We are a pre-school in a small village on outskirts of Tunbridge Wells, we care for children aged between 2 yrs and 5 yrs and are open for 8 x 3 hr sessions during term time; we have a limited number of children who are able to attend all day from 9am to 3.15pm which includes them bringing a packed lunch and incurs a small charge for extra time spent in pre-school on that day.
We are registered for FF2 and Free Entitlement for 3 and 4 yrs olds and 30 hour funding.
Our pre-school is in a village church hall, the hall is nice and bright and very welcoming to all our families; People always comment on how lovely it
feels when they come in to visit, we are also very lucky to have a large front garden area and a small area out the back that we use to grow
plants and vegetables, the children love the space and it promotes there understanding of the environment around them.
| Day | Opening Time | Closing Time |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 09.00 .12.00 | 12.15 + 15.15 |
| Tuesday | 09.00 | 12:00 |
| Wednesday | 09.00 + 12.00 | 12:15 + 15.15 |
| Thursday | 09.00 + 12.00 | 12:15 + 15.15 |
| Friday | 09.00 | 12:00 |
| Amount | Cost Type |
|---|---|
| £21 | Per session |
| £3 | Per lunch |
| £3 a week for snacks, this is not covered by any free entitlement. | Per week |
We are able to cater for children with additional needs with the support of outside agencies.
We are registered for 30 hour funding, if sessions are avaliable; please note we are only open for 24 3/4 hrs a week.
The Local Offer has two key purposes
To provide clear, comprehensive accessible and up to date information about the available provision and how to access it.
To make the provision more responsive to local needs and aspirations, by directly involving disabled children and those with SEN and their parents and service providers in its development and review.
As an Early Years provider we have a duty to cooperate with KCC by contributing to the special educational provision available.
Developng a range of early years eduacation services.
Making Information available to parents/carers and the public.
Legislation and the law
Section 30 of The Childrens and Families Act 2014 requires local authorities to publish a local offer which sets out in one place information about provision they expect to be available across education, health and social care for children and young people in our area Who have SEND.
Our setting has regard for the statutory responsibilty to ensure that NO child is treated less favourably because of their individual needs.
Statutory guidance for the early years foundation stage EYFS 2023
Special Educational Needs and Disabilty Code of Practice 0-25 years 2015
Equality Act 2010
The EYFS framework covers the education and care of ALL children in the Early Years Provision, including children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
The Framework sets out at the beginning the need to provide Equality of Opportunity and Anti-Discriminatory Practice, ensuring every child is included and supported.
Every Child is a UNIQUE CHILD
Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates.
On admission parents/carers are asked to complete an All About Me form, which gives staff and the child's keyperson an idea of children's interests to help with planning for the child, highlighting their strengths and areas which may need additional support.
Completing a Progress Check at 2 within the first 2 weeks of the child joining us may highlight some delay in their development, such as speech or social skills, which their keyperson would discuss with the parents/carers and plan additional opportunities for the child to gain further experience in the area identified. A targeted plan would then be written and shared with the parents/ carers to show how the child would be supported by the Keyperson and Senco Ella Gifford, to help your child to make progress in the identified area of need.
On joining our setting your child will be supported by a Keyperson who will be involved from the start in building a strong positive relationship with your child and yourself.
Observations and assessments on your child will be made through an Online Journal (Tapestry) which you will be able to contribute to and see how your child is progressing throughout their time with us
Meet the Keyperson at our AGM (October Yearly), for a parents update or any appropriate time throughout the term.to discuss progress or talk about any concerns you may have; you are always welcome and we will arrange a suitable time for this.
Working with you on any extra planning we put in place for your child e.g. Targeted Plan.
Children's needs are met by us working with outside agencies, these could include; Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists to ensure the environment and lay out of the setting is accessible for the individual needs, adaptions are made where possible to meet the needs of the child/family. Adjusting the environment to reduce the sensory impact for children's noise, colour and lighting. Using recommendations from Equality and Inclusion Advisors and Specialist Teachers to achieve this.
Providing a language rich environment for all children using signing and visual aids alongside the spoken word, small groups of children in our setting use the Early Talk Boost Programme, they take home and share with their families to support their Listening and Attention skills. Children are also supported by using recommendations from speech and language therapists, parents/carers are advised on ways to help support their child at home. Children have access to outside play during each session and have a variety of resources available to use inside and out. Children's dietary requirements are met through a variety of snacks on offer and all allergy/dietary requirements are logged in the front pages of our snack book, parents are encouraged to update us regularly for any changes of dietary requirements as soon as possible.
