Little Stars Pre School Prospectus

LITTLE STARS PRE-SCHOOL PROSPECTUS

The Hut

Brookfield School Complex

Swallow Road

Larkfield

Kent ME20 6PY.

01732 873678

Welcome to Little Stars Pre-School and thank you for registering your interest in our setting. We are a term time only setting based on Brookfield & Lunsford school grounds. We are offering three hourly sessions 8:45-11:45 & 12.15 -3.15 Monday to Thursday and 8:45-11:45 Friday over 38 weeks per year. This prospectus aims to provide you with an introduction to our setting, our routines, our approach to supporting your child’s learning and development and how we aim to work with you to best meet your child’s individual needs. This should be read alongside our terms and conditions for a full description of our services.

We aim to :

Provide high quality care and education for children below statutory school age
Work in partnership with parents to help children learn and develop
Add to the life and wellbeing of the local community
Offer parents, carers and children a service that promotes equality and diversity.

As parents, you have the right to

Be valued and informed
Consulted about your child’s progress and any concerns included at all levels.

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 the ratio of qualified staff
Is helped to take forward his/her learning by building on what they already know and can do
Is assigned a key person as a point of contact who will ensure your child’s well-being and monitor progress by means of observation and assessment.
Is in a setting that views parents as partners

The Early Years Foundation Stage

Children’s learning and development from birth to five is guided by the Early Years Foundation Stage (Department for Education). Our setting reflects the overarching principles of the statutory framework for the EYFS .

A UNIQUE CHILD – Each 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 staff, parent’s and carers.

LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT - Children learn and develop at different rates . The EYFS covers the care and education of all children in early years settings.

HOW WE PROVIDE FOR DEVELOPMENT & LEARNING

Children start to learn about the world around them from the moment they are born. The care and education offered by us helps children to do this by providing all of the children with interesting activities and experiences that are appropriate for their age and stage of development. The Early Years foundation stage focuses on seven areas of learning

The Prime areas

Personal, Social & Emotional Development
Physical Development
Communication & Language

The Specific Areas

Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding the World
Expressive Arts and Design.

The Keyperson will observe and track your child’s development in each of these areas and support children to develop the knowledge and skills they need to progress.

Learning through Play

Being active and playing supports young children’s development through doing and talking. This is how children learn to think about the world around them. We use statutory guidance on education programmes to plan and provide opportunities which will help children progress in all areas of learning. We adopt a balance between child led play based on their current interests and activities planned and led by the practitioner.

Characteristics of Effective Learning

We understand that all children engage with people and the environment through the characteristics of effect learning that are described in the EYFS as

PLAYING AND EXPLORING – ENGAGEMENT
ACTIVE LEARNING – MOTIVATION
CREATING & THINKING CRITICALLY – THINKING.

We take in to account how a child is learning and provide support to each child to become an effective and motivated learner.

TAPESTRY ONLINE JOURNALS

We use an online system to upload observations, photo’s etc of your child’s activities and development at pre school. Please see a separate form regarding your permission for us to use Tapestry for your child.

We complete a Progress check for all children aged 2. We also complete summative assessments to chart development on all children three times per year. Your key person can tell you more about this.

The Keyperson System

Your child will be allocated a Keyperson before they start with us. You will be able to meet them prior to starting. The Keyperson takes a special interest in your child and will deal with their care and wellbeing, learning and development. They will work closely with you and if you have any issues or concerns your Keyperson will be your first point of contact. All Keypersons have a “Buddy” who will take on the Keyperson role in cases of absence.

Ratio’s

We pride ourselves on always working above staff to child ratio requirements to ensure that we are able to offer each child high quality care and experiences.

SNACKS

We provide a variety of snacks throughout the week, including fruit, crackers, toast, cheese, yoghurts etc. We provide milk or water at snack and provide children with a water bottle for use throughout the day.

