Rock A Tots Day Nursery Parent Information Book 1 Our OU Our aim at Rock a Tots is to provide a warm and caring nursery that will ensure your child feels safe, secure and respected which will enable them to reach their full potential. Contents Content: About us Sessions and Fees Registering What is the Early Years Foundation Stage? Our activities Food and Drink Key person Our key policies : Special Educational Needs Uncollected Child Lost/missing Child Complaints Procedure Our Staff team Sick Child and Illness Policy Medication Safeguarding Policy Information on other policies. Page number: 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 12 13 2 About us Sessions and fees Session times 7.30 to 8 8am to 6pm 8am to 12:30 1:30 to 6pm This includes Early morning start Breakfast Hot lunch and pudding Snack tea With snacks throughout the day Breakfast Hot lunch and pudding With snacks throughout the session (age dependent) Snack tea With snacks throughout the session (age dependent) Price £2.75 £40 £25 £25 Registration To register your child with Rock a Tots we ask parents to complete a registration form. Before your child begins at Rock a Tots we will send you a parent contract, this will need to be returned with the deposit fee of £100 before your child begins. This will be refunded when your child leaves the nursery and all account payments are up to date with a four week notice period. We will then contact you to arrange your child’s settling in sessions and start date. Payment, Fees and Sessions Payment may be Cash, Cheque, Bac, Direct Debit – your responsibility to gain receipt. No payment will be considered to have been paid until clear in our bank. Non funded sessions require a deposit of £100 before the child starts to secure a place. Payment of nursery fees must be paid by the 7th of each month, in order for your child to continue to be paid a month in advance. Failure to pay within the terms of any outstanding balance on your account we will have the right to withdraw our care. This will remain the case until full payment has been received. Failure to clear the balance will consequently lead to legal action to obtain the balance owed. There is additionally a late charge of £25 for fees being overdrawn. Late charges, there will be a late charge fee of £5 for the first fifteen minutes after the fifteen minutes it will increase to £10 for every ten minutes your late. If this 3 happens more than 3- 5 conceptive occasions this will rise to £20 for every ten minutes. Funded childcare through childcare vouchers or colleges is parents/ carers responsibility to ensure payment is made by the agreed date. If funding provider fails to make payment it is parents/ carers responsibility to pay. Nursery fees still need to be paid even if your child is absent due to holiday or sickness unless they are hospitalised, in which case a doctors discharge note is required. Bank Details: Barclays Bank Sort Code: 20/50/40 Rock a Tots Day Nursery Ltd Account number: 93713334 What is the Early Years Foundation Stage? The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a statutory guidance that the Government and early year’s professionals use to describe your child’s life between birth and 5 years. It is a framework that set the standards for early year’s providers on a child’s learning, development and care for children during this period. This is a very important period as it helps your child to get ready for school as well as preparing them for their future successes. The early stages of a child’s life should be happy, active, exciting, fun, secure and support their development, care and learning needs. To document your child’s time, learning and fun the nursery will create a Learning Journey that will consist of observations, photo’s, child’s work/pictures, achievements and comments from yourselves and other family members. Your child’s learning journey will be created by your child’s key person, the key person is chosen on who your child builds a close relationship with and who will be able to best support your child needs. Your child’s key person will do summative assessments every three to four months, this will summaries your child’s development levels, their achievements and areas of development. The Key person will share this summative and your child’s learning journey with you at parent’s meetings/evenings. This is opportunity for you to discuss your child’s development at home and at nursery and any goals or success you have regarding your child. The Early Years Principles A Unique Child Positive Relationships Enabling Environment Learning and development 4 Every child is unique and an individual, at Rock a Tots we cater and plan for the individuals needs and interest. Children learn through positive and strong relationships. We encourage good relationships between children, parents and Rock a Tots staff members. At Rock a Tots our enabling environment stimulates and supports the individual child’s needs and development. Children learn and develop in a variety of ways. We provide support, encouragement, challenge and playful experiences for children to learn. More information on the Early Years Foundation Stage can be gained from asking a member of the staff team or visiting www.foundationyears.org.uk. Planned