As a member of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, Twiggs Lane Pre-school recognises parents as the first and most important educators of their children. All of the staff see themselves as co-workers with you in providing care and education for your child. There are many ways in which parents take part in making pre-school a welcoming and stimulating place for children, such as:
- Exchanging knowledge about their children’s needs, activities, interests and progress with the staff
- Stay and play at a preschool session
- Sharing their own special interests with the children
- Joining the fundraising committee or becoming a member or director. Please make contact with us if you are interested
- Taking part at fundraising events to support the pre-school
- Joining community activities in which the pre-school takes part
- Building friendships with other parents of children at pre-school
We have an open door policy at Twiggs Lane Pre-school and welcome any help or suggestions and ideas to improve our practices. Family members who express an interest in helping out will be asked to complete a DBS check.
Key persons
At Twiggs we operate a key person system. This means that each member of the pre-school staff has a group of children for whom they complete observations, assessments and planning for the child
Your child’s key person will be appointed before they start, however, all staff work together to help your child to settle and ensure that the resources pre-school provides are right for your child’s needs and interests.
Any information you can give us about your child’s needs, activities, interests and achievements will enable us to identify their stage of development, which in turn will help the staff to decide how to help your child move into the next stage of their learning journey.
The key person will also keep a documented online learning journal on a program called Famly. Famly is shared with parents and carers on a regular basis and reports are sent out once a term. Any records are shared with your child’s next provider or Infant School.
The Pre-school’s timetable and routines
Twiggs Lane Pre-school believes that care and education are equally important in the experience which we offer children. The routines and activities that make up the pre-school’s session are provided in ways that:
- Help each child to feel that they are a valued member of the pre-school
- Ensure the safety of each child
- Help children to gain from the social experience of being part of a group
- Provide children with opportunities to learn and help them to value learning
Children are offered a refreshment break during each session where milk or water and a healthy snack is provided.
Policies
The pre-school has a comprehensive set of policies. A copy of our policies is available at the pre-school to read at any time and a digital copy can be downloaded here
Special Educational Needs
As part of the pre-school’s policy to make sure that our provision meets the needs of each individual child we will take account of any special needs which a child may have.
We liaise on a regular basis with our Area Inclusive Officer and we have good links with other outside agencies such as: Portage, health visitor/nursery nurse and educational psychologist. We will also make contact with any other agencies as and when necessary.
We work alongside families to provide the best care and education for your child and we will liaise closely with the feeder school when your child is due to move on.
The pre-school’s special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) is Becky Copland who is continually updated with any relevant training as and when necessary.