm-5.00pm £3.50
All breakfast and after-school sessions need to be booked and paid for in advance. Forms are available to collect from a folder on the office door towards the end of each half-term for the following half-term. Places must be booked within the deadline in order to guarantee your child a place. (Lunch clubs are booked when a child starts at the nursery.)
Children booked into breakfast club will be offered a choice of cereal and toast and spreads as well as water or milk, the children will also be offered a healthy snack and drink at after- school club. They are able, where possible, to serve themselves, boosting their self-esteem and confidence. Children are not allowed in the kitchen for safety reasons. During the morning and afternoon sessions, the children will be offered a healthy snack (fruit/vegetables) and a drink.
For children who have a packed lunch, please provide a drink. Also, please do not send in anything containing eggs or nuts as some children have severe allergies. Please do not send in sweets or bars of chocolate as this causes obvious problems! Chocolate biscuits are fine. Any items that need refrigeration can be sent in as we have our own fridge. These would need to be clearly labelled with your child’s name. It may be a good idea to send ice packs in their lunch boxes (especially in the summer) as this will keep the food fresher and cooler. We can always help with ideas for a suitable healthy packed lunch. If you send in grapes or cherry tomatoes for your child’s snack, please can we ask that you cut these up to avoid any choking concerns.
As the children have half an hour for lunch, please can we ask that you do not send in too much food, only what you expect them to eat. A suitable lunch would be a sandwich, a yoghurt and some fruit or a biscuit. If your child does not like sandwiches, crackers with cheese are a good alternative. Suitable clothing/Sun Cream
Please can you ensure that your child always comes to nursery with the correct clothing. We do try to go outside even when it is cold/hot. Therefore, for cold weather, they will need a warm coat, hat and gloves. For hot weather, they will need a sun hat/cap. Please ensure all items are named. If your child will just be attending for a morning or afternoon session, we ask that you apply sun cream if necessary before they come in. For children who stay all day, we can apply sun cream to them at lunch time if you provide this. Please make sure this is clearly labelled with your child’s name. It is helpful if you can leave a bottle with us for the summer term.
The children are able to play with sand, soil, paint and many other messy materials. We do supply overalls but could we please ask that they wear old clothes to nursery.
Fees
All fees are payable monthly and in advance on receipt of an invoice. This will be emailed out around 15th of each month, and should be paid by the last day of the month. Due to the closure of HSBC branches we now only accept payment by bank transfer or childcare vouchers. Non-attendance of sessions due to illness or holidays will still be payable. A late payment fee of £10 will automatically be charged to your account for invoices that are paid after the 5th of the month. Non payment by the 10th of the month will result in your child’s place being automatically suspended. For repeated late payment, we reserve the right to withdraw your child’s place. Further information can be found in your terms & conditions.
We offer 3-4 years funding for children the term after their third birthday. Parents/carers can claim up to 15 hours free funding over two or more days. These hours depend on availability at the nursery and 15 hours cannot be guaranteed. The period for which this funding can be claimed is 7.45am – 3.15pm. Any care after this time is exempt from funding.
We are registered to accept children who are eligible for 2 year funding. This is dependent on spaces being available at the nursery.
If your child is going to be absent for more than two weeks, please inform the Nursery Manager in writing, otherwise the place will be re-allocated.
If you wish to withdraw your child from the nursery you will need to give a month‘s notice and should your child leave before this time, you will still need to pay all fees for this month. Also, if you wish to reduce your child’s hours, a month’s notice is required.
Closure due to unforeseen circumstances
If the nursery has to close unexpectedly due to such events as: severe weather, fire alarm malfunctions, flooding, heating breakdown or certain serious contagious illnesses, all session and lunch club fees would still need to be paid.
Registration
When your child is offered a place you must complete and return your registration form together with a £20 non-returnable deposit to secure your child’s place. This registration fee is payable by everyone regardless of whether you receive funding. Also, please send in signed, ‘our copy’ of our terms and conditions. A child cannot start at our nursery unless all the relevant forms have been signed and either sent in or brought into the nursery. Contact Details
Putteridge Community Nursery C/O Putteridge Primary School Putteridge Road Luton, Beds LU2 8HJ 01582 480734 [email protected]
Please can you telephone on the first day if your child is going to be absent. If they are going to off for a few days, you do not need to telephone on following days.
We have a website with details of how the nursery is run and all the relevant information parents need. The web address is:- putteridgecommunitynursery.btck.co.uk
Behaviour Management
It is imperative that children have set boundaries of behaviour for their own safety and the safety of their peers. The nursery has a named person who has overall responsibility for guiding staff and parents with issues concerning behaviour. This individual keeps up to date with the legislation and research on behaviour guidance strategies and accesses relevant sources of expertise on handling children's behaviour. Jane Dixon, the manager oversees all behaviour management issues.
Our aim is to promote good behaviour and ensure that all children are provided with care, security, the freedom to explore, a positive self image, suitable adults as role models, consistency in their treatment, boundaries to behaviour, opportunities for self expression and opportunities for learning. At our nursery we use strategies to help children think about behaviour. We use stories and puppets relating to these issues and talk about making ‘good’ and ‘bad’ choices. We have found that these really help the children to understand about how they are feeling and about their behaviour and how it may impact on other people.
There will never be any form of physical punishment i.e. smacking, slapping or shaking. Our children will never be subjected to humiliation or labelled as 'naughty' and staff will never raise their voices. All staff members agree to follow the setting’s Behaviour Management policy, which emphasises the above and sign an Employee Code of Conduct to confirm that they understand and agree to follow the policy. Failure to comply with the policy would result in disciplinary action being taken against a member of staff.
Individuality is encouraged and the children are taught by example. Discussions regarding children's behaviour will be held within their own environment and we will not use any other areas of the nursery as a sanction.
On occasion, children may demonstrate unwanted behaviour in the form of shouting, snatching, biting, hitting or attempting to destroy resources. This can be a phase children go through whilst they are learning the art of self control. These incidences will be few and far between and will not ordinarily raise cause for concern. On occasions a child may demonstrate these traits more often than normal. Under these circumstances, a child will be supported to control their behaviour and parents will be informed so we can work together to establish a strong support network to eradicate the unwanted behaviour.
Bullying is rare amongst very young children but we are always aware that it may occur. Bullying of any kind is unacceptable and if it does happen, children should be able to report any incident and know that it will be responded to. All staff members at our nursery have a duty to be aware of the kind of bullying that can take place including physical as well as emotional bullying. We have an anti-bullying policy which lists telephone numbers for help with this problem.
Parents and carers may also be able to ask for advice about bullying from the Stopsley & Putteridge Children’s Centre to which the nursery is a partner site. In addition, we are very fortunate that Putteridge Primary School are also happy to help us with any matter and their Family Workers may be able to give us advice/and or information should a parent/carer require this. Telephone numbers and websites are included in this parent pack for a variety of organisations which may be of help to you and this includes bullying issues.
Safeguarding
As childcare professionals, we have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The nursery manager, Jane Dixon is the Designated Safeguarding Officer and Rachel Cole, Supervisor is the Deputy Safeguarding Officer. All staff members are trained and are responsible for the implementation of our safeguarding policies and procedures. These policies are always available for parents/carers to look at and copies can be made if required to be given to parents. We also have a legal duty to discuss with, and obtain advice from the Local Children’s Safeguarding Board if we deem a child to be at risk.
We have a duty to record any noticeable marks, ie. bruising and cuts to any of the children in our care and forms set by the Luton Safeguarding Board are used for all of these. Often these are just minor accidents that children have had at home or when they have been out and about and noting then down is all that would happen. We will ask you to sign these forms to acknowledge that you have been informed that we have filled out a form. These are then stored securely at the nursery and if we have not had to seek advice from Social Care about any concerns, the forms are destroyed in the correct manner after 12 months. Obviously, if we have any major concerns over any aspect of a child’s care, we have a duty to seek further advice.
All staff at the nursery are aware of their duties regarding child protection matters and have regular training. To ensure our staff are suitable to care for children, they undergo checks by the Disclosure and Barring Service prior to commencing employment at our nursery. Any student at our nursery will never be left on their own with children even if they have been subject to these checks. All staff members hold a currently level 1 qualification in safeguarding.
If any parent/carer has any concerns about the behaviour of any of our staff, volunteers or visitors, including any allegations of abuse against a child, they should share their concerns with Jane Dixon, nursery manager and Designated Safeguarding Officer. In her absence, our Deputy Safeguarding Officer is Rachel Cole. Alternatively, they can contact the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) on 01582 548069 (Paul James). In addition, if any child in our care makes a disclosure about any aspect of a staff member’s care of them we would take this very seriously. We would inform their parents/carers and endeavour to find out what happened and if any action needs to be taken.
The nursery aims to ensure that through thorough policies and procedures, children are not put at risk through the action of any staff member.
Our safeguarding policy, allegation flowchart against staff along with other helpful safeguarding information are on our ‘Keeping Children Safe’ notice board. This also has the telephone number for Ofsted.
