Parent Information
The Role of the Parents
We recognise parents as the primary educators of their children and value your support. Parents are welcome to:
- Attend the Pre-School with their child at any time;
- Work in the group with the children and contribute specialist skills (e.g. music, story-telling, art);
- Assist with fundraising;
- Take part in the management of the Pre-School through election to the Committee;
- Attend meetings or training offered by the Pre-School Learning Alliance, of which Little Owl Pre-School is a member.
Safeguarding children
We take our responsibility for safe guarding children very seriously and have procedures and policies in place to reflect this.
Children will be well supervised at all times, both indoors and outdoors. The staff all have First Aid training. We have Child Protection policies/ procedures and training in place. Should staff have concerns about a child in the setting, we will always put the child’s safety first. We ensure that staff ratios are correct at all times. All adults who come into work with the children have CRB checks. We have procedures in place for local visits and always inform/gain permission when we take the children into the village. We conduct daily risk assessments and monitor the environment and resources regularly.
Our Designated Child Protection Officer is Margot Wolton-Carr.
Special/Additional Needs
Little Owl Pre-School is an inclusive setting where we welcome any child into our group. Our observations and record keeping process will highlight any additional needs that a child may have, and parents will be invited to discuss these with staff. With parental permission, we will seek extra funding to allow one-to-one support for a child in order to meet his or her needs. We will we endeavour to offer a place to any child with SEN once reasonable adjustments to our staffing and resources have been arranged so that we can meet the child’s specific needs.
Our Designated SENCO is Margot Wolton-Carr
Our Behaviour Management co-ordinator is Margot Wolton-Carr
Equality and Diversity
Little Owl Pre-School is open to all children and we operate an equal opportunities policy in staff recruitment. Children are encouraged to learn about other cultures and their customs and clothing, festivals, food and languages. Our emphasis is on valuing different lifestyles and celebrating those differences.
Our Designated Equality and Diversity Officer is Margot Wolton-Carr
Lunch Club and Healthy Eating at Snack time
We encourage the children to eat their sandwiches first and ask parents to pack healthy lunches with only one treat. Please avoid fizzy drinks. Please do not bring in food containing nuts, as we are in line with the No Nuts policy of Dry Drayton Primary School. In hot weather we advise that a cool block to be used. We have limited fridge space and can accommodate small items only.
At snack time we offer a variety of fruit and savoury foods such as pita bread, ham, cheese, toast, crumpets. The children often are involved in snack preparation e.g. sandwiches, fruit cutting, smoothie making.
Illness and Medication
Parents are asked not to bring children to Pre-School if they are suffering from acute illness which may prevent them from participating in normal group activities or which may be transmitted to other children. In particular, children must be free of diarrhoea or vomiting episodes for 48 hours before returning to Pre-School. If your child becomes unwell during session hours, we will contact you.
If your child needs to take any medication when at Pre-School, or may require emergency medication, please speak to a member of staff who will ensure that the proper procedure is followed. If your child suffers from asthma, please ensure that you always bring their inhaler into the session; your child will not be able to attend without it.
If your child suffers from a chronic condition which requires regular monitoring and/or dispensing of drugs, full discussions will be held between staff and parents, prior your child commencing at Pre-School. This is to ensure that the health and safety your child will not be compromised by attending Pre-School.
Clothing
Children should wear clothing that is easy for them to deal with by themselves e.g. when using the toilet. We use aprons for art and craft, but occasionally clothes do get marks on them – especially when playing out in the mud kitchen! In the winter months it is very important that they have warm and waterproof outdoor clothing. In the summer the children will need footwear that is safe to run in (e.g. no flip-flops), sun hats and pre-applied sun cream is appreciated. Little Owl also has a number of uniform items available to order, details of which can be found here.