Keighley Kiddicare recognises parents as the child’s primary educator. Staff have a strong respectful relationship with them and many of our parents  return to us over the years. Staff take time to listen to parents, to gather information and to share information on the children’s progress. Parents are included in planning the next steps for their child’s development both at nursery and at home. The nursery holds an informal parents evening at the end of every term where the key person can meet with the parents free of distractions.

Playschemes

Playschemes are run at the Highfield Centre during school holidays, only closing for the week between Christmas and New Year. There is a limited number of spaces determined by floor space and staffing, it is essential parents book in advance to secure a place. The nursery children who require school holiday care are kept separate from the children of school age for the main part of the day but there are opportunities for them to mix at quieter times as there is a huge potential for them to learn from each other. The playscheme fees do not include meals so children need to attend with a packed lunch. The staff recognise school holidays as children’s leisure time, a break from formal education, the children take a lead in activities and are encouraged to make choices about how they spend their day. The staff monitor their development and progress on a more informal basis encouraging learning through play, interactions, problem solving and research.

We communicate with parents on a daily basis as they drop children at nursery and pick them up again, and in writing to provide extra information. We have a parent’s notice board and each child has a home school diary. Key workers assess children’s development every term to ensure they are continuing to increase their learning.  After each assessment, parents receive a summary sheet of their child’s achievements during that term.

In the baby room parents are given daily information sheets giving vital information about their child’s feeding and routines. For the rest of the children, parents’ evenings are held twice a year, at the end of the Autumn and Summer terms. Keighley Kiddicare is a voluntary organisation and parents can take an active part in its management by joining the Board of directors.

We plan activities that cross the six areas of the curriculum – Personal Social and Emotional Development, Communication, Language and Literacy, Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy, Knowledge and Understanding of the World, Physical Development and Creative Development.

We use the Early Years Foundation Stage to track the development of each child and to plan for next steps in their learning. With parents permission we  forward information to the child’s next setting.