Every child at Country Kids has their own dedicated key worker. Not only will the child’s Key Worker be a familiar face, but they will also plan learning objectives specifically tailored to each child. Our Key Workers spend time with each child to learn and understand their own individual needs and interests. We have found that many children often have different interests in our Nursery to what they have at home, and through the use of our Parent Hub Mobile App, Parent Zone we are able to share every child’s learning journey with parents daily.
We provide two ‘settling in sessions’ for children starting at Country Kids, to allow the child to get used to the change of surroundings, and to start building a relationship with their Key Worker. During these sessions, the Key Worker will familiarise themselves with each child and their individual needs, interests and abilities. If it is identified that the child would benefit from additional settling in sessions, our team will be more than happy to accommodate this. Parents and the Key Worker will work together to complete an initial ‘all about me’ form and a ‘starting point of development’ form to identify any areas for specific objectives .
SENCO Support
Our Key Workers work closely with the local SENCO (Special Education Needs Co-Ordinator) to provide specialist support for the child and their family, as well as ensuring that resources, experiences and activities are in place to support the child’s needs and interests. This includes working with parents and carers to identify and put extra support in place, such as utilising: speech and language therapists, educational psychologists, health visitors, early years inclusion officers and SENCO teachers.
We regularly review and update our policies and procedures to ensure that our nurseries are suitable and accessible for all children. Our Key Worker will work closely with the SENCO and parents / carers to ensure the plans are updated and regularly reviewed to support the child's development.
How will the curriculum (EYFS) be matched to my child's needs?
We pride ourselves upon our curriculum, which has been specifically tailored by our team to the children in the nursery. We believe in learning through play, and spending lots of time in the great outdoors with hands-on experiences. Targets, plans and strategies will be set according to every child's area of need, and agreed with parents who will be able to follow these goals at home too. These plans will be monitored by our SENCO lead every 6 weeks and updated accordingly.
How will you know how your child is doing?
Parents will be given the opportunity to discuss their child's progress with their key worker at parents evening, either in person or via video call. The child's key worker will also be available at the end of each day for a hand over and to discuss any concerns. Country Kids has an open-door policy and if parents / carers wish to speak in more detail to the SENCO lead in the office they can do so at any time.
Here at Country Kids Day Nursery we also use an app called Parent Zone, which allows your key worker to document your child’s day with us, showing you what we’re learning, how we are developing and that we are having fun at nursery!
Every child has their own individual Country Kids learning journal, which we create with the children and parents can view at any time. We encourage parents to add their views and comments so that not only is progression being made at nursery, but when at home too.
What support is there for your child's well-being?
Your child’s day-to-day well-being will be managed by their Key Worker, who is experienced in working with children that require extra support. Your child will be given the opportunity to voice their own views, ideas and express their needs to their key person and the whole team. Our trained team will also oversee the administration for children that have any health or medical conditions requiring medication.
All members of the Country Kids team are highly trained in child protection, safeguarding and hold current paediatric first aid certificates. Each child is valued, and their self-esteem and confidence are supported by all.
We have experience with families who have English as an additional language, and we use a wide range of visual aids (e.g. Makaton) to help children communicate their needs.
How accessible is the Country Kids setting environment both indoor and outdoors?
Our nurseries have ample wheelchair access to the buildings, plus our outside areas are flat to allow easy access and manoeuvring for both wheelchairs and walking frames. Children using wheelchairs or walking aids are able to move comfortably within our environment.