Policies
Listed below are summaries of our core policies and procedures. All of our policies and procedures are available to download using the Policy Download menu at the top of this site.
Safeguarding Children
Our prime responsibility is the welfare, safety and protection of all children in our care. We work with children, parents, external organisations and the local community to give our children the best possible start in life. Children have the right to be treated with respect, be helped to thrive and to be protected from any type of abuse in whatever form.
All of our staff are trained in line with the Pan-Dorset Safeguarding Children Partnership’s guidance and procedures. We have a designated Safeguarding Lead who acts as the lead person for any safeguarding concerns. This person will ensure that all safeguarding policies are followed with any safeguarding concern.
All staff are fully vetted and must hold a current enhanced DBS certificate.
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework which enables our staff to underpin our high standards of learning, development and care of children from 2 to 5 years. When you join the nursery we will ask you to complete an ‘All About Me’ document to help us to support your child’s individual learning journey with us. Children will be learning skills, acquiring new knowledge and demonstrating their understanding through 7 areas of learning and development.
Your child’s key worker will form a secure and quality relationship with your child which is central to wellbeing and emotional health and acts as a bridge between the nursery and home. The key worker will communicate regularly with you about your child’s needs and will offer support for continued learning and development at home.
All of our staff members are committed to teaching and supporting children by making sure that activities are suited to their unique needs and interests. We actively promote children’s progress and document their learning by completing regular observations, which are used to plan activities around individual children’s interests. These observations are all recorded in children’s learning journals which are available to view at any time. Parents are encouraged to contribute to all aspects of their child’s learning whilst at the nursery.
Promoting Positive Behaviour
We believe in a consistent and positive approach to managing the behaviour of children in the nursery. We ensure that staff develop effective strategies and use positive methods that are tailored to each child.
We aim to provide a stimulating environment in which children develop self-discipline and self-esteem. We believe that children flourish best when they know how they and others are expected to behave. Children gain respect through interaction with caring adults who act as good role models, show them respect and value their individual personalities.
Equality & Diversity
We take great care to treat each individual as a person in their own right, with equal rights and responsibilities to any other individual, whether they are an adult or a child. We are committed to providing equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice for all children and families according to their individual needs.
Discrimination on the grounds of gender, age, race, religion or belief, marriage or civil partnership, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, ethnic or national origin, or political belief has no place within our nurseries.
Health & Safety
The Health and Safety of all children in our care is of paramount importance.
All of our staff are trained to create safe learning environments for children. Staff regularly make safety checks of the learning environments, both indoors and outdoors to ensure that they are safe and secure.
We have a designated Health and Safety Officer who carries out regular checks on first aid kits, ensures that our Health and Safety policy is fully adhered to and completes and monitors risk assessments.
All of our staff are fully trained in paediatric first aid.
Our nursery is kept secure and has locked doors that can only be opened by staff. All visitors to our nurseries are required to sign the visitor’s book on arrival and departure, and we ensure that visitors will not be left unsupervised with children.
Children can only be collected by their parents/carers or by a person that has been given permission. If our staff do not recognise a person that is collecting a child, then the child will remain at nursery until a member of staff can contact the child’s parents/carers. We follow our Late Collection Policy should a child not be collected at the usual time and two members of staff will remain in nursery with the child at all times.
Healthy Eating
We believe a healthy, balanced diet and regular physical activity are essential for children’s health and well-being. Snacks that we serve at nursery are planned around a healthy and balanced diet and parents are encouraged to put healthy food choices in their child’s lunch box. Lunch times are a very sociable time of day. Our staff eat their lunches with the children which provides great opportunities for discussions about a healthy diet, exercise and different family’s and culture’s food choices and traditions.
Our registration form asks parents to record if their child suffers from any allergies (including food intolerance) and whether they have any special dietary requirements (e.g. vegetarian, religious, cultural, medical). Upon joining us detailed discussions regarding any allergies are had with the parents and we complete allergy management forms for all affected children. All staff are made aware of children’s individual needs.
Our Staff
Great care is taken to recruit and retain staff of the highest calibre in terms of relevant qualifications and/or experience. Enhanced DBS and health checks and personal references are all taken up as a matter of course and all staff are approved by Ofsted.
We enjoy a high level of staff loyalty, dedication and length of service.
Expressed simply our aims for your child are:
- To be happy and have fun
- To become confident and independent
- To make friends and integrate in a group situation with the necessary social skills to do so
- To develop a love of learning
- To develop his/her own gifts and skills to maximise potential in all areas
- To develop respect and tolerance for their own and others views, faiths, cultures and race