Hollies Road Pre-School Handbook
Introduction
Welcome to the Hollies, where everyone matters. We are a well-established, OFSTED registered, community Pre-School in Halewood, offering top quality, affordable childcare. We have an equal opportunity policy and welcome children from all families within the community. We are a registered charity, overseen by a committee made up of parents and carers past and present. Our Annual General Meeting is held each year to which you are all invited and we would welcome any new members to the committee. Sheila Neary is Manager with Paula Bergin and Charlotte McBride as Deputy Managers. All staff have childcare qualifications. Keeping your little one safe is paramount at Hollies and all staff are trained in Safeguarding children and the Prevent Policy and all staff have a paediatric 1st Aid qualification. We also have staff trained in food safety, behaviour management and many other relevant courses. We have designed this booklet to give you an insight into what we do on a day to day basis. All our policies are on our website, but please come and chat with us if there is anything further you would like to know.
2 Year Offer
We offer 15 hours free child care to eligible families – to apply please go to; https://parentportal.knowsley.gov.uk/
We will need you to provide a copy of the refence code sent once you have completed an application.
3 /4 Year old Nursery Education and 15 hours extra free Childcare
We offer 15 hours free nursery education to any child, the term after their 3rd birthday. We also offer the extra 15 hours free childcare to families who are eligible. To find out if you are eligible and to obtain an eligibility code go to: www.childcarechoices.gov.uk.
What you need to bring
We have sweatshirts or cardigans that you can order at a cost of £10. These are not compulsory, but please don’t send your child in their best clothes as we have lots of messy play! All clothes need names in and we also need a spare set of clothes in a bag. If your child is still in nappies, spare nappies, wipes and cream need to also be in the bag. When your child is potty training we are happy to help. We will chat with you about how we can help, along with wipes and cream.
Settling into our Pre-School Day
Right from the start you will be welcomed into the secure and loving environment of the Hollies. Our aim is to make each child and their family feel safe, happy and valued. We work in partnership with parents to settle each child into our setting. Your child will be allocated a keyworker, who we hope you and your child will form a strong bond with. We want your child to look forward to coming, eager to see what each exciting new day will bring.
Activities
The days at the Hollies are always great fun. Our aim is to encourage children to play together and to stretch their learning, offering them a stimulating environment with many varied activities. We have outdoor play in all weathers, as many children learn better in an outdoor environment. We want to make them as independent as possible ready for their transition to school. The rooms are set out so that they are interesting and exciting for the children with all the areas of the learning within the Early Years Foundation Stage document catered for. We organise lots of trips to local places of interest and celebrate many festivals from all cultures. We have lots of visitors to our setting for example Boogie Tots, the reptile man, the mobile farm and many others.
Snack and Dinners
In recent years we have attained a Gold Health Award from Knowsley for promoting healthy living. Healthy snacks are offered each day, along with milk or water. Snack money is 20p per day.
Healthy Packed Lunches
You need to provide a packed lunch for your child in a labelled lunch box. We suggest a healthy lunch, this will provide your child with the energy and nutrients they need to grow, develop and learn. The key to a balanced diet is variety. We have attached some ideas for healthy lunches and there are more on the following website:
https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/recipes/healthier-lunchboxes
Meals are a sociable time at the setting, with children and staff sitting together. We will send home the food your child doesn’t eat to give you an idea of what they like and how much they eat.
Partnership with Parents
Key person and your child
You, as parents, are your children’s first teachers and when we are looking after and planning for your child, we will need your help. Our setting uses a key person approach. This means that each member of staff has a group of children for whom they are particularly responsible. Your child’s key person will be the person who works with you to make sure that the childcare we provide is right for your child’s particular needs and interests. When your child first starts at the setting, the key person will help your child to settle and throughout your child’s time at the setting, they will help your child to benefit from our activities. Please pass on any information you feel we need to know as you drop your little one off, either with their key person or the room leader.
Newsletter
We will email a newsletter to you regularly, passing on information about what the children have been up to!
FaceBook and Instagram
We have two Facebook pages, one exclusively for current parents of the setting and a public page. In your registration pack you can decide whether you would like your child to be on these pages or not. We also have an Instagram page. We regularly share activities the children have done, any news or upcoming information as well as information about the local area. Please give us a like!