Our alcohol, tobacco and substance misuse policy makes it clear that no staff member can work at the nursery under the influence of alcohol or illegal substances. In addition, our policy states that if a staff member smokes, then they do not do so on the premises or outside area of our nursery. They must also do all they can to make sure that they or their clothes do not smell of smoke. Failure to abide by these policies could result in a member of staff facing disciplinary action as they would not be adhering to the setting’s Staff Code of Conduct.
If a parent/carer comes to the nursery to collect their child and seems under the influence of either alcohol or drugs, staff may feel that they are not in a fit state to collect their child. In this situation, we would offer any help we could to the affected parent and endeavour to contact someone who could collect the child (from nominated people on the child’s registration form).
Mobile phones and Cameras
We are very careful about the taking, storing and deleting of photographs of children at our nursery. Photographs are very beneficial to allow us to see how the children are developing and are a nice way of allowing us to show you, the parents and carers this development. We always ask your permission to take photographs of your child and ask you to sign to this effect on their registration form before they start at our nursery. Only the setting’s cameras are used to take photographs and staff are never permitted to use their mobile phones or personal cameras to take photographs of the children. Photographs are never taken out of the nursery without the prior consent of parents/carers.
Staff member’s mobile phones are always turned off and kept in the office. This also applies to volunteer students. Staff members are made aware of their responsibility with regard to adhering to the policy regarding mobile phones and this forms part of their Code of Conduct. Failure to abide by this would result in disciplinary action being taken. We would kindly ask that parents do not use their mobile phones whilst they are in nursery. The nursery takes the setting’s mobile phone if the children are taken out of the nursery for a walk in case of an emergency. This phone does not have a camera function. If a parent or carer is staying at the nursery for part or all of a session, we would ask them to turn their phones off and put them in the office in line with our policies and procedures.
If we no longer need photographs, then they are either offered to the parents/carers or shredded. They are never given to anyone else. When photographs have been printed, the images are deleted from the memory card. This is all contained in the setting’s policies and again failure to abide by any of these policies would result in disciplinary action being taken against a member of staff again in line with the setting’s Staff Code of Conduct.
The nursery has a very clear policy regarding the use of the internet by staff members including social networking sites. Staff members are made aware that they should not state that they work at the setting on networking sites. Our policy ensures that staff are aware that they should never discuss any child or their family with anyone on any of these sites. In addition, all staff are made aware that they should never discuss anything that could harm the good name of the nursery. Again, failure to abide by this policy could result in disciplinary action being taken if a member of staff has not adhered to the Staff Code of Conduct.
Ultimately, we always endeavour that all of the children in our care are able to grow and develop in a safe environment. Through the planning of suitable activities, we aim to make sure that young children begin to understand that they have the right to be safe from abuse. Depending on their developmental level, we try to remind them not to go off with strangers and about what to do if they feel frightened or something is happening to them which they do not like. This is always done in a very sensitive way and often at group time through the use of puppets and books.
How will you ensure my child is secure?
To enable us to monitor people entering the building the nursery has a secure entrance system with key pads on both doors. In the event of anyone other than the parent or usual person collecting a child a password previously agreed with the parent must be given.
All members of staff who do not recognise a person will ask them their full name and who they have come to collect and will ask for the password if necessary. Staff will ensure that they check the information before releasing a child. All visitors to the nursery must sign the visitor's book and be accompanied at all times.
It is vital that all parents inform the nursery of any personal changes to their or their child's personal details, particularly emergency and collection contacts. Nursery management will not change a child's personal details unless authorised or requested to do so by the parent.
What should I do if I have a concern?
If you have a concern that you wish to address in relation to the care your child receives at the nursery this should be raised immediately with the nursery manager. The manager will listen and endeavour to work with you and the team to reach a resolution. If necessary, the matter will be logged on a complaint form. In the unlikely event that you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you can raise this with Ofsted, telephone 0300 123 1231.
How will you ensure my child feels included at nursery?
Equal Opportunities: We are committed to promoting equal opportunities and all children within our care will be treated with equal respect irrespective of class, ethnic origin, gender, disability, race or religion. We are fully committed to an active equal opportunities programme with regard to our staff and the care of children within the nursery. Wherever possible, children with additional needs will be considered for a place, taking into account their individual circumstances and the ability of the nursery to provide the necessary standard of care. Should any person believe that this policy is not being totally complied with they should bring it to the attention of the nursery manager.