activities and resources are created through daily child observations, these observations allow us to cater for children’s needs, interest and development levels. Our activities and resources are linked to the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum: Prime Areas Personal, social and emotional The routine within nursery will provide children with opportunity to develop their own identity, self-esteem and emotional development. Group times, turn taking games and practitioners modelling provides children with chances to socialize. Communication and Language Song and rhyme times, storytelling, group times. Practitioners asking questions, introducing new vocabulary, modelling listening skills. Physical Development Dance, action songs, threading, jigsaws, dough, drawing, construction play. Outdoor play with bikes, skipping, jumping, running. Practitioners will support children with their self-care skills. Specific areas 5 Understanding the World Small world play: farms, cars, trains, dolls. ICT: computers, cause and effect toys, magnifying glasses, cooking, gardening, walks around the local community. Talking with practitioners about their home and families. Mathematics Counting games/songs, building with shapes/bricks, posting, shape sorters, problem solving games, measuring, filling and emptying. Expressive arts and design Role play, music, dance, messy and sensory play, painting, drawing, sand and water play, junk modelling. Literacy Drawing, stories, singing songs, rhyming. Food and Drink At Rock a Tots we provide children with fresh wholesome meals, at breakfast time children have the choice of cereals or toast. Our hot lunch menu is delivered by a Devon food catering company who provide a healthy nutritious main meal and a scrumptious dessert, we also provide children with a light snack tea. Throughout the day children are offer snacks of fruit, vegetables or crackers and have access to milk or fresh drinking water. When parents bring in bottles these are supplied daily and stored in the fridge on arrival. We believe sitting together at meal times is an important social time where manners such as please and thank you, can be modelled. Children of a suitable age and maturity are encourage to pour their own drinks, this is an excellent opportunity where children can learn about healthy eating. On entry children’s dietary needs will be collected and any specific requirement will be discussed during settling in sessions. Parents will have daily information on a child’s food and drink intake though their daily record diaries. 6 Key person A key person system is in place, each child will have a key person this person will depend on who the child has formed a bond with. The key person will discuss with the child’s parents their routines, likes, needs and dislikes so they can be incorporated within the nursery. All children will additionally have a co key person in case the key person maybe on holiday, on a course or off sick. The key person is responsible for settling in the child, observing and recording their time in the nursery through a learning journey. The learning journeys are available to view at any time and will initially be sent home once a term. Star moments (special achievements) will also be placed in the child’s learning journey; the parents may also add relevant items. The key person will complete a child’s daily diary that will be sent home every day. 7 Our Key Policies Special Education Needs Special Educational Needs is when a child or person needs extra support or provision to be made. We aim to cater for children’s individual needs whilst including them within the routine, activities and surroundings of Rock a Tots Day Nursery. Our named Special Educational Needs Co-ordinate (Senco) is Carolyne Webster and the deputy Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator is Hayley Vowden. Our Senco’s are responsible for: Communicating and managing issues of inclusion and special educational needs with all practitioners. Coordinating provision for children with Special educational needs. Maintaining and supervising the recording of all children with SENCO needs. Ensuring all staff are kept up to date with training information that is of relevance to SENCO issues. Liaising with relevant agencies. Through regular observations and work with children we are able to assess and identify any additional needs a child may have. Having a Key-Person system in place means that close relationships with parents have already been formed, allowing for practitioners and parents to work together to best support the needs of the child. The Senco and Key Person will involve outside agencies when appropriate, through the Early Years Forum to support children with individual needs, including Speech and Language, Early Years Inclusion Service 8 and Psychology teams. Though contact with outside agencies will only happen once parents/carers written permission has been obtained. Uncollected child If a child is not collected at the end of their session a senior member of staff will try phoning the parents, using the numbers provided. If these are unsuccessful then the senior staff member will try contacting the 2nd contact person. This will be the contact that the parents have