Small group time is part of our daily routine which enables children time and space to develop and learn.
Our setting is bright and spacious, painted in neutral colours, with calm areas, our reading corner has soft furnishings to make it comfortable, and minimise noise, making it a nice place to sit and enjoy a little quiet. We also have a basket which our children also use for a calming space away from busy areas.
A wide range of resources and equipment are readily available for children to access, to support their development, which are clearly labelled, some with pictures to aid visual choice. Additional resources and equipment will be purchased, to promote the needs for the child as identified by Keyperson/Senco. Senco will work with outside agencies to source equipment and apply for additional funding to purchase additional equipment staff training or for additional staff cover if required.
We recently purchased a 'Peanut Ball' to use to support a child in gaining core strength and climbing equipment to improve balance and coordination skills.
Staff are trained in early years practice, and some are working towards achieving their qualifications. Our SENCO has been trained to support children with Autism, using PECS (picture exchange communication system) The Prime Importance of Communication and The Early Talk Boost Programme, the knowledge has been cascaded to the group so all staff are now confident to use to support their Key children. The Best Practice Guidance Document is used to support our teaching, setting out strategies which can be used to support our children e.g.: using visual aids, Makaton signing, This document was written by the Specialist Teaching and Learning Service and is divided into Universal Targeted and Personal Levels, to enable us to support children in the four broad areas of need. The areas of need are identified in the SEND Code of Practice and comprise;
Communication and Interaction
Cognition and Learning
Social; Emotional and Mental Health
Physical/Sensory Difficulties
Our setting uses The Graduated Approach included in our SEND POLICY following the process of:
Assess, Plan, Review, Do
If the child is making insufficient progress through a targeted plan, which includes small achievable steps to narow the gaps in their learning; the SENCO or Keyperson will discuss with you the need to refer to other outside agencies, such as Speech and Language Therapists or The Specialist Teaching and Learning Service, through the Local Inclusion Forum (LIFT) Meetings are held 6 times a year, Parental consent is required before we can begin this process, If the referral is accepted, a Specialist Teacher would then visit your child within the setting to provide additional advice and guidance, and may make further referrals to other agencies such as Health and would support your child's transition to School. At ALL stages you would be consulted, your child would then be moved onto a personalised plan.
All our staff are encouraged to complete training, our SENCO cascades training to other staff and researches information on unfamiliar conditions which is also shared with staff; Health proffessionals have also been in to give an overview on administering Insulin and using Epi pens.
An effective Key Person approach is essential for ALL children.
The Key Person is responsible for guiding, monitoring and supporting the physical and emotional development of children in our care.
This is especially important when children have a Special or Additional Educational Need.
Online Learning Journals can be looked at day/night and from home by parents, ensuring you are regularly kept updated on your child's progress.
Parents are encouraged to speak with their child's keyperson at anytime regarding progress or to voice a concern, although if an in depth conversation needs to take place, a mutually convenient time will be arranged to allow staff member to be taken out of the ratio during working hours.
We make overall assessments of your child's progress three times a year, unless areas of concern are highlighted. There are two statutory assessments, The Progress Check at 2 and The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (Most children have started school before this is required)
We do send a report to school in Early July to give an idea of the child's interests and stages of development, before joining their new setting.
The Progress Check at 2 is very important and ideally would be completed before your child's Health Visitor Health and Development Check at the age of 2, The check gives us the opportunity to discuss with you, your child's starting points and the progress they have made since starting.
If your child is delayed in any area of development this will be discussed with you and can also be discussed with your health visitor.
We pride ourselves on our partnership with our parents and value your input into your child's Learning and Development, as you know your child best.
Being committed to inclusive practice enables ALL children to be included and is the heart of our work. At staff meetings your childs keyperson will ensure that any planned activities are suitable and adapted to meet your child's needs, this is called differentiation e.g. placing children into smaller groups, lots of repetition and pictures to help their understanding, listening and attention.
For trips out, Risk assessments are undertaken beforehand, those children requiring additional support are placed next to adult (additional staff are on the rota for planned trips) on walking rope. First Aid kit, any emergency medication needed by child i.e inhaler, Emergency Contacts Numbers etc are packed into bag and assigned to a member of staff prior to leaving. Plans are made before hand for an alternative route on walking round the block in our village, in case of pathways or usual route is blocked, due to us walking with children using wheelchairs.
The setting is built on one floor, open planned with wheelchair access and a disabled toilet with changing facilities. We use less tables allowing more floor space for moving around. There is no on site parking; although the road right outside does tend to have spaces during the day and we do have cones we could put out to reserve a space for a family that needed to secure a space during drop off and collection times. The outside area at the front is partly grassed and paved allowing for the use of a wheelchair or frame and the smaller area out the back is fully paved, but is small and needs managing to avoid overcrowding, allowing space to move around whilst using a wheelchair or frame. We have been visited by a Physiotherapist and Occupational Therapist and been assessed as having adequate space for a child in a wheelchair or using a frame. We would always try to make reasonable adjustments to our environment to accommodate a child or families needs.
All relevant paperwork, Observations, Progress check at 2, reports and planning will be forwarded onto your child's new school, along with a final report, showing developmental progress and highlighting any areas needing support, with your consent obtained.
Photo books of the new setting/school to share with child
Provide school uniform to dress up in
Visits to new setting/ school
Invite new teacher to our setting to meet your child
Attend meetings with new school/setting with parents/ carers to offer support
Ensuring the new school/setting are fully informed of your child's needs and to answer any questions/concerns you may have
Assessing regularly the effectiveness of the strategies and guidance being used with children in the setting, taken from attending LIFT Meetings, SENCO Forum and Training workshops, seeking further advice where necessary to narrow the attainment gaps in children's Learning and Development.
Whole group and children with Send attainment assessments to be discussed at staff meetings to plan effectively in supporting those children whom may need additional support to maintain progress.
Reviewing Policies and Procedures and keeping them up to date.
Sending parents annual questionnaire/surveys for feedback on how to improve our provision
Regular Keyperson/parent consultations
Contact the setting Manager: Chris Millins
Visit our Website: Admission forms to be added soon.
or
Call into pre-school to collect a prospectus
We woud ask for an overview of your child's current needs
Who is involved with the child
What adjustments might we need to make
Taster days to help your child become familiar with the setting and help with settling in with the parent/carer, then on their own for a short period.
Your consent to gain advice and apply for Additional Funding SENIF from the SEN inclusion fund, to enable us to support your child's needs and purchase resources and equipment as and when required.
All Early Years providers who receive funding for the free entitlement for three and four year olds can claim Disability Living Allowance and who receive universal or extended free early years education and childcare entitlement, Splitting their hours between settings, the parents must nominate one provider to receive the DAF funding as this cannot be split.
How we use Funding
Funding will be used to meet your child's needs by purchasing resources, equipment, staff training and providing staff cover whilst the SENCO attends meetings or training to gain knowledge on supporting your child.
Our SEND policy provides the information for supporting children through the graduated approach and our complaints procedure is always displayed on our notice board in the foyer, and in our policy booklet (soon to be put on our Website April 19) accessible to all parents/carers.
We have a thoughts and comments book on the foyer table for parents to write anonymously or sign if they want to for any feedback positive or constructive are welcome.
We have an open-door policy where parents/carers are encouraged to come in and discuss anything they wish to.
Questionnaires for parents feedback are sent out and their thoughts valued and taken into consideration when planning or making changes.
We have changed our drop off/pick up and parents now collect from the main door, rather than coming in to the hall; this helps the children settle quicker and is more manageable at collection times, as less congestion within the hall, Parents are still welcome to come in and talk if they wish to.
This is a letter from a family who has a child in our setting.
Hugo has delayed learning due to extreme prematurity and a brain injury, resulting in Cerebral palsy which affects his movement in left side, thus he is unable to stand or walk independently. Manor Road Pre-School have been fantastic with him from the very start, taking time to research his medical conditions and getting to know him personally.
They liase regulary with his various therapists and family members to ensure he has the necessary learning aids and equipment to enable him to be fully involved with the class activities. The team also incorporate Hugo's physio and education plans into his school day which has been paramount to his development.
I honestly believe that without the loving and proffessional support of the Manor Road Pre-School, our son would not have progressed as quickly as he has done.
Thank you Manor Road
Carly Baker-Hardy (Mum)