Christmas Hours

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Christmas hours
Playgroup open school term only
St Johns Church, Stamford Road, Oldham, OL4 3LH

Contact phone

07557 331 552
Ofsted URN: 2702854

Ofsted rating

Awaiting first inspection

Age

From 2 to 5 years old

Vacancies

15

Opening times

Monday to Friday 9.15am - 3.30pm

Cost details

Per session: £15

Free childcare possible for 2 year olds

Yes

Free childcare possible for 3/4 year olds

Yes

Takes childcare vouchers?

Yes

Description

Sessions offered:

  • 9.15am - 12.15pm
  • 12.30pm - 3.30pm

Children that attend all day will need a packed lunch

Snacks provided at morning and afternoon sessions

Registered for 30 hours free childcare

Follow us on Facebook

Special diets offered

On discussion with Parents

Provides for different cultural needs

Yes

How do you identify special educational needs and disabilities?

Children who attend our setting are allocated a key person. The key person will, within first 2 weeks, carry out a baseline assessment working alongside parents. Parents/carers will fill in tracker sheets (Early Years Foundation Stage profile, age bands) before the child starts, to outline the development of their child. Using this information we are able to form a foundation of the child’s current development. From this initial assessment we are able to see if a child is below or emerging in their age related developmental band. The key person’s role is to then carry out daily observations and assessments. If we feel the child may need additional support we will carry out thorough robust observations and assessments which are tailored to the individual child using the Early Years Foundation Stage framework (EYFS), these observations will support in identifying any delays in development. Any developmental concerns identified are recorded and shared with the parents and the setting SENCO. We have 3 very experienced SENCO’s who have supported children with additional needs for a length of time. All SENCO staff have a thorough understanding of the process that need to be in place to support your child through their journey in the setting and during a transition.

How do you involve parents/carers?

We feel it is vital that parents/carers are involved in their child’s learning and their developmental journal. We work alongside our parents from the point of registration. Parents/carers will fill in the registration forms as well as some additional information for us to get to know the child, their likes, dislikes and interest. We also ask parents to give us a brief outline on where they think their child is developing at by filling in tracker sheets (Early Years Foundation Stage profile, age bands). This information provided by parents allows the key person to get to know the child and make a bonding relationship as well as becoming aware of the child’s current development and filling out a baseline assessment report when the child has settled. We liaise with parents on a regular basis inviting them weekly to join in rhyme time with the children. We have an open door policy where we allow parents to help contribute to their children’s learning. We hold regular coffee mornings and morning craft workshops to share ideas with parents and what they could do at home with their children, this also gives us the opportunity to review the child’s progress with parents. Children's learning journals are readily accessible to parents and can be accessed by our parents whenever they feel.

How do you support a child’s learning and development?

"We support children’s learning through providing a rich and stimulating environment which is set out in all areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). We provide our children with rich continuous provision to help enhance their learning in all areas. We support children’s interest and will plan and carry through, children’s learning and development from what they are interested in most. Here at Salem Laugh 'n' Learn we believe children thrive more when their learning is more personal to them and of a choice of their interest. We use the national framework for the early years, EYFS, for planning, observations, and next steps. This is all observations and next steps in learning are recorded down in to a child’s individual learning journey. Which parents can have access to whenever they would like and also contribute to their child’s learning as they wish. Children with special educational needs would be provided with additional; resources of their motivation and interest, to support the small intervention to make the big steps in their development "

How do you meet a child’s educational needs?

As a part of the management team and SENCo we work closely with our staff members and monitor the training they may need to support a child’s development. Working alongside the settings SENCo and multi professionals we will assess the key person’s skills and abilities to work with children with additional needs and make sure they are confident in supporting the child, we will assess the key person and monitor their performance and send them on training courses accordingly. We will provide staff training within the setting to support the child’s learning for example role modelling, giving strategies, and receiving feedback from a more experienced staff member

How do we know my child is achieving agreed outcomes?

We set a child's next steps in all prime areas of learning when completing a baseline or a termly assessment and we plan for the children according to their individual next steps to support the child to achieve in their next learning target. We would do similar for children with additional needs. The SENCo of the setting would chair a meeting with all the professionals working with the child and invite the parents/carers to attend a meeting; this meeting is known as a Person Centred Review (PCR). The child’s development would be reviewed in all areas of learning and would also discuss what's great about your child, what's important for them, what's important to them, what's working well, what's not working well, your child's aspirations long and short term and an agreed action plan of what's going to happen next going forward. All professionals involved including the child’s key person and parents/carers will contribute their knowledge and advice and will agree on some achievable outcomes to be implemented at home and preschool. A copy of the meeting and individual plan will be sent out to all those involved with the child so they can also refer back to the agreed outcomes and the PCR meeting will be rescheduled the next term. Four plus one meeting, however is a meeting set between the setting SENCo the child’s key person and the parents/carers. This meeting is held every 6 weeks to review the targets set for the child and to see if we could implement possible new targets.