previously named for when they are un-contactable. In the case of the 2nd contact not being available then the 3rd contact person will be phoned. If no contact is made in 30 minutes and the nursery is closed then the nursery will phone social services. Two senior staff members will stay with the child until the matter is resolved. Management will let Ofsted know of the incident and will send reports if necessary. If a child is being collected late on a regular basis the nursery has the right to enforce a late fee, this is stated within the parent contact. Lost/missing child If a child becomes lost whilst at nursery the managers must be notified immediately, they will then arrange for the nursery and surrounding areas (outside area, parking area) to be checked. The parents/carers will be notified and the police will be contacted if the child is not found. If a child becomes lost whilst on a nursery trip, the managers will notify the management team of the venue so a full scale searched can begin. If the child is not found the police and parents will be contacted. Management will let Ofsted know of the incident and will send reports immediately. Complaints Procedure Our purpose is to work in partnership with parents and we welcome suggestions and feedback regarding our practice. We aim to bring all concerns about the running of our nursery to an acceptable conclusion for all involved. To achieve this we operate the following complaints procedure: 1. If any parent is worried about the running of a nursery room they should first speak to the room supervisor, if this does not solve the issue then parents should contact one of the nursery managers. 2. Any parent or carer who is unhappy or worried about any general aspect of the nursery should talk over any worries or issues with one of the nursery managers. 9 3. If parents wish to make a formal complaint they must send a written complaint to the managers, the managers will acknowledge this complaint within 48 hours and will investigate and respond to the complaint within 28 days. 4. Both verbal and written complaints will be logged in the complaint file, the log file will detail the complaint, action taken and by who. This will be kept for a minimal of three years or the next Ofsted inspection. 5. If parents or carers are not satisfied with the outcome of the discussion, they may request a meeting with the nursery owners. 6. If at the Stage 3/5 meeting persons cannot reach an agreement from both sides, an external mediator can be invited in to help to settle the complaint. A mediator should be acceptable to both parties, who will listen to both parties and present advice. A mediator has no legal rights but can help to define the problem, review the action and suggest further ways to resolve the issue. 7. If the parent or carer is still unsatisfied with the response after the previous stages, or if the complaint relates to an issue which is felt unable to be discussed with the nursery staff, such as a child protection concern, the Ofsted Early Years Complaints Line should be contacted: The National Business Unit, General tel: 0300 1231231 OFSTED Complaints tel: 0300 1234666 Piccadilly Gate Store Street Manchester M1 2WD If the complaint is very minor Ofsted will refer it back to the nursery to deal with and will check what has been done at the next inspection. Depending on the complaint Ofsted may undertake an inspection to ensure that the nursery is meeting the early years foundation stage requirements.. We believe that most complaints are made constructively and can be resolved at the early stages. All complaints and actions taken are recorded by the management team. We believe that it is in the best interests of the nursery, parents and children that all complaints are taken seriously and dealt with fairly and in a way that respects confidentiality. All complaints are recognized within 2 working days. When written complaints are regarding statutory requirements, the nursery will notify the complainants of the outcome of the investigation within 28 days of receiving the complaint. Complaints are recorded and logged and the actions taken are noted. (Statutory Guidance p28). Our staff team Our joint managers are Hayley & Anneka Vowden, Hayley has a BA in Childhood studies, NVQ2 &3 and Anneka has a BA Honours in childhood studies, EYP and NVQ 2& 3. Our Room supervisors hold NVQ 3 or equivalent with experience of working with children for over two years. Early years assistants hold an NVQ2 qualification, an equivalent qualification or 10 higher. Our staff team attend variations training courses throughout the year with Plymouth City Council Early Years that support them in their roles. We try to ensure that our key staff stay in the same rooms, to help build their relationships with children and parents. Sick Child & Illness Policy Rock a Tots day nursery has a proactive method to prevent sickness in the setting, therefore to stop illness spreading we exclude staff and children that are unwell. Rock a Tots will notify parents of any illnesses and their symptoms that have been reported to the nursery. Rock a Tots day nursery will follow the guidance of the local Health Authority’s spotty book for guidance. If a child becomes unwell with an infectious disease