Heyside Pre-School

Playgroup open school term only

St Marks Church, Perth Street, Royton, Oldham, OL2 6LY

Contact phone

01706 847 175

Contact email

heyside.pre-school@hotmail.com

Ofsted URN: 508047

Ofsted rating

Good

Ofsted report

https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/16/508047

Age

From 2 to 5 years old

Vacancies

5

Vacancy details

Limited places until September 2023 We are now taking names for September 2023 starters

Opening times

Monday to Friday 8am - 3pm

Cost details

£6.50 per hour for 2 year olds, £5.80 per hour for 3 year olds, £19.50 per 3 hour session for 2 year olds, £17.480 per 3 hour session for 3 year olds.

Free childcare possible for 2 year olds

Yes

Free childcare possible for 3/4 year olds

Yes

Takes childcare vouchers?

Yes

Description

Registered for 30 free childcare

£6.50 per hour for 2 year olds
£5.80 per hour for 3 year olds

£19.50 per 3 hour session for 2 year olds
£17.40 per 3 hour session for 3 year olds

There is an additional cost for children attending a full day and in receipt of the 3 and 4 year old free entitlement also a packed lunch is required.

Children staying all day will need to bring a packed lunch.  Children attending am / pm sessions are also invited to bring a packed lunch with them.

The Pre-School holds a Healthy Eating certificate. 

Find us on Facebook

Special diets offered

On discussion with Parents

Provides for different cultural needs

Yes

How do you identify special educational needs and disabilities?

At Heyside Pre-school each child has a designated key person. Their role is to develop a trusting, sensitive relationship with parent/carers and children to enable respectful sharing of information. If you have any concerns about your child’s development you can discuss these with our SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) or your child’s Key Person. The children are always at the heart of everything we do. Reports from health care professionals, such as health visitors, speech and language therapists, will identify your child’s individual needs. We welcome parent/carers and professionals sharing these reports in order to plan appropriately to meet these needs. On going observational assessments are made of all children and are linked to the Development Matters ages and stages of the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage). This, in some cases, identifies individual needs and gaps in children’s learning. These observations will be discussed with the SENCO. If your child’s key person has identified a possible individual need, they will discuss this with you, and plan with you to support your child’s learning and development. Our SENCO will offer support and advice to your child’s key person and other staff in the setting and will also liaise with other professionals to seek advice and support in identifying individual needs if necessary. Our manager is available for support, guidance and advice at all times also. The pre-school can also seek support and advice from our AEN adviser – Oldham Right Start Additional Educational Needs Team at Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, with your permission. The First Team are a local body, who offer settings advice and support to ensure we are meeting your child’s needs and refer appropriately. They meet with parents after a referral for an initial triage meeting so that they can then implement the appropriate support and referral to any other agencies to meet the child’s needs. Parent/Carer permission for First Team involvement is always sought.

How do you involve parents/carers?

We value parent/carers involvement with the pre-school. You are your child’s main carer and know your child the best, you are involved in identifying their needs, information sharing, identifying targets and next steps to focus on at home and in the setting and in reviewing their progress towards these targets. Your permission will be sought before involving outside agencies. Parent/carers are welcome to come in to the setting to see your child in the play environment. You are also welcome to become involved in fundraising for the pre-school or joining the management side of pre-school by becoming a committee member. Various events throughout the year are arranged by the committee such as fairs, fun days, nativity concert where you and your family and friends are always welcome and encouraged to attend, we also have formal and informal consultations with you. Parent/carers are welcome before and after a session to speak to staff or your child’s key person.

How do you support a child’s learning and development?

