Support for Parents and Carers

We know how important your child is and aim to deliver the highest quality of education and care to help them to achieve their best.

This document aims to provide you with an introduction to The Hendred Preschool, 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 and Early Education Terms and Conditions for a full description of our services.

Our setting aims to:

• provide high quality care and education for children

• work in partnership with parents to help children to learn and develop

• add to the life and well-being of the local community

• 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

• included at all levels

Children's development and learning

We aim to ensure that each child:

• is in a safe and stimulating environment

• has a named key person who makes sure each child makes satisfying progress and is your link to our setting

• 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

• is in a setting that sees parents as partners in helping each child to learn and develop

• 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 five 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 2023):

• 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 with teaching and support from adults, who respond to their individual interests and needs and help them to build their learning over time. Children benefit from a strong partnership between educators, parents and/or carers.

• Learning and Development

• Children develop and learn 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 (SEND).

How we provide for learning and development

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 the children with interesting activities that are appropriate for their age and stage of development.

The Areas of Learning and Development 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.

We refer to non-statutory curriculum guidance to support our professional judgment as we assess each child’s progress and level of development as they progress towards the Early Learning Goals. We have regard to these when we assess children and plan for their learning by creating a curriculum that is ambitious and meets every child’s needs. Our educational programmes support children to develop the knowledge, skills and understanding they need for:

Personal, social and emotional development

• self-regulation

• managing self

• building relationships

Physical development

• gross motor skills

• fine motor skills

Communication and language

• listening, attention and understanding

• speaking

Literacy

• comprehension

• word reading

• writing

Mathematics

• number

• numerical patterns

Understanding the world

• past and present

• people, culture and communities

• the natural world

Expressive arts and design

• creating with materials

• being imaginative and expressive

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 education programmes to plan and provide opportunities which 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 educators.

Characteristics of effective learning

We understand that all children engage with other people and their environment through the characteristics of effective learning that are 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 engages with learning and being clear about what we can do and provide to support each child to remain an effective and motivated learner.

Assessment

We assess how young children are learning and developing by observing them. We use information that we gain from observations of the children, to understand 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 assessment by sharing information about what your child likes to do at home and how you, as parents, are supporting development.

We] may make periodic assessment summaries of children’s achievement based on our on-going observations. These help us to build a picture of a child’s progress during their time with us and form part of children’s records of achievement/learning journeys. We undertake these assessment summaries at regular intervals, as well as at 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 observations carried out as part of our everyday practice, taking account of the views and contributions of parents and other professionals.

Records of achievement/learning journeys

We keep a record of achievement/learning journey for each child. Your child's record of achievement/learning journey 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 progress. Together, we will then decide on how to further support your child’s learning and development.

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 provide

• allow the children to explore and be adventurous in safety