such as, chicken pox, mumps or measles they must not attend the setting until the recommended incubation period has passed and the child is clinically well. If a child has vomited or had diarrhoea within the last 48 hours they must not attend the setting until 48 hours from the last bout of sickness or diarrhoea. We ask parents to inform the setting of any illness to allow us to notify other parents and staff. If a child becomes unwell while at the setting we will notify the parents and request that the child is collected, if we are unable to contact the parents the emergency contacted person will be contacted. In the case of a child suddenly become seriously unwell or have a serious accident then the emergency services will be contacted and then the parents, the child’s welfare details will be passed on to the medical service. Rock a Tots will provide all staff with white disposable aprons and gloves for nappy changing and cleaning up spills, blue aprons and blue gloves will be supplied for food preparations and feeding. Toys and equipment will be regularly sterilized and re sterilized if needed due to illnesses. We encourage good hygiene for staff and children, washing facilities with hand soap, warm water, paper towels and hand sanitizer will be provided and accessible. Rock a Tots will act in accordance with the Public Health (Infectious Diseases Regulations 1988) and will inform Ofsted if required. Common illness in nursery Minimal period of absence Conjunctivitis 24 hours after starting treatment Chicken pox until all spots are crusted over and clinically well 11 Sickness 48 hours after last occurrence Diarrhoea 48 hours after last occurrence Impetigo Until skin is completely healed Whooping cough 21 days from onset of illness Measles 5-7 days from onset of rash Threadworm Until treatment is completed Scabies until treatment is completed Ringworm Until treatment is started and rash is no longer present Infections (needing antibiotics) 24 hours after first dose of antibiotic and clinically well Medicine policy Rock a Tots nursery aims to support children with medical needs, however if a child is feverish or too ill to be at nursery then parents need to make care arrangement elsewhere. Parents/carers will be contacted if a child becomes ill whilst at nursery and need to be collected. Long-term medical needs The nursery needs to know prior to a child starting if there are any medical needs a child may have, or when a child develops a condition. The nursery needs to know the following details: Diagnosis and the nature of the condition. Any complications that may arise. Requirements that need to be made e.g. dietary/environment. Medication and possible side effects. An individual health care plan will be drawn up by the manager and key person, advice and information will be sought from the parents and relevant agencies. The plan will be signed by the parents/carers and will be reviewed yearly. 12 Medication For administering medicine: Medicines can only be administered in nursery if the first dose of any new medication is administered by parent/carer at home and a 24 hour period follows this before the child returns to nursery, this is a precautionary time frame in case of a reaction to medication. The medication must be clearly labelled with the child’s name, date and dosage instructions as prescribed by the doctor or pharmacy. A medicine form must be completed by the parent/ carer giving instructions: including dosage, recommended method of administration and information regarding the time of the child’s last given dose. Written consent must be given for a member of staff to follow these instructions. This form must be countersigned by the Manager or deputy manager. Medicine can only be administered by a senior staff member e.g. room leaders, management team. Records will be kept of any medicine in the medicine folder in each room which identifies the date and time the medicine was given, the dosage and by whom. A second person must sign to say they witnessed the medicine being given. Records will then be kept in the child files after the medication has stopped. All medicines must be clearly identified and kept in a safe place (locked fridge) and in accordance with product instructions. All medication must be in their original container in which they were dispensed in. Emergency medicine (such as asthma pumps, epipens) will not be locked away but kept out of children’s reach. Non-prescription medication e.g. pain and fever relief or teething gel, may be administered, but only with prior written consent of the parents/carers and only when there is a health reason to do so. (Statutory Guidance page 22). In cases of children with special medical circumstances where lifesaving medication is needed such as insulin injections, specialist advice will be sought. Staff involved in administering this medication will receive training if appropriate from a health professional. If children’s medication (antibiotics) is needed more than three days the nursery has the authorise to restrict the child coming to nursery. Safeguarding policy Rock a Tots day nursery works in line with the Early Years Statutory Frameworks and the Plymouth Local Safeguarding Children’s Board. The safeguarding policy applies to all employees, volunteers and students to ensure the safety of children at all times. 