To promote equal opportunities in the nursery we ensure that we: Procure a diverse range of dressing up clothes, toys and equipment together with running regular projects about different religions and family cultures Encourage role play outside stereotypical roles Actively implement the Key Person approach for all children Make available to all children equipment such as dolls, dressing up clothes, cars, etc irrespective of gender Encourage and develop positive attitudes Challenge any inappropriate practices and attitudes Regularly review childcare practice to ensure the policy is effective. Additional Needs: We endeavour to meet all children's individual needs and aim to include every child regardless of any additional needs, whilst ensuring the needs of other children will not be disadvantaged. Children with additional needs (including children with physical disabilities, learning or behavioural difficulties as well as gifted children) are welcome in the nursery. Depending on the nature of the need, consideration will be given to access, toileting, availability of specialist equipment and additional adult help. Careful planning with parents to consider the individual child's needs and wants will be particularly important for the child's welfare and happiness. Health visitors, social workers and any others involved in the care of the child should be involved in consultation prior to the child's admittance to the nursery, to ensure that the child's needs are being properly catered for. The nursery has an Inclusion Officer who is fully trained in the Code of Practice for the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs. The nursery has a ‘Local Offer’ on the Luton website and our own website for children with additional needs which gives information about how our nursery helps any child with additional needs.
How long should I keep my child away from nursery if they are unwell?
It is very important that we control the spread of infection at the nursery, in order to do so we enforce the following exclusion times:
Common Cold/Tonsillitis: management discretion is applied however the child must be deemed as generally well in themselves and happy to be at nursery and have no temperature.
Head lice: excluded until their hair has been treated.
Diarrhoea and/or vomiting, Gastroenteritis or Food Poisoning: clear of symptoms for 48 hours since the last loose stool or period of vomiting.
Bacterial Conjunctivitis: until treated with antibiotics for 24 hours. With very young children, conjunctivitis is very contagious and we would ask that they are kept at home if there is discharge from their eyes.
Chicken Pox: until all blisters are dry and the child's general health is normal.
Whooping Cough: 5 days from the commencement of antibiotic treatment.
German Measles: 5 days from the onset of a rash.
Measles: 5 days from the onset of a rash.
Hand, Foot and Mouth: until blisters are dry and the child's general health is normal.
Mumps: 5 days from the onset of swollen glands.
Scarlet Fever: A child must have had the appropriate antibiotics for at least 24 hours before they return to nursery and we well enough in themselves.
Impetigo: 5 days from the onset of a rash.
If your child should become unwell whilst at nursery you will be contacted and asked to collect them as soon as possible. What if my child requires medication?
If your child is on medication we are happy to administer any prescription medication at the nursery on the condition that your child appears well enough to attend. All medicines brought into the nursery will need to be recorded in the nursery medication book and we will require your signature to authorise the administration. Any medication brought into the nursery must be in its original container and labelled with your child's full name, the dosage required and the date it was prescribed. However, if your child has been prescribed antibiotics and have been sick or your doctor says they are infectious, we ask that they are kept off nursery for 48 hours after first taking these. If your child has been prescribed an antibiotic that they have not taken before, we again ask that they are kept at home for 48 hours after first taking these in case of an adverse reaction to them.
We are able to administer long term medication such as an inhaler and can administer medication such as Calpol with the parent’s permission if a child needs this to help them recover from an illness. We are not able to administer any medicines containing aspirin which have not been prescribed by their doctor. In all cases, your child can attend nursery only if they are well enough to do so.
Collecting Children
If you are unable to collect your child and somebody else is going to be collecting them, then we need to know in advance. A letter can be sent into the nursery to inform us. Anyone unknown to us will be subjected to our password system. This is essential to safeguard all of the children in our care. This will be explained in more detail to you when these arrangements need to be made.
We will never release your child to anyone unless you have advised us first. We cannot release children into the care of anyone under the age of 16. Please contact the nursery if you are going to be unavoidably delayed and you will be late collecting your child. Our telephone number is:- 01582 480734. If we have not been contacted by you and your child is still at nursery at the end of a session, we will use the emergency contact details on your child’s registration form. If we unable to contact any contact on this form after one hour, then we would have no choice other than to contact Social Care.
We understand that occasionally, parents/carers may be a little late collecting their child. However, if this becomes frequent, then you will incur a charge of £1.00 per minute lateness fine. This is in line with other childcare facilities on this site.
Zero tolerance policy
Putteridge Community Nursery operates a zero tolerance policy and should any parent/guardian/carer become verbally or physically abusive to any member of staff, we reserve the right to withdraw their child’s place from the nursery with immediate effect.