ParentZone
All children attending Hollies Road Preschool have a personal on-line Learning Journey which records photos, observations and comments, in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage, to build up a record of your child’s fun and learning experiences during their time with us. Each child will be a “Focus child” once a term, so that we can ensure they are reaching their full potential. We will also update you regularly with group observations to show you what we have been getting up to in the setting.
The observations of your child will be put on Parent Zone, which is a system, hosted by secure servers in the EU. You will have secure access (via email address and password) to your child’s Learning Journey and, in addition to viewing our contributions, we encourage you to add to it by uploading photos and comments or commenting on observations made by us.
Charity status
We are a registered charity and to keep our fees low we usually have a couple of fund-raising events during the year. We would ask that each family supports these to enable us to survive. Each half term we ask for donations of small items that you can just slip into your shopping basket e.g tissues, wipes, hand wash. Again, this enables us to keep fees down.
Working together for your children
We maintain the legal ratio of adults to children in the setting that is set by the Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements and are mostly above the legal requirements. The staff at out setting are:
| Name | Position |
| Sheila Neary | Manager / Safeguarding Lead |
| Charlotte McBride | Deputy Manager/ SENCO/ Safeguarding Lead/Tinies Room Leader |
| Paula Bergin | Deputy Manager/SENCO/Safeguarding Lead/Tweenies Room Leader |
| Mandy McKnight | Practitioner – Tinies Room |
| Jackie Taylor | Practitioner – Tinies Room |
| Kimberley Morris | Practitioner –Tinies Room |
| Vicky Holian | Practitioner – Tinies Room |
| Christine Cox | Practitioner – Tweenies Room |
| Donna Ashcroft=Salmon | Practitioner – Tweenies Room |
| Clare Hennessy | Practitioner – Tweenies Room |
| Abbey Teare | Practitioner – Tweenies Room |
| Suzanne Rush | Finance Officer |
How we provide for development and learning
Children start to learn about the world around them from the moment they are born. The care and education offered by our setting helps children to continue to do this by providing the children with interesting and exciting activities that are appropriate for their age and stage of development.
We follow the EYFS Framework, which splits a child’s learning into 7 areas of learning and development, with particular focus on the prime areas. These are:
| Prime Areas | Specific Areas |
| Personal, Social and Emotional | Literacy |
| Communication and Language | Mathematics |
| Physical Development | Understanding the World |
| Expressive Arts and Design |
Supervised Toothbrushing
We carry out supervised toothbrushing daily. Each child has their own named toothbrush and we use fluoride toothpaste. There is strong evidence that daily supervised tooth brushing with a family fluoride toothpaste can help keep your child’s teeth healthy.
This is a fun activity; the children brush their own teeth to music, under supervision of the staff.
This does not replace regular toothbrushing at home. We have a list of local dentists, if you need to register your child.
Home Learning
The most important area that the children need help with is their conversational skills, so stories at home and lots of chatting are the best home learning you can do with your little one.
Sickness and Attendance
It is important to get the children in on time each day they are registered for, to get them into a good routine for their transition to school. Please do not send you little one in when they are poorly. If they have a temperature or a contagious infection they need to be kept at home until they are well enough to return. Please send us a message to let us know that your child will not be in on their registered days. If you are receiving funding for your child this can be withdrawn by the Local Authority if the absence is continual.
Policies and Procedures
Should you wish to read any of our policies or procedures there is a copy in the office or you can find them on the website. These are reviewed and updated annually.
Term Dates
| Open On: | Close On: | |
| Autumn Term 2021 | 5th September 2022 | 21st October 2022 |
| 31st October 2022
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19th December 2022
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| Spring Term 2022 | 4th January 2023 | 10th February 2023 |
| 20th February 2023
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31st March 2023
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| Summer Term 2022 | 17th April 2023 | 26th May 2023 |
| Bank holiday 1st May
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| 12th June 2023 | 21st July 2023 |
Should you need any further information please give us a ring or drop us an email to make an appointment. We look forward to your little one joining us and having loads of fun through learning at Hollies.