13 Within the setting our Senior Designated Person for Child Protection is Anneka Vowden, we have two deputy Senior Designated Person for Child Protection who are Hayley Vowden and Carolyne Strathern. All Designated persons for child protection have undertaken Child protection training from Plymouth Local Safeguarding Children’s board. Referral Procedure for Child Protection Concern. All staff should have some knowledge on recognising the signs of abuse and should be pro-active when they have a concern about a child. If a staff member has concerns about a child they must report this immediately to the Senior Designated Person for Child Protection through completing a Safeguarding child concern form which can be located in the Office or in each nursery room. This must be handed to the Senior Designated Person for Child Protection or the Deputy Senior Designated Person for Child Protection; if they are unavailable then staff need to pass this to the senior room supervisor. This information will then be stored individually for each child in a safeguarding file within their child records, which is stored in a locked filing cabinet in the manager’s office. Child protection concerns stay confidential to the people who are directly involved and should not be discussed with any other staff members. If the needs arise then the Senior Designated Person for Child Protection will contact Advice and Assessment on 308600 or out of hour’s team on 346984. Depending on the concern the Senior Designated Person may decide to monitor the situation. If the practitioner feels the concern is not dealt with appropriately in the best interest of the child then Practitioners can contact Advice and Assessment themselves or contact the Early Years Safeguarding and Welfare Officer Maria Hollett on 308997 or 07795121445. Information can be shared without consent if a child is at risk. Common Assessment Framework (CAF) If the information does not meet the threshold for social care then a Common Assessment Framework could be started with parental consent. CAF Process: If additional needs has been identified that cannot be met within the nursery a CAF process can be started with parental consent. Contact the CAF team to see if a CAF is already in place: telephone 307160 or email CAF’plymouth.gov.uk If there is already a CAF in place contact the Lead Professional. If there isn’t a CAF in place complete the CAF forms (located within the manager’s office) with the parents/carers and if appropriate the child. 14 A copy of the CAF forms should be sent to the CAF team, given to the family and a copy kept within the child’s files. A multi-agency meeting can then be arranged with all professionals supporting the child/family. At the meeting an action plan should be completed with review dates, decide a lead professional and the date for the next meeting. At review meeting date check actions and outcomes are reviewed and recorded in case notes. Decide on further actions and next meeting date or if no actions then mark the CAF as ‘No Further Actions’ and contact the CAF team to close the case. More information and advice can be gained through contact with Amanda Paddison (CAF Coordinator) or Fiona Smith – CAF Training Officer: Tel: 307160/307192 Mobile: 07774 336579 Email: [email protected] www.plymouth.gov.uk Signs of abuse All staff need to have an awareness of all fours signs of abuse, these being: Physical: can be where a pinch, bruise, bite mark is in unusual place on a child’s body, for example thighs, cheeks, upper arms. Neglect: is failure to meet a child’s basic needs or psychological needs this can result in a serious impairment to a child’s health and development, lack of provision of food, shelter or clothes. Sexual: forcing or enticing a child to participate in or watch sexual activities. Emotional: Ill-treatment of a child that causes adverse effect to a child’s emotional wellbeing and development e.g. inappropriate expectations of their age or development, telling the child that he/she is worthless or unloved. Dealing with Disclosures. A “Disclosure" occurs when a child tells you or lets you know in some way that they have been, or are being abused. Disclosure can be direct, indirect, or a third-party disclosure. A situation can arise where a child will disclose information of abuse to a staff member; staff members should then try to follow the following guidelines in order to give the best support to the child. Do Don’t 15 Allow the child to speak Listen carefully Reassure the child Ask open questions to clarify details Record all details Tell the child what you will do next. Inform the senior designated child protection person Stop the child from speaking Make promises Ask leading questions Make assumptions Ask the child to retell someone else Show you injuries Give your opinion Staff are aware of the ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015’. More information and advice can be found on the ‘Southwest Child Protection Procedures’ website or through the guidance booklet ‘What to do if you’re worried a child is being abuse’ March 2015 Information Sharing. At Rock a Tots we follow the HM Governments ‘Seven Golden Rules for Information Sharing’. 