Introduction
‘The perfect place to play’
At The Pink Cottage Day Nursery, your child’s happiness and enjoyment is one of our fundamental priorities. We provide a safe, secure, caring and fun environment to enable opportunities for growth and development through play. Our qualified and experienced team put the needs of children and their families at the heart of everything we do and we are currently working towards The Curiosity Approach accreditation.
Starting at Nursery
From the moment you and your child step through our doors, our experienced team of practitioners will help your child feel welcomed and valued, allowing them to explore, play and learn in their own way and at their own pace. Your child’s key person will support you and your child through settling sessions and an optional home visit, easing the transition from home to nursery. This also provides many opportunities for the key person to get to know your child before they start nursery. There is some paperwork to complete which we will pass on to you during the first settling session.
Our nursery is in a detached house with the younger children based upstairs and our pre-school children downstairs. The pre-school children have direct access to the garden with the majority of our day being free-flow play, where the children can choose to play inside or outside. Throughout the day the younger children are able to explore our natural garden frequently. We have bathrooms on both floors of the nursery; we will follow your child’s lead during the toileting process and provide as much support as they need. Each child will make the move to the pre-school room when they are developmentally ready.
Individual Support for each Child
All staff at The Pink Cottage Day Nursery will support your child’s individual needs and unique capabilities during their time with us. We use ‘Tapestry’, a secure online learning journal to share your child’s progress with you. Practitioner’s will post regular observations and updates and encourage you to share observations with us too.
Your child’s development will be continuously monitored, using the statutory framework for the early years foundation stage (September 2021) and once a term, you will meet with your child’s key person to discuss their interests, strengths and any concerns you have or support you need in any areas.
Where a need for extra support is identified your child’s key person, along with our Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator (SENCO), will work with you to create a One Page Profile and an Individual Plan tailored to your child’s needs and interests. If appropriate, we can contact outside professionals for extra information and guidance, which could include funding to support your child’s needs.
Staff Training
All staff are continually updating their professional development, attending courses to develop their practice which allows us to provide quality care in a nurturing, safe and secure environment. Recent training courses completed by some of our team are: Introduction to Makaton, Autism Awareness and Talking Clearly. Information from training courses is cascaded to the staff team at our regular staff meetings.
Our SENCO works within our pre-school and she has completed the Level 3 Early Years SENCO Award in March 2022. She has many years of experience and attends termly meetings run by West Sussex County Council.
Outside Agencies
We can access support from our local authority – West Sussex County Council and through our Early Years Childcare Adviser. Some of the agencies we work with are: Speech and
Language, Healthy Child Program, Health Visitors, Children’s Social Care, Occupational Therapy and Portage.
Transitions
When children move to a new room at The Pink Cottage Day Nursery we arrange for them to visit the new room with their current key worker. We are a small setting with a shared garden and our practitioners get to know all of the children well.
Before children move on to school we liaise with the local schools and attend a Transition Event organised by our Early Years Childcare Adviser. For those children with additional needs, there is also the opportunity to arrange a supported transition meeting with the child’s new school. This is an opportunity for us to share information and ensure all children have a smooth transition.
Further information can be found on the West Sussex County Council website