CLOTHING

We provide lots of messy activities including mud kitchen, sandpit, paint, water play , gloop etc. While we do encourage children to wear aprons we cannot guarantee that children will come home clean so older clothing is preferable. Please provide weather appropriate clothing. ie sunhats for hot weather, warm coats for cold weather, etc. Please name all outer clothing as these are easily mislaid. Clothing that is easy to manage makes using the bathroom etc easier for children

POLICIES

We abide by the KCC safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures. A full list of our policies is available on request and copies of all policies can be viewed. Please speak to Lisa Wilkins if you have any queries about policies.

INFORMATION WE HOLD ABOUT YOU AND YOUR CHILD

We have procedures in place for the recording and sharing of information and data about you and your child that is compliant with the principles of the General Data Protection Regulations 2018 as follows. The data we collect is

Processed fairly, lawfully and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject.

collected for specified , explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed for other purposes incompatible with those purposes

Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which data is processed.

Accurate and up to date.

Kept in a form that permits identification of data subjects (you and your family) for no longer than necessary for the purposes for which the personal data is processed.

Processed in a way that ensures appropriate security of the personal data including protection against accidental loss , destruction or damage using appropriate technical or organisational measures.

When you register with us we will provide you with a privacy notice that gives you further details of how we fulfil our obligations to you with regard to your data.

FEES & PRICING STRUCTURE

Children are entitled to fifteen hours of government funding from the term following their 3rd birthday. We cannot always offer the full fifteen hours it is dependant on availability.

Some two year olds are eligible for Free For Two government funding. To qualify you must be entitled to certain benefits. Please ask if you think you may be entitled to this. Some children are entitled to Early Years Pupil Premium funding, again dependant on circumstances.

For those children not yet in receipt of government funding our sessions cost £24.00 per three hour session.

For those children who stay for the morning and afternoon sessions the charge for the lunchtime period is £10.00 as this does not fall within funded sessions. Lunch club is inclusive of non funded lunch period (a packed lunch must be provided) +2x snacks and other consumables.

Missed sessions must be paid for

We ask a £2.50 voluntary charge for those taking exclusively morning/afternoon sessions, i.e.. If only one session is taken up per day we ask for a voluntary contribution of £2.50 to cover the cost of snacks and other consumables.

Invoices will be issued where fees are due. ALL FEES MUST BE PAID EITHER TERMLY IN ADVANCE OR ON A PAY AS YOU GO OR WEEKLY BASIS. Fees can be paid by cash, cheque or direct into our bank account.

We reserve the right to withdraw your place if fees become overdue and where necessary will take legal action to recover these. ( This does not apply to funded sessions)

A minimum of one month notice ( non funded children only) must be given if you wish to terminate your place.

SETTLING IN

The time it takes children to settle at Pre School will vary, as each child is an individual. We will work with you to help you decide the most appropriate way for your child. We are happy for children to stay for part sessions initially if this will help. You are welcome to stay for a while to help children settle into the session. We ask that you always say Goodbye to your child rather than just leave. We allow comforters as they provide familiarity for your child.

Sickness

It is our policy not to admit children who have had sickness or upset tummy within the last 48 hours. We will only administer prescribed or emergency medication. If your child becomes unwell during a session we will contact you to collect. Please see our sickness policy or if you are unsure if your child should attend contact pre school.

Complaints

We hope that you do not have cause for complaint during your time with us and strive to ensure positive relationships between staff and parents. Of course from time to time you may have a concern or issue that you wish to bring to our attention. We have an open door policy and you are free to speak to us at anytime. In the first instance you should speak to Lisa Wilkins or Sarah Mckinlay with any complaint. Most issues can be resolved at this stage. Please see our complaints procedure for full details. For day to day issues please speak to your child’s Keyperson. We operate a zero tolerance policy on abusive behaviour or language towards our staff which could potentially result in the removal of your place.

Mobile Phones

Please do not use your mobile phone on the premises. As well as presenting a safeguarding issue it is nice to be able to give your child your full attention on arrival and drop off times.

Thank you for taking the time to read our prospectus. We hope it provides useful information about our pre school. If there is anything else you would like to know about any aspect of pre school please feel free to ask. We look forward to working with you during your child’s time with us. Please read our terms & conditions for additional information.