Welcome to Attenborough Early Years Nursery; a provision for the military community in Sennelager and Paderborn. We are part of the Attenborough School community which is situated in the beautiful woodland of Normandy Barracks.
We aim:
- to provide a safe and stimulating learning environment for children aged birth to 3 years.
- Work in partnership with parents and carers to help children to learn and to develop
- Add to the life and well-being of the local community
- Offer children and their parents/carers a service that promotes equality and diversity.
Parents
Parents 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,
- Included at all times.
There are many ways that parents can take part in our setting, such as;
- Exchanging knowledge about their child’s needs, activities, interests and progress,
- Contributing to two-year checks and learning summaries,
- Sharing their own special interests with the children,
- Building a professional relationship with their child’s key person.
Key Person
All children are allocated a Key Person, this is a member of staff who has a special responsibility for your child, giving them the reassurance to feel safe and cared for. They will help your child become familiar with the nursery and will develop a bond with you and your child. The key person will carefully record your child’s progress and development which will be shared with you. We encourage parents/carers to work alongside our staff as this will have a positive impact on the child’s development. A buddy key person is appointed to ensure continuity in the case of staff absence. However, we encourage children to make a bond with all members of staff.
Settling in
Children learn in different ways and therefore each child’s introduction to nursery can be very different. Some settle in quickly with ease and confidence, whilst some children are more reserved and can find the transition unsettling. Attenborough Early Years aim to work closely with parents to tailor a settling in routine that is right for your child. We offer settling in sessions, free of charge, to help your child start their nursery journey. Please talk to a member of the team to discuss your child’s settling in experience.
Early Year’s Foundation Stage
The provision for children’s development and learning is guided by the Early Years Foundation Stage (Department of Education 2017)
The EYFS has 7 areas of learning and development. Everyone registered to work with children must follow the legal welfare requirements to keep your child safe and promote their welfare.
Prime Areas
The prime areas are the most essential for your child’s healthy development and future learning;
- Personal, Social and Emotional
- Physical Development
- Communication and Language
Specific Areas
As the children grow the prime areas will help them to develop skills in the four specific areas;
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the world
- Expressive arts and design
The seven areas are used to plan your child’s learning activities and is designed to be flexible so staff can follow your child’s unique needs and interests. Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outdoors.
More information can be found in Development Matters on the Foundation Years website
https://www.foundationyears.org.uk/files/2012/03/Development-Matters-FINAL-PRINT-AMENDED.pdf
Learning Journeys
Each child will have a Learning Journey which is a record of their achievements and development. Your child’s key person will work in partnership with you to keep this ongoing document. To create this record, a key person will;
- Observe your child in the setting and record their interests and achievements
- These interests and achievements will be used to create activities and next steps individually tailored to your child
- Through making these observations the key person can identify your child’s stage of progress.
- By working with you, we can decide how to help your child move on to the next stage.
- You are able to see your child’s learning journey at any time and add observations from home that will contribute to their learning summary.
- Learning summaries are completed to evaluate where your child is at a certain point and what we would like to achieve together moving forward.
- When your child leaves our setting, you will be given your child’s learning journey to take with you.
Clothing
Staff provide protective clothing for the children when they play in messy activities. Aprons will be provided for painting, water play and other activities. We encourage parents to dress children in clothing that you do not mind getting dirty or stained. Although we provide aprons for messy activities we can not always guarantee to fully protect clothing.
Please ensure that your child has a minimum of one spare set of clothing with them in case they need to be changed and that all clothing is labelled.
At Attenborough Early Years, we encourage the children to actively engage in the outdoor environment at all times of the year. We ask that parents provide appropriate clothing for all weathers;
- Coats and wellie boots
- Scarves, hats and gloves
- Waterproof clothing
- Sun hats
- Plimsoles for indoor play
If your child is using nappies, we ask that parents provide the setting with nappies and wipes. We will work closely with parents when your child is ready to toilet train and provide support.
Open door policy
Our aim is to maintain a close, professional relationship with all parents/carers and operate an open-door policy when possible which enables you to access the setting at any time and have the option to speak with a member of the team about any issues or concerns you may have.
Refreshments
A snack is provided each session and consists of healthy snacks including; vegetables, fruit, yogurt, crackers. A snack menu can be found in our main entrance and in the snack area. A drink of milk will also be provided to children should they choose it. Children have access to water throughout the session in water bottles (provided by parents) that are labelled by name. At lunchtime, parents provide a lunchbox for their child. Due to allergies and intolerances, we ask that parents do not provide food products that contain nuts or high amounts of additives.
Illness
If your child is unwell before their session begins keep them at home until they are feeling better. In the case of sickness and diarrhoea, to prevent spreading the illness, 48 hours exclusion policy must be followed from the last episode.
We ask that if your child has an infectious illness that you inform the nursery so that we may advise other parents/carers and protect staff and vulnerable service users; pregnant women, babies, etc.
Collecting children
Children will only be released to parents/carers or nominated people. Children will not be released into the care of an unauthorised person. If another adult is to collect, parents must provide nursery with the adult’s name and a password.
Accident and Incident Records
Nursery staff provide continuous supervision at nursery, however, occasionally a child will have an accident. The children in our setting are beginning to develop their physical skills, including balancing and negotiation skills and often may fall. Accidents are recorded and parents/carers will be asked to read and sign the record. We will document any accident that occurs, including near misses. The children’s safety is paramount and it is our duty to document and risk assess any accidents in our care.
Inspections
Attenborough Early Years is inspected by OFSTED. Reports will be made available to parents after an inspection has been completed.
2 Year progress review
The Early Years Foundation Stage requires early years settings to provide parents/carers with a written summary of their child’s development in the 3 prime areas of development. The key person is responsible for completing this check using their knowledge of the child’s interests and achievements. This review will be shared with parents/carers in a 2-year review meeting. At this time the key person will record the parent’s thoughts and contributions. A copy will be kept in the child’s learning journey and a copy will be given to parents to take to their 2-year check with the health visitor.
Session times
Attenborough Early Years is open from 8.15 – 15.30.
Our session times are;
- 8.15 – 9.00 Early drop off
- 9.00 – 12.00 Morning session
- 12.00 – 12.30 Lunch time
12.30 – 15.30 Afternoon session