How do you adapt for a child with extra needs?

We plan for our children on a daily basis, providing a wide range of rich stimulating activities. We make sure that all activities planned are accessible to ALL children, assessing each child’s strength and weakness we make sure that there is nothing to inhibit them to access the activity. Some children with additional needs may need specific resources and equipment to support their individual development and allow them to access different areas in preschool. We will work closely with professionals to ensure children will receive all the support they will require to access our setting and all facilities. To support some children in our setting we will also send out our staff members to attend training to become familiar with the child’s condition and how to work with the child, for example if a child is limited with mobility and requires support with moving and handling, we will send the staff working with child so they are working appropriately with the child.

How accessible is your service, outside and inside?

Our preschool setting operates in a large hall, a side room, toilets, including disabled toilets, entrance hall and a large enclosed outdoor area. All rooms are spacious and provide a well resourced free flow environment for children at floor and child height to access independently. The main preschool entrance has two steps before entering however we have ramp access to the building from the back door which is wheelchair friendly. Our outdoor area is accessible from the main and rear entrance. Our outdoor area consists of a concrete path and grass area. This is made accessible to all of our children.

How do you involve children in outings and trips?

Before children go out on trips a risk assessment is carried out and completed. As well as risk assessing the route of travel, the outings location, each individual child’s needs will also be assessed and any adaptations required will be made where possible. We will do our upmost to ensure all children can access the outing.

How do you work with other organisations?

We have a really good working relationship with our external services that support our nursery, children and families. We keep close contact with multiple professionals for support and advice, who are more than happy to support us with a child’s development or concerns. The multi professionals are involved in children’s Person Centred Review meetings which are held in our preschool setting. We allow all professionals to come and observe the children so they may support us further, embedding the advice given in to the planning and practice to support the child’s development. We will share information with professionals to make accurate assessments and so we are able to plan children’s targets together. All this is with parents/carers consent.

How do you support children when they start and leave?

When a child starts with us at Salem Laugh ‘n’ Learn we will ask parents to fill in the registration forms. In these registrations forms we ask parents/carers to inform us of any professionals working with their child and any information we would need to know about the child’s health, allergies or medical conditions to support them in our setting. We will support the child and parents/carers and offer them to make a couple of visits to the setting to make the child more familiar and comfortable with the environment, staff and children. During these settling in visits we will introduce your child’s key person to you and your child and will work closely with the child to form a secure attachment bond. Your child’s key person will be involved in any meetings for the child and will work closely with the setting SENCo. When the time comes for the child to leave we will arrange a meeting with the multi professionals working with the child, the new school and parents/carers. We will plan a transition meeting, in this meeting we will outline the child’s needs and all the strategies implemented currently that are supporting the child. We will review the child’s development in the meeting and then allow the new school to ask any questions or concerns they may have. We will have a transition report ready for the new school to take away that will outline the child’s development in detail. This will ensure the new school/setting will have all the appropriate resources in place for when the child starts. If required we will work alongside parents/carers and professional to prepare and submit an Educational Health Care plan (EHCP) prior to the child leaving to ensure appropriate support is in place for the child. EHCp’s are not guaranteed, applications they will be made if professionals feel that the child may need a high level of support in a school provision. A panel will assess evidence shared and decide whether the child needs an EHCp.

How are you/staff trained in extra needs?

We have 3 very experienced SENCo staff at our setting who has received all the new up to date training. We have all the new processes in place to support the new SEND reforms. We have many other staff who have supported children with additional needs and are trained in; intensive interaction, moving and handling, Elklan and Wellcomm training and sign along training. Our training we have currently received is to help children with communication and language however we regularly receive advice from the local Additional and Complex Needs services who attend our multi professional meeting to support us staff and children in our setting. We regularly update staff with new legislation and processes. We will attend any training required to your support your child.

What is your policy on compliments, complaints, concerns?

“At Salem Laugh ‘n’ Learn we believe that parents/carers are entitled to expect courtesy and prompt, careful attention to their individual needs and wishes. We hope that at all times parents/carers are happy with the services provided and we encourage parents/carers to voice their appreciation to the staff concerned. We record all compliments and share these with staff, other parents/carers and outside agencies to. We welcome any suggestions from parents/carers on how we can improve our services, and will give prompt and serious attention that parents/carers may have. Any concerns will be dealt with professionally and promptly to ensure that any issues arising from them are handled effectively with parents to ensure the welfare of all children and to continually improve the quality of the setting. We have a formal procedure for dealing with complaints where we are not able to resolve a concern. Where any concern or complaints relates to child protection, we will follow our safeguarding policy.”
Updated: 11/01/2022