Staff

The Pre-School staff consists of a qualified teacher who is the Manager, who has continued her path of learning by completing a wide range of early years courses including the Early Years Professional Development Programme focusing on early communication since being at the setting.  She is now also one of the Early Years Hub Leads for the local area for moderation and training; leading and arranging training for early years settings and childminders.  The Deputy Manager has a level 6 qualification in early years and is currently undertaking a further degree in Early Years Initial Teacher Training to develop exceptional knowledge for transition in the setting.  She has also completed additional training since being at Lower Willingdon Pre-School in Forest School (level 3) and Hygge which she implements on a daily and weekly basis.  The Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator has completed her level 3 course as a SENCO and has also supported a colleague to complete the training too.  Both the Deputy Manager and SENCO are also being trained to deliver Toddler Talk for the younger children to give them the best support in speech and language that they can have in preparation for their next steps to school.  The setting has highly knowledgeable well-trained members of staff and is always happy to welcome students or trainees where possible. We have a minimum ratio of 1 adult to 8 children, which increases if there are younger children present to 1 adult to 4 children.

The Pre-School Nursery operates a key person system. This means that each child and family has one particular member of staff who takes a special interest in them, thus promoting a close link between the child, their family and staff member. The key person will maintain links with child’s family, and record observations of that child in order to draw up an individual development plan for that child using an online learning journey called Tapestry. Parents have access to their child’s online file at all times and all information is passed on to them when their child leaves, as a record of progress made during their time with us. The information remains confidential between the parents and staff of the Pre-School Nursery, and its contents will not be passed to any third person without the consent and knowledge of the parent. Some primary schools find this early information useful too, and often welcome it as an introduction to your child upon entry to their Reception class.