Before starting at Heyside Pre-school we will invite you to a complimentary taster session. You will also be asked to attend the initial sessions with your child. This is part of our ‘Settling In’ policy and procedures, and is highly successful for all concerned. Parent/Carers and children can find this transition very scary and to relieve anxiety we want you to get to know us first. You and your child will relax once you have got to know us and the settings routines and boundaries. This time also helps us to build a picture and gain information about your child. You will be asked to complete an ‘All About Me’ which forms part of their Learning Journal, this will help us to share information about your child’s strengths and needs. Your child will have an online, password protected, journal where your child's key person will post observations and evaluate their development, you will be able to add comments along with observations from home. At the taster session you will be able to discuss with your child’s Key person/SENCO/Manager any concerns or requirements your child may have. We will work with you to support your child together, listening to you and your child. Our SENCO will explain; how children’s individual needs can be met by planning support using a 4 + 1 profile sheet, PCR (Person Centred Reviews), advice from the First Team and explain who may be involved and their roles. Observations, assessments and evaluations all contribute towards PCP’s and your child’s key person would oversee the targets on the PCR. You will always be given a copy of your child’s PCR and be involved by giving your comments to the targets set and how they are progressing. These documents are kept in a lockable filing cabinet at pre-school after sessions. Your child’s key person will generally be in the sessions that your child attends, fostering a relationship with and understanding your child. Through the observation process linked to the EYFS ages and stages of development and in discussion with you, your child’s key person, and our SENCO will identify what support is required. Extra support will be put in place if necessary. If it is felt that a referral for outside support is needed we will follow the Bridgewater Community Healthcare AEN Pathway criteria. A referral will be made to the Right Team, with parent/carer permission, and a Triage & Allocation meeting will be arranged at pre-school, which you will be invited to attend, this should happen within a maximum period of three months. From this meeting it will be decided which service will best meet your child’s needs and family support. On going partnerships with you, other professionals, including First Team, if they are involved, and ourselves will support the decision making process. Together with our SENCO they will support the decision making process to plan targets and strategies on the PCR’s. The PCR will be written after consulting with you and will include how you can support your child at home. Through regular observations we can track your child’s progress. Our SENCO will give advice on meeting your child’s needs within the preschool in consultation with you and other professionals where necessary with your permission. Reports from health care professionals and other professionals, who are working with your child, will be used to plan support within the setting. Staff meetings within the setting will ensure all staff working with your child knows your child’s strengths and needs and how to support them.

How do you meet a child’s educational needs?

Our practitioners are welcoming and friendly, providing an inclusive, caring, sensitive and positive approach. They provide good role models for positive behaviour and are consistent in the day to day care of all our children. We are flexible in our routines to provide a positive environment to cater for your child’s needs and provide personal care such as changing nappies. Personal Health Care plans can be adopted if necessary and staff will be trained in giving the appropriate medication for your child if required. If your child needs to have medication, then you will be required to complete and sign a Medication permission form and you will be informed of the administration of the medicine and be asked to sign the form in accordance with our Administering Medication policy. All of our staff have completed Paediatric First Aid training and update every three years. Staff are vetted and a vigorous recruitment process is in place. Our Manager & Deputy Manager are our Designated Named Safeguarding Officers, who attend regular network meetings and training and cascade this learning to all other members of staff. All staff complete three yearly updates for Level 1 Safeguarding. Policies and Procedures are available to view in the small room and some are included in our prospectus. Activities will be differentiated and adapted to ensure your child is able to interact fully with the environment, and visual strategies such as a visual timetable/objects of reference are used to help them understand our routines. Our book area/snuggle den are welcoming and provides a quiet area to retreat to if your child is tired, or needs some quiet time, we also have portable beds should your child need longer rests in a quiet supervised area. We are aware that some kinds of undesirable behaviour may arise from a child’s special needs; we will refer to our Positive Behaviour Management policy and will work with you and your child to provide a planned and consistent approach to improve behaviour. We also have an Information File available to view in the small hall with lots of tips on different topics along with ideas for activities to do at home with your child, we are happy to give you copies of any of the items in the file.

How do we know my child is achieving agreed outcomes?

Assessment systems are in place such as the 2 year old progress review, termly summative assessments, ASQ’3s, Elklan & Wellcomm strategies, Early Years Developmental Journal, all of which are linked to the EYFS ages and stages of development. Termly meetings with your child’s key person allow you to see how your child is developing in the setting. Regular committee meetings are held for parent/carers to attend enabling the opportunity to build relationships with other parent/carers in the setting and regular events throughout the year to help you build relationships with practitioners in the setting. We are a very welcoming and happy setting, with very good relationships with our families. We have daily opportunities when you are welcome to tell us of your child’s progress and gives opportunities for two way communication between us. Regular newsletters are sent home and information is displayed on the notice board in the small hall. Notices are put up informing you about what is happening at pre-school, reminders for events, our daily rota informing you of what activities/learning intentions the children will be doing each day, ‘WOW’ slips for you to complete telling us of things your child has done outside of pre-school to make you feel proud and activity sheets linking into what we have been doing at pre-school e.g. rhyme of the week, for you to take home to enable you to further support your child’s learning. Your child’s Tapestry online learning journal enables you to see how your child is progressing and enables you to comment and send your own pictures and observations back to us.

How do you adapt for a child with extra needs?

