Prospectus 2023/2024


Bearwood Pre-School’s Early Years Prospectus for Parents and Carers
The Acorn Room , Bearwood Primary and Nursery School ,Barons Road , Bearwood, Bournemouth, BH11 9UN
07504262558, bearwoodpreschool@gmail.com

Welcome to Bearwood Pre-School
We know how important your child is and aims to deliver the highest quality of care and education to help them to achieve their best.

This prospectus aims to provide you with an introduction to Bearwood Pre-School, 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.

Our 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.

As a voluntary managed setting, we also depend on the goodwill of parents and their involvement to keep going. Membership of the setting carries expectations on you for your support and commitment.

Children's development and learning
We aim to ensure that each child:
§  is in a safe and stimulating environment;
§  is given generous care and attention, because of our ratio of qualified staff to children, as well as 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 and buddy 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 provision reflects the four overarching principles of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (DfE 2014):

§  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;
§  managing feelings and behaviour

Physical development
§  moving and handling; 
§  health and self-care

Communication and language
§  listening and attention;
§  understanding
§  speaking

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

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 guidance on education programmes to plan and provide opportunities that 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 is 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 is learning and being clear about what we 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 the 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.

Records of development 
We keep a record of development for each child. Your child's record of development via tapestry learning journal 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 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. We also have volunteer parent 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/I] provide; 
§  allow the children to explore and be adventurous in safety.

The staff who work at our setting are:
Name
Job Title
Qualifications and Experience
Sarah
Manager
Level 3, Designated safeguarding lead, SENCO, first aider
Marie
Deputy manager
Level 3, Designated safeguarding lead, first aider
Julie
Practitioner
Level 3,  SENCO, first aider
Emma-Jayne
Practitioner
Level 3, first aider,
Mel
Practitioner
Level 3, first aider
Samm 
Practitioner 
Level 2 training , first aider



Kara
Practitioner
Level 3, first aider
Lorraine
Practitioner
First Aider
Luan
Practitioner, Sickness Cover



How parents take part in the setting
Our setting recognises parents as the first and most important educators of their children. All of 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;
§  helping at sessions of the setting;
§  sharing their own special interests with the children;
§  helping to provide and look after the equipment and materials used in the children's play activities;
§  being part of the management of the setting where appropriate;
§  taking part in events and informal discussions about the activities and curriculum provided by the setting;
§  joining in community activities, in which the setting takes part; and
§  building friendships with other parents in the setting.

Key person and your child
Our setting uses a key person/buddy 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/buddy 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. Sometimes separation can be hard for both children and parents, we will work alongside you to support individual needs.

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 Pre-school Learning Alliance, through Under 5 magazine and other publications produced by the Alliance. The current copy of Under 5 is available for you to read. From time to time we hold learning events for parents. These usually look at how adults can help children to learn and develop in their early years.

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; and
§  provide children with opportunities to learn and help them to value learning.

The session*
We organise our sessions so that the children can choose from, and work at, a range of activities and, in doing so, build up their ability to select and work through a task to its completion. The children are also helped and encouraged to take part in adult-led small and large group activities, which introduce them to new experiences and help them to gain new skills, as well as helping them to learn to work with others. Outdoor activities contribute to children's health, their physical development and their knowledge of the world around them. The children have the opportunity and are encouraged, to take part in outdoor child-chosen and adult-led activities, as well as those provided in the indoor playroom.

Snacks and meals
We make snacks and meals a social time at which children and adults eat together. We offer a morning and afternoon snack that provides the children with healthy and nutritious food. Children are offered milk or water. Please tell us about your child's dietary needs and we will plan accordingly.

Clothing
We have a uniform that consists of a pre-school t-shirt and sweatshirt that can be purchased from the setting. 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 for you. Copies of which are available within the setting/website and a copy of each are held in the setting.

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

Our staff, committee and parents work together to adopt the policies and they all have the opportunity to take part in the annual review of the policies. 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 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 ensure 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 needs/Disability
To make sure that our provision meets the needs of each individual child, we take account of any special 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).

Our Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators are: Sarah and Julie

The management of our setting
Our setting is managed by a volunteer management committee - whose members are elected by the parents of the children who attend our setting. The elections take place at our Annual General Meeting. The committee make up the registered person with Ofsted and are responsible for:
§  managing our finances;
§  employing and managing our staff;
§  making sure that we have, and work to, policies that help us to provide a high quality service; and
§  making sure that we work in partnership with parents.

The Annual General Meeting is open to the parents of all of the children who attend our setting. It is our shared forum for looking back over the previous year's activities and shaping the coming year's plan.]

Fees
The fees are payable weekly/half-termly. Fees must still be paid if children are absent. If your child has to be absent over a long period of time talk to Sarah the manager of the setting or request to speak to Daisy-May the chairperson of the committee.

For your child to keep her/his place at our setting, you must pay the fees on time. We will not allow parents to become in arrears of their account.
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
The first days
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. Our policy on the Role of the Key Person and Settling-in is available to view online or is available from Sarah or Marie.

We hope that you and your child enjoy being members of our setting and that you 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 questions.