WHAT MAKES US SPECIAL

• Over the years we have cared for a number of children with specific educational needs. This has provided us with a wealth of experience in caring for individual needs. Throughout the nursery as a whole we use Makaton (simple sign language) as an aide to communication. We have strong links with Birmingham's Area SENCO team who assist us with advice and if required gaining further support for children. We are competent in liaising with other supporting professionals.
• We recognise communication is key to developing a positive parent partnership. This is established through verbal day to day contact and with written records informing you of your child's progress. We encourage parents to engage with us at the setting through the use of stay and play sessions, weekend books, parent partnerships displays and our annual Fun Week. We also issue regular newsletters to all parents and hold annual Parents Evenings/Open Evenings. See our Latest Newsletter here.
• As a memento of your child's time with us we create an on-going memory book and learning journey, highlighting each child's achievements and enjoyment whilst in our care. As your child progresses through the nursery their memory book follows them, when one is fully complete is passed on to you to keep at home.
• We make our activities varied and exciting through the use of outings and trips, and by having visitors into the setting to work with the children (such as fire brigade and police). We have weekly activities provided by instructors from rhythm time, tumble tots and also the magic train dance school.

We operate using the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). The EYFS brings together learning and development and welfare as a whole, ensuring that both go hand in hand in an environment which nurtures all children. This is something we fell we do very well, using the learning and development requirements to ensure a varied, fun, play based ethos. We look at each child as an individual to enable our practitioners to build on each child's next steps and plan their learning journey.

There are four underpinning themes to the Early Years Foundation Stage, all of which we use as a base for all of the work we do, and care we provide. The themes and how we support them are as follows:

A UNIQUE CHILD

We recognise that all children bring positive attributes to our setting which contributes to the diverse needs of our society. All children in our care are special to us. We pride ourselves in the fact that all of our nurseries operate in inclusive practice, catering for every need no matter how big or small, this also includes the needs of the parents.

ENABLING ENVIRONMENTS

All nursery environments are created not only by structure and layout of individual rooms, but are supported by resources, equipment and enthusiastic adults. Our aim is to provide a warm and accepting atmosphere to ensure children feel confident in their surroundings. Individual room environments are created to support the age and stage of development of each child, and enable active learning, play and exploration. We constantly reflect on our environment and make changes if necessary to support the growing and varied needs of the children in our care.

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

We recognise that children learn best with both physical and mental challenges. We understand the need to provide learning that involves other people, ideas, objects and events to engage the children for sustained periods. Our approach is play based learning providing a balance of adult led and child initiated activities. We provide play opportunities that reflect varied interests and recognise that play with peers and adults is important for child development.

POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS

We believe positive relationships with children and their families is the foundation to building happy, confident children and members of society.

We use a key person system in all of our settings. A key person has special responsibilities to work with their group of children, offering reassurance, and a feeling of being safe and cared for. The key person is encouraged to build strong bonds with the child's parents/guardians. We also emphasise the importance of positive relationships amongst the children, encouraging and nurturing friendships.

The welfare requirements of the EYFS ensure that the highest standards of care are maintained and contribute to each child achieving the Every Child Matters Outcomes: