Here are Little Elm's Childcare & Education policies and procedures, for you to access whenever you need them:
Safeguarding Policy Statement
We work with children, parents, external agencies and the community to ensure the welfare and safety of children and to give them the very best start in life. Children have the right to be treated with respect, be helped to thrive and to be safe from any abuse in whatever form.
We support the children within our care, protect them from maltreatment and have robust procedures in place to prevent the impairment of children’s health and development. In our setting we strive to protect children from the risk of radicalisation and we promote acceptance and tolerance of other beliefs and cultures.
Child Protection
We believe that it is always unacceptable for a child or young person to experience abuse of any kind and recognises its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of all children and young people, by a commitment to practice which protects them.
In order to achieve this, we will ensure our staff and volunteers are carefully selected, screened, trained and supervised. We actively endeavour to keep up to date with national developments relating to the care and protection of children and young people.
Promoting Positive Behaviour
We aim to work in partnership with parents to lay foundations from which children will grow into happy, confident and thriving children. We believe that children and adults are happiest in an environment in which everyone knows what is expected of them, with clear boundaries and expectations.
We create an environment where children, parents and staff all value, respect and care for each other. We accept the importance of adopting a positive attitude which emphasises and recognises good behaviour rather than identifying only that which is negative.
Child Care Plan
We have a legal obligation to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the children in our care. This includes a responsibility to ensure before offering a place to a child, we have undertaken appropriate assessments to ensure we can safely meet their individual needs.
Food, Mealtimes & Dietary Needs
We believe that mealtimes should be happy, social occasions for children and staff alike. We promote shared, enjoyable positive interactions at these times. We are fully committed to offering children healthy, nutritious and balanced meals and snacks. We recognise that some children may have specific requirements that result in the full menu not being suitable for them.
Headcount
We recognise that the effective supervision of children is paramount to their safety and wellbeing. In line with the Statutory Framework, it is our policy to ensure that every child in our care is within sight and sound of staff at all times. In our nurseries, it is important to highlight that all adults working with children have a responsibility to ensure they know how many children they have in their care at any time.
Immunisation
We promote the vaccination schedule set in accordance with the government’s health policy. We expect parents to inform us if their children are not vaccinated, so that we can manage any risks to their own child or other children/staff/parents in the best way possible.
Our nursery does not discriminate against children who have not received their immunisations and will not disclose individual details to other parents.
Key Person
We are passionate about providing the best start possible to all children.
We recognise that children thrive from a base of loving and secure relationships. To support this, we ensure that every child has a ‘Key Person’ when they start attending a Little Elms nursery. A key person is a named and experienced member of staff with responsibilities for a group of children.
Lost Child
We are committed to promoting children’s safety and welfare through effective supervision. In line with the Statutory Framework, it is our policy to ensure that every child in our care is within sight and sound of staff at all times. The ‘Person in Charge’ is responsible for ensuring the headcount procedures are followed and all children are accounted for at all times either when within the nursery setting or during a local walk or outing.
Managing Allegations Against An Adult
We are committed to protecting and safeguarding children. All staff should be aware of their duty to raise concerns about the attitude or actions of their colleagues or any adults within the nursery. If you see anyone behave in a way which makes you feel unhappy or uncomfortable, this must be reported to the Designated Safeguarding Lead without delay as a matter of priority.
Any allegations made against an adult will be dealt with without delay in line with the procedures set out by each Local Authority where our nurseries are located.
Sick Child
We operate a strict policy for children who become unwell at nursery, as we are bound to ensure the welfare of all children is paramount. If a child becomes unwell at nursery, we will always provide appropriate intervention, support and comfort to children until a parent / carer arrives to collect the child or the child is transferred to hospital (whichever is appropriate). We want to reduce the possibility of other children catching infections and therefore ask parents to respect the exclusion periods for vomiting, diarrhoea and infectious diseases.
Medication
We promote the good health of children attending nursery and take necessary steps to prevent the spread of infection. If a child requires medicine, we will obtain information about the child’s needs for this, and will ensure this information is kept up to date. We will only administer medication where there is a specific health reason to do so.
Sleep
For babies and children rest and sleep are as important as good food. We aim to provide babies and children with opportunities for sleep and rest appropriate to their needs. Cot/coracles and sleep mats are provided for children to sleep and rest either in a quiet part of the room.
Wherever possible the child’s Key/Co Key Person will settle the baby or child to sleep. The Key Person will ensure that parent’s wishes are understood and will work with parents to ensure that children’s needs are met with regard to sleep and rest.
Physical Intervention
We implement a policy for Promoting Positive Behaviour. It is our aim to establish and continuously promote positive behaviour from children in a caring and supportive environment where the welfare of the children is paramount.
The purpose of this policy is to outline the procedures to be followed in the rare case of a restrictive physical intervention being used by a member of staff towards a child.
The use of physical intervention is always a last resort, however, where necessary and appropriate, physical intervention may be required to prevent injury or destruction of property.
Mobile Phones & Electronic Devices
We promote the safety and welfare of all children in our care. We believe our staff should be completely attentive during their hours of working to ensure all children in the nursery receive good quality care and education.
We also have a duty to ensure photographs, videos and recordings of children are only taken with consent from the child’s parent, only used for the intended purpose and are stored safely.
Comforters
We recognise that comforters, such as dummies, are a source of comfort for a child who is settling
and/or upset, and that it may often form part of a child’s sleep routine.
Little Elms do not encourage the use of dummies but are aware of the comfort that it may bring to the child to soothe them when upset.
English as an Additional Language
We aim to provide the means for all children to have access to a broad and balanced curriculum and we will make every effort to ensure all children have sufficient opportunities to learn and reach a good standard of English language during the EYFS.
We will make every effort to enable children who use English as an Additional Language or are bilingual to have the same opportunities as all other children and we apply the principles in this policy to support children to achieve a good standard of English Language.
Looked After Children
We are committed to providing a welcoming and inclusive quality environment for all children and families.
We treat each child as an individual. We recognise that for young children to get the most out of educational opportunities they need to be settled appropriately with their carer.
We will discuss with the child’s carer, and social worker where applicable, the length of time the child has been with the carer before they start nursery to establish how secure the child feels and whether they are ready to be able to cope with further separation, a new environment and new expectations made upon them.
Intimate Care
We believe that all children need contact with familiar, consistent carers to ensure they can grow and develop. At times children need to be cuddled, encouraged, held and offered physical reassurance.
Intimate care routines are essential throughout the day to meet children’s basic needs.
Teaching, Learning & Education Programmes
We aim to ensure that each child who attends Little Elms is offered a wide range of teaching and learning opportunities which considers children’s individual needs, interests and their stage in learning and development.
We use Birth to Five Matters as a guide for teaching and learning milestones and incorporates the Prime and Specific areas of learning into our teaching approaches, as detailed within the Statutory Framework.
Observation Planning & Assessment
We recognise the importance of having an effective observation, planning, and assessment process in place to enhance the delivery of high-quality care and learning for children. Observation, Planning and Assessment is a critical process which enables effective parent partnership and the appropriate sharing of information relating to the child’s levels of development and progress.
Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND)
We are committed to the inclusion of all children. All children have the right to be cared for and educated to develop to their full potential alongside each other through positive experiences, to enable them to share opportunities and experiences and develop and learn from each other.
We provide a positive and welcoming environment where children are supported according to their individual
needs and we work hard to ensure no children are discriminated against or put at a disadvantage as a consequence of their needs.