1. Data Protection Act is not a barrier to sharing information; it provides guideline on sharing information appropriately to the relevant people/agencies. 2. Be open and honest with the person or family involved where appropriate. Provide information on why, what, how and who the information will, or could be shared with. Seek their consent unless it is unsafe or inappropriate to do this. 3. Gain advice about any doubt/worries, this can be done without disclosing the identity of the person/family. 4. Share with consent where appropriate and when possible, try to respect the wishes of those who do not consent to share confidential information. You can still share information without consent if you feel the child is at risk of being harmed. 5. Consider safety and well-being: Base your information sharing decisions on considerations of the safety and well-being of the person and others who may be affected by their actions. 6. Necessary, proportionate, relevant, accurate, timely and secure: Ensure that the information you share is necessary for the purpose for which you are sharing it, is shared only with those people who need to have it, is accurate and up-to-date, is shared in a timely fashion, and is shared securely. 7. Keep a record of your decision and the reasons for it – whether it is to share information or not. If you decide to share, then record what you have shared, with whom and for what purpose. 16 Information regarding child protection case of a child/family within the nursery should only be shared with relevant child protection personnel. All employees are screened to determine their suitability and an enhanced DBS is checked before starting work in the nursery. In order to protect both practitioners and children there are always two members of staff on duty at any time and mobile phones are not allowed to be taken into the rooms. They must be stored either in a locker or locked in the manager’s office. See our camera and mobile phone policy for more details. Allegations against a staff member, student or volunteer. All staff have a professional responsibility to raise any concerns regarding any staff member who is displaying unacceptable practice or behaviour, parents and children can also able to raise concern. The importance of this is to; Prevent the problem worsening or widening. Protect or reduce risks to others. Prevent becoming implicated yourself Staff members should reports these concerns to the managers or owners immediately, the management team will not hold an investigation but will use the ‘Managing Allegations Flow Chart’ to determine if Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) Simon White (307144) will be contacted. The LADO will be contacted within one working day; the LADO will then provide advice and guidance to the employers and will liaise with Police and Crown Prosecution Service (where necessary) and monitor the progress of case. The LADO will ensure the case is being dealt with quickly and consistently as possible in a fair and thorough process. Following this contact, a strategy meeting will be called, which will involve representatives from Police, Social services, LA Early Years team and a representative from the Nursery in order for an investigation to take place. An extremely serious allegation or concern (for example a child has/likely to suffer significant harm, or there is a current injury or risk of losing forensic evidence, or danger to child/staff) then the management team must immediately contact (prior to making contact with the LADO): Police (emergency - 999, non-emergency - 101) Child Abuse Investigation Unit - (01752 284522) Children's Social Care Advice and Assessment Team - 01752 308600 (9am-5pm) or 01752 346984 out of hours Important Contact Details Advice and assessment - 01752 308600 Out of hours A&A – 01752 346984 Devon Advice and Assessment Service 0345 155 1071 17 Cornwall Advice and Assessment Service 0300 123 1116 Local Authority Designated Officer (Simon White) – 01752 307144 Police Child Abuse Investigation Unit – 01752 284522 Early Years Safeguarding and Welfare Officer (Maria Hollett) 07795121445 or 01752 308997 CAF Co-ordinator (Amanda Paddison) – 01752 307160 - Encompass: Encompass is a programme between the police and the nursery and is the reporting on any domestic abuse incident that occurs in a child’s life that could have an impact on a child. At Rock a Tots the key Adult is Anneka Vowden and Hayley is the deputy, who will liaise with Maria Hollett in regards to a child who have been involved in or witnessed a domestic abuse incident. Relevant support will be provided if needed to the child and family. To review these policies in depth or to review our other policies please ask a member of the Rock a Tots team. Our other policies include: Admissions Behaviour Fire evacuation No smoking Key person Equal opportunities learning through playEYFS Health and Safety Camera and images Arrival and Collections Staff ratio Staff qualification Respect of Children and Staff Settling in CCTV Intimate care and toileting Mobile phone Whistle Blowing Partnership with parents E-Safety Safer recruitment Sleeping Child Outings Physical Intervention Sun Safety 18 19
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