01427 787053
OUR MISSION
‘Where children come as strangers and leave as friends’
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Below is a brief insight of our pre-school for full information please contact us
Our Aims
We are committed to offering affordable, quality childcare in a safe and stimulating environment. We recognise that each child is unique and plan challenging, yet fun, activities that are achievable, to extend their development. We have achieved consecutive good Ofsted inspections and aim to achieve an outstanding outcome by our next inspection. Your opinions and suggestions are valued so feel free to let us know of any areas you feel we need to address via our comments book or by speaking to a member of staff.
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Settling Your Child
A child who is unhappy will not be able to play and learn properly, so it is important for parents and pre-school staff to work together to help the children feel confident and secure within the group. This takes longer for some children than for others and parents should not feel worried if their child takes a while to settle. Cygnets staff will work in partnership with parents/carers to help settle their child into the group environment and will offer advice and support.
Once a child has been registered with Cygnets, on their first session they will be introduced to the staff members, who will then introduce the child to the other children. When leaving your child for the first time please be reassured that if your child does not settle, we will contact you.
Key Person
To ensure that your child gains the most from their time at the pre-school, they will be appointed a key person. A key person is a member of staff who is assigned to work with your child in partnership with yourself. They will be responsible for planning exciting and fun, yet challenging activities to support your child’s development and individual needs. They will work closely with your child, building strong relationships and helping them to feel secure in their learning.
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Electronic Learning Journals System
At Sturton Cygnets we use an electronic learning journey that is used for the individual child's development. We also use the reformed Development Matters (this is a non-statutory curriculum guidance for the early years foundation stage) and the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Please see links below to access these documents.
The electronic system is used by many Early Years settings and was created to help Early Years providers and families share information for the benefit of children. It allows all observations and photographs of children to be securely uploaded to their personal journal as well as links made to the curriculum we follow for developmental purposes.
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Management Committee
Sturton Cygnets pre-school is a registered charity, which is governed by a management committee made up of parents, carers and members of the community. This is a legal requirement and without it the pre-school would no longer be able to operate.
So, what is involved and what does the management committee do?
The management committee are responsible for over-seeing the smooth running of the provision and
to support the pre-school staff. The committee consists of elected officers including Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer. The general committee members are involved in decision-making and are often involved in the areas of fundraising and marketing.
The manager is also a committee member and the nominated person for the setting who represents the registered persons.
All parents are welcome to join the management committee. We would appreciate any help, even if you do not feel you could commit to one of the roles of responsibility. The more diverse our group the greater the range of skills we can draw upon and therefore the more innovative and efficient we become. If you are interested in joining the committee, please speak to a member of staff or a committee member.
If you are unable to help with the committee, we hope that you will support our fundraising events, which help provide valuable improvements to our premises; increase or replace resources and therefore impact on the experiences of the children at Sturton Cygnets.
Policies
Due to the number of policies, we are governed by, we regret we are unable to produce copies for parents. However, parents are welcome to view our policies and can request them in an electronic form.
Safeguarding Children
We have a duty of care to all children to safeguard them from harm. We have a safeguarding policy and procedure we must follow in line with the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Partnership. More information can be found at www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/safeguarding If there are any concerns about a child these are reported to Caroline Stallwood (Manager) who is the safeguard representative for the setting or Rachael Parkes (Deputy Manager) who is the secondary representative. If you would like to view our safeguarding policy and procedure, please speak to Caroline who will be happy to forward you a copy.
If you have any concerns about a child or family, please speak to us or call customer services on telephone 01522 782111 or out of hours telephone 01522 782333.
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Online Safety Resources for Parents and Carers of Young Children
As our world is becoming more digital, to help safeguard our children we have added some links you may find useful.
AskAboutGames:
Supporting families with video games http://www.askaboutgames.com /early-years-children-and-safe-online-gaming/
Childnet:
Keeping under-fives safe online’: www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers/hot-topics/keeping-young-children-safe-online/?tempid=1326955#
Internet Matters: Guidance for parents of pre-schoolers
https://www.internetmatters.org/advice/0-5/
London Grid for Learning: Portal linking to various resources on parental engagement around online safety
parentsafe.lgfl.net
NSPCC: Guidance for parents on keeping children safe online
Parent Zone:
â– Digital Parenting magazine - https://parentzone.org.uk/projects/digital-parenting-magazine
â– Parent Info - https://parentinfo.org/
Thinkuknow: Guidance and information for parents/carers from NCA-CEOP
â– https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/
â– www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/keeping-your-under-5-safe-online
Oral Health
It is now an explicit requirement to promote the good oral health of children in setting and has become a safeguarding and welfare requirement. Therefore, as part of our curriculum we deliver we will promote good oral health, we will talk to the children about the effects of eating too many sweet things and the importance of brushing your teeth. Please find below some useful links to informative information:
www.dentalhealth.org/childrens-teeth
www.dentalhealth.org/how-to-clean-your-teeth
www.dentalhealth.org/diet-and-your-oral-health
www.dentalhealth.org/oral-health-and-general-wellbeing
www.dentalhealth.org/oral-health-top-tips
https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist (your child is entitled to see a dentist therefore follow this link to a dentist in your area).
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Antenatal information
Please see below a link to the Antenatal Education Pathway on the Better Births Website. This pathway will support families through their pregnancy to gain the information they need to make informed birth choices.
https://betterbirthlincolnshire.co.uk/antenatal-education-pathway/
Many thanks for your interest, on behalf of the Sturton Cygnets team.