We will get to know about your child before they start with us and through on going observations and assessments. Targets linked to the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) ages and stages of development will be set at PCR meetings (Person Centred Review) to support the learning and development of your child. This enables planning for individual needs and learning goals. In addition to the PCR, your child will have an individual password protected online Learning Journal; this will contain observations, photographs and samples of your child’s work to support staff in assessing and planning to help your child progress to their next steps. As the Learning Journal is an online document you will be able to comment on anything that is posted and also send your own photos and observations for your child’s key person to view. Your child’s key person and SENCO will work together to make sure that the routines, environment and activities support your child’s needs and they will communicate with the rest of the staff to provide consistency and understanding within our team. We will ask for copies of assessments from other professionals involved with your child before they start with us, and advice from the First Team will be sought, if necessary, with your prior permission. Our manager will monitor and analyse the progress of children within the setting to address any areas of weakness. This information will be used to focus on specific areas and adapt areas that are not meeting the children’s needs. The children are involved in planning their next steps, consultations, helping with taking responsibility for their setting, wherever possible. The children’s learning styles, stage of development and interests will be recognised and used to promote achievements and development. We have excellent facilities and a wide variety of resources, both indoors and outdoors. Staff are dedicated and attend any free training on offer to make our provision more inclusive, a small budget is available for any training that we may have to fund. SEND funding, from the LEA (Local Education Authority) can be applied for to support your child in our setting, if required. Activities and equipment are modified to allow all children to access them.

How accessible is your service, outside and inside?

We have a large level hall, a smaller carpeted hall, a disabled toilet and enclosed garden area. The rooms and environment are big enough to be adapted to allow easy access and movability at activities. The outside play area is part grass and part soft flooring; this is accessed by steps from the big hall or can be accessed by going outside and entering through the gate or by following the path to the hall access downstairs and entering the bottom area of the garden (soft flooring) through the building. The hall is easily accessible by parking on the Duke of York car park (hedge/church side) and walking up the path to the main entrance. If you are a parent/carer whose first language is not English, you can nominate a representative who speaks English. Our ‘Activities at pre-school’ notice board lists our activities of the day over the week. Signs and posters are used around the setting with pictures helping children identify equipment and play areas. Although we have limited funds, we shall endeavour to seek out suitable equipment or adapt equipment and facilities to support children with special educational needs. We provide a variety of multi-sensory activities as part of our planning. Policies are updated regularly and are available for parent/carers to view in the Policies file in the small hall; some policies are included in our prospectus which you are given a copy of prior to your child starting with us. Additional funding may be obtainable by the setting to help us meet your child’s needs by enabling us to offer some 1:1 support at specific activities or routines. Regular risk assessments are carried out to ensure our environment is safe and secure. Individual risk assessments may, for some children, need to be carried out, we would always share these with parent/carers as the health and safety of your child and the other children and adults in the setting is of paramount importance. In extreme circumstances if may be felt by everyone that your child’s needs cannot be fully met, we would then discuss this with you to see if it can be resolved or whether you child would be better off attending another provision.

How do you involve children in outings and trips?

All visits and trips would be planned in order to include all of our children, with enough staff for the recommended ratios. We will endeavour to include parent/carers in the planning of a visit off site to identify the needs of your child. All parents are invited to join us on any coach trips. A risk assessment would be carried out prior to the visit; we would also take along any aides or medication your child may need. On any local outings, all children and staff wear high visibility jackets and hold onto walking reins, a mobile phone and first aid kit is always taken on any outing.

How do you work with other organisations?

All of the staff at Heyside Pre-school are highly qualified, all hold a Level 3 qualification in childcare and education and one holds a degree in social care. Both the Manager and Third in Charge are SENCO trained. All staff have a good understanding of child development and are very experienced in working with children with a wide range of additional and complex educational needs, two of our staff have children of their own with special needs who previously attended our setting. Staff have accessed specific training on Autism, Speech & Language courses, Positive Behaviour, Sign along, Hearing & Sight Impairments and lots more. All staff attend regular training and have worked with children on the Autistic Spectrum, Cerebral Palsy, Global Delay, ADHD, Achondroplasia, Sight & Hearing Impairments, Physical Impairments, Speech & Language. We also have experience of working with children with English as an additional language. Our setting endeavours to cater for children from other cultures and religions and has multi-cultural resources within our setting. We value and respect others beliefs and visual support if given such as communication books, photos etc. All children make very good progress within our setting and are happy and well catered for. We have links with our local Children’s Centre and can sign post you to support which is available through there, e.g. Speech & Language drop in sessions. We will work alongside the specialist services involved with your child and they are always welcome to visit pre-school. Working closely with you and your child will enable us to build stronger relationships and understand your support needs better. The First team aims to help Early Years and Childcare practitioners provide the best possible experience for children with SEND in pre-school; we have always had good working relationships with the First team over the years. The team will support practitioners in meeting children’s individual needs through offering home advice, observing individual children in the settings following a referral, suggesting ways to support individual needs, planning next steps with practitioners and parent/carers and sign posting to training. Parent agreement will always be obtained before the First team become involved with any individual children. If it is deemed necessary, procedures for an EHC (Educational Health Care) plan will be put in place through close work and meetings with other agencies.

