Supporting Children & Families
At nursery, we see parents as their children’s lifelong promoters of development and learning. We know that when you join our nursery, you will come with many months and years of fine-grained observations of your children and the most effective ways to support them. This wealth of experience that all families bring is central to supporting and promoting each child’s health, development and well being.
Through close parent partnerships and working together, we enjoy building an approach which centres around family-centred care, communication, empathy and respect for diversity. Working together ensures a good understanding of a child’s needs, leading to appropriate provision within the setting and the possibility of supporting learning in the home. We are here to help and support you in every way we can and can also signpost you to further support in additional areas should you need it.
Please find below some useful information and links to further learning which we think may be of help to you:
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Promoting Online Safety
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Children of all ages enjoy using technology. We know that young children enjoy going online to play games, talk to family, watch videos and even learn to use voice enabled tech like Alexa and Siri to find out about their world. Computers, tablet and phones with access to the internet are more and more prevalent in everyday life and some pre-schoolers do have access to parent’s technology and it is important that they are safe. This information allows families to put steps in place to ensure children are safe online.
Please see the link below for advice and top tips for parents for keeping young children safe online:
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The following link has a really helpful leaflets for you which gives 8 top tips for keeping Under Fives children safe online:
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To protect your child while watching You Tube please see the PDF displaying simple instructions for you to follow as parents and carers to follow and turn on the ‘Restricted Mode’ when using You Tube. This will keep mature or inappropriate content blocked as your child browses the website.
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To read our nursery Online Safety policy, please ask our nursery manager for a copy and we will be only too happy to help you.
We are also able to provide you with a link to the FREE National Dany Nurseries Association course on online safety, which can be found here
Online Safety in Early Years (ndna.org.uk)
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​​Promoting Good Oral Health
It is so important that your child Is registered with a dentist as soon as possible and good tooth brushing habits need to start as soon as that first tooth arrives!
We also support your child’s oral health by teaching the children songs about teeth brushing, introducing tooth brushing and visits to the dentist during our activities and role play – we occasionally even have a dentist visit the setting to talk to the children.
Here you can explore advice for parents, a video about a first trip to the dentist and a brilliant tooth brushing song with Hey Duggee!
British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD) > Kidsvids
Supporting Children’s Wellbeing
Little ones will invariably experience big emotions, and at nursery we support children to identify and manage those emotions and promote positive behaviour. Through our physical activities and movements programme, our children are kept fit and active along with lots of physical play outdoors to help bump up the production of the brain's feel-good neurotransmitters, called endorphins!
We also enjoys lots of relaxation activities such as spa days, yoga and simple breathing exercises, along with the use of sensory circuits to boost physical well being and prepare the body and mind so that it is in the optimum state for learning. For more information on our sensory circuits, please pick up a parent leaflet in our nursery foyer which will tell you all about it.
Here are some breathing exercises we use at nursery to assist the children in regulating their behaviour. Of course, adults can use them too so why not have a lovely relaxation session with your child!
12 Fun and Easy Deep Breathing Exercises For Kids - Moshi (moshikids.com)
Our children also enjoy simple mindfulness activities on the Learning Screens which are used for 10 minutes daily in each of our nursery rooms. Why not have a go at some of our favourite exercises at home with your child by following the links below:
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Supporting Communication Skills - Makaton
Makaton is the sign and symbol language you may have seen used in the CBeebies show, Something Special. Makaton is designed to support spoken language, we also use this regularly at nursery too. Signs are used with speech, in spoken word order to help children and adults to communicate. Using signs can help children who have no speech (because they are still very little) or whose speech is unclear.
Using signing can help empower children to express what they want to say and alleviate frustration. You can view some further information about Makaton and some Makaton videos with Mr Tumble!
You wlll be able to see in the rooms the signs we use regularly and we are continually expanding the signs we use with the children!
What is Makaton? - CBeebies - BBC
​Promoting Positive Behaviour
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Children of all ages may find it difficult to regulate their emotions at times. When little ones are faced with challenges such as maybe feeling a little over-tired or wanting a particular toy, they may need a little adult help, support and encouragement to help them on their way.
In nursery, we adopt a nursery wide approach to managing and promoting young children’s positive behaviour. This includes:
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Being consistency with all children so that they know what is expected (also following simple targets from children’s play plans where applicable)
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Having agreed simple rules for behaviour that children can understand – “Kind Hands, Kinds Words, Kind Heart”
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Being a positive role model to the children – modelling lots of “please” and “thank you’s”
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Noticing and praising all the things the children are doing well “Well done, that was a kind thing to do! Well done for sharing your toys”
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Where possible, ignoring negative or attention seeking behaviours, and using distraction techniques instead to re-engage the child… “Come on, let’s see if we can… ooh have you seen what’s over here…”
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If a child is having a tantrum - as long as they are in a safe place and are not going to injure themselves or others, support and allow them the space and time needed to self regulate in a quiet area or space away from others
Helping children to manage their emotions – self regulation
In nursery, we carefully tune in to children and observe them as they arrive at nursery and throughout their day and at play to see how they are feeling and to support them with any challenges they may face. Through close observation, we are able to pick up on a change in a child’s mood or temperament very quickly to support each child with managing their emotions proactively. Our aim is to put strategies in place to support the child’s feelings or emotions in advance of the behaviours escalating so that we can supportively manage the child and support their self regulation. Some strategies include:
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Naming the emotion you can see “I can see you are feeling angry because…”
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2. Connecting the reason for the emotion “I can see you are feeling angry because you would like to have a go on the scooter now and Charlotte is using it”
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Pausing and giving time for the child to think about what you have said (processing time)
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Supporting the child with their emotions – allowing time for the child to calm down and get their emotions under control.
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Here are some things to try if a child needs longer to calm down:
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Make sure that they’re safe and you’re safe.
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Stay calm and close to the child. This shows that you understand and can handle whatever their emotions are. It also helps them understand that emotions don’t have to be overwhelming.
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Go back to step 1 – for example, ‘I can see you’re really cross that you have had to stop playing now / let Alexander have a go’
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Ask for help from a friend or family member if you need it.
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Wait for the strong emotion to pass. Be patient. It can be very hard for young children to manage strong feelings.
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Support the child with understanding the difference between the emotion and behaviour “ It is okay to feel angry but it is not okay to shout and try to snatch the scooter.
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Offer an alternative – “Instead, you could say… Charlotte can I please have a go next?.... When you have done 1 more loop of the garden, can I have mu turn?” and reassure the child that it is okay to ask an adult for help with this.
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Always try and phrase this using positive language. So instead of saying “Stop shouting”, try “ Shall we use a nice quiet voice?”
Promoting British Values
Democracy
In nursery, our curriculum takes into account children's interests and all children are encourage to make decisions on a daily basis both as a group and as individuals – whether this be about their preferences in activities, song or book choices, or making simple choices and selections at mealtimes.
Staff are trained to ensure they take notice of children's opinions and adapt the environment, routine and curriculum as necessary. Every day key persons engage in circle time sessions to ensure all children have a voice.
Rule of Law
We have a comprehensive Promoting Positive Behaviour Policy is applied fairly and consistently. All rooms follow nursery rules: “Kind hands – kind words – kind heart” and children are encouraged to discuss these rules and understand the reasons for having them.
Individual Liberty
Children are encouraged to be independent learners. They serve their own meals, learn how to fasten coats, pull on wellies and are encouraged and supported to be responsible for washing their hands before mealtimes.
In circle times feelings are often discussed and we have several books and resources used to help with these such as our extensive puppets collection.
Mutual Respect and Tolerance
Our resources reflect the wide diversity of our community and our curriculum, books of the week and activity planning ensures all faiths, communities and traditions are celebrated. Staff challenge all types of stereotyping using our resources and situations which arise spontaneously in play. Workshops led by parents about their jobs, or to share stories and songs in different languages, ensure that children can engage with the wider community as well as developing strong community links.
​Applying for a School Place
Did you know you have to apply for a school place earlier thank you may think?
Applications open on different days in each local council area and you must apply for a primary school place a year before your child can start school. The school starting age is 4.
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Your child will be 3 or have just turned 4 when you apply and this is true even if you want your child to start later. Applications open in September each year and normally close on or around 15th January.
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Further information can be found on the gov.uk website here :
Apply for a primary school place - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
​​Operation Encompass
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We are an operation Encompass nursery. For more information please follow the link below or come and speak to our Nursery Manager who is the Key Adult (as the Designated Safety Lead) for the setting.
Operation Encompass is a police and education early information sharing partnership enabling nurseries and schools to offer immediate support for children and young people experiencing domestic abuse. Information is shared by the police with a nursery’s trained Key Adult (DSL) prior to the start of the next nursery day after officers have attended a domestic abuse incident thus enabling appropriate support to be given, dependent upon the needs and wishes of the child.
Further information can be found HERE
If you wish to speak to our nursery manager to find out more, please call the nursery and our manager will be only too happy to help you.