Toys from home
Wherever possible, we ask that toys from home are not brought in to nursery. It causes obvious problems if children’s toys get lost. We do understand, however, that sometimes, children want to bring in a familiar item when they start nursery and this is fine. Outside area
We would ask that you make sure our outside area is a safe place to wait before the nursery doors are open. Please could you make sure that the bolt on the gate is always put on when you come in and leave the nursery. Also, if toys are already in the garden, please supervise your child during this time if they play with them. We store our outside cars and bikes at the back of our building and would kindly ask that you do not allow your child to go on these when you are going round the back of the school to collect older children. This is to avoid them causing an obstruction when parents and children are coming out of the school grounds.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
The EYFS sets the standards for care, learning and development for children from birth up to 5 years of age. The principles which guide the work of our nursery are grouped into four themes:
A Unique Child – every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self assured.
Positive Relationships – children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person.
Enabling Environments – the environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning.
Learning and Development – children develop and learn in different ways and at different times; all areas of learning and development are equally important and inter-connected.
Areas of Learning and Development
There are three prime areas in which our staff members support children to learn and develop. These are:
Personal, Social and Emotional Development – Making relationships/Self-confidence and self-awareness/Managing feelings and behaviour
Physical Development – Moving and handling/Health and self-care
Communication and Language – Listening and attention/Understanding/ Speaking
For children aged between 2 and 3, we review their progress in these 3 prime areas and provide a short written summary of their development for parents/carers. This will highlight a child’s strengths, and any areas were the child’s progress is less than expected. If there are significant emerging concerns, or an identified special education need or disability, our Inclusion Officer will plan to support the child’s future learning and may seek the advice of specialist outside agencies, with your permission.
In addition, there are also four specific areas and these are:-
Literacy - Reading/Writing
Mathematics - Numbers/ Shape, space and measure
Understanding the World – People and communities/The World/ Technology
Expressive Arts and Design – Exploring and using media and materials/Being imaginative We work with all of the children to help them make progress in all areas of the EYFS. A suitable mixture of adult-led and child initiated activities ensure that we are enabling the children to experience a wide range of play and learning opportunities.
We use our smaller room to work with the children who will start school in the September. We use a programme called ‘Letters and Sounds’ to teach the children the sounds of letters of the alphabet and how to form letters with their early writing skills. We also help prepare them with their early numeracy skills with many different resources including a teaching strategy called ‘Numicon’ where children learn to associate shapes with numbers.
More information on the Early Years Foundation Stage can be found on the Department for Education website:- www.education.gov.uk. Another good source of information is the Foundation Years website:- www.foundationyears.org.uk. This has a particularly good section for parents. Another very useful booklet is called ‘What to expect, when?’ and can be found at www.4children.org.uk. We also have a copy at the nursery for any parent to look at.
“Children should start school healthy, happy, communicative, sociable, curious, active and ready and equipped for the next phase of life and learning” (Department for Education 2012)”
As a childcare setting, we are here to support you, your child and your family should you require any help and information. We may not always know the answer to your questions but are able to source an answer from others when needed. We have included here some important telephone numbers for you should you wish to find support if you have, or know anyone that may have suffered any form of abuse or may need advice with a problem.
The Rapid Intervention and Assessment Team – Luton Children & Families Social Care Service 01582 547653
(out of hours) 0300 3008123
Childline www.childline.org.uk 0800 1111
NSPCC www.nspcc.org.uk 0808 800 5000
KIDSCAPE Parents Helpline (for help with any bullying issues) 020 7730 3300
Parentline Plus (for help with any bullying issues) 0800 800 2222
Stopsley&Putteridge Children’s Centre www.spchildrenscentre.com 01582 528207
National Association for People abused in Childhood (NAPAC) 0808 801 0331 www.napac.org.uk
Luton Sexual Abuse Survivors for Men www.aest.org.uk 01582 733246
M.A.L.E. – male sufferers 0808 801 0327
Family Matters (men and women) www.familymattersuk.org 01474 537 392
Rape Crisis Federation – also gives info re: Childhood Abuse 0808 802 9999 www.rapecrisis.org Alcohol Services for the Community 01582 723434
Victim Support 01582 723779
Samaritans 01582 720666
If you are suffering or have suffered domestic violence, you may find these numbers useful:
National Domestic Violence Helpline 0808 2000 247
Independent Domestic Violence Advisors 0800 2000 247
Luton Women’s Aid 01582 391856
Luton All Women’s Centre 01582 416783
Domestic Abuse Unit (Luton) 01582 394384
Stepping Stones (Offering help and support to women affected by domestic abuse or drug/alcohol, mental health and social care related issues) 01582 457114
National Centre for Domestic Violence 0844 8044 999