How do you support children when they start and leave?

Pre-school offers one or more introductory sessions for you and your child prior to your child’s start date when you will have the opportunity to discuss any requirements or concerns. These sessions give everyone the chance to get to know each other and provides the opportunity for you to share with us details of your child’s needs and the involvement of other agencies and to agree with you a consistent approach to ensure the continuity of care and education for your child. We have a well prepared and tested, ‘Settling In and Transition Programme’ which is tailored to each child and their families’ individual needs. The strategies we use have been used for several years and not only build’s firm relationships with all concerned, it prevents separation anxiety, we always tell our parent/carers we are only a telephone call away, your child’s key person may also telephone you if your child was upset on separation once they settle just to reassure you, photographs or a video of your child playing can also be sent to you via Tapestry once you have received your password and signed our declaration & permission form. We offer a flexible settling in period should your child have difficulties settling in. When transferring to another setting or moving on to school, the pre-school will invite the key person/SENCO/teacher to attend your child’s sessions at pre-school to help them become familiar with them and to discuss your child’s strengths and needs. They will also be invited to a transition PCR meeting with everyone else involved with your child. Staff and children may make visits to the local schools when and where possible. A transition document, copies of any PCR’s, EHC's and any other information that may be relevant to your child will be passed on to the new setting giving them the time to make any necessary plans or changes, these will be given with your permission only. If the First team are involved they will also help with the transition to school and remain involved until the end of the first half term at school.

How are you/staff trained in extra needs?

Pre-school staff have accessed child development training and have experience of working with the Early Years age group. Over the years all staff have gained valuable experience in dealing with children with Special Educational Needs and meeting those requirements. All staff hold a Paediatric First Aid qualification, which is updated every three years, and some have attended Epilepsy & Asthma training. We have a member of staff who has a Communication & Language qualification along with staff who have attended Letters & Sounds – Phase 1, What’s It’s Like to be 2, Elklan & Wellcomm, Sign along, Solihull & REAL training. All training is cascaded to all other staff at staff meetings and a record of staff training is kept on file. We are supported and work well with professionals such as SALT (Speech & Language therapists), Physiotherapists, Moving & Handling team, Occupational Health, Health Visitors, Teachers, Epilepsy nurse, Educational Psychologists. Further training will be sought and accessed to support an identified SEND.

What is your policy on compliments, complaints, concerns?

The pre-school Manager/SENCO or your child’s key person are available in session if you would like to discuss your child’s needs. We are able to offer advice about other professionals who will be able to support your child, such as the Family Information Service, Health Visitors, Speech & Language Therapists, Children’s Centre, Early Help Team, First Team. Staff at pre-school can offer advice and strategies to cope with issues such as undesirable behaviour and potty training and signpost you to other services for further information. The Local Authority’s SEND Local Offer can be found at www.oldham.gov.uk Oldham’s Local Offer is an online resource that details services, support and guidance available to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) aged 0-25 and their families. If you have a compliment for us, you can tell us face to face, via email, on our website, we also send out a feedback survey, once a year, for parent/carers to complete. If you have a concern about your child’s development you can approach a member of staff, your child’s key person or your health visitor. If you have a complaint your can approach the manager/deputy or the designated person on our management committee – Mrs Darryll Elwood. We have a complaints procedure in place which we follow, you can also approach the local authority or OFSTED, depending on the level of your complaint. You will always receive professional and friendly feedback no matter what the circumstances are. Please contact us by telephone on 01706 847175 or at heyside.pre-school@hotmail.com where Julie Swaby our Manager, Sue Shelmerdine our Deputy Manager & Sam Clarke our SENCo, will be happy to give you more details and information on all our policies and about joining our pre-school.

Updated: 29/03/2023