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 with the pre-school leader’s agreement.
• Contribute specialist skills (e.g. music, story-telling, art) upon arrangement with the pre-school leader and after appropriate safeguarding procedures have been completed.
• Assist with fundraising.

Safeguarding children

We take our responsibility for safeguarding 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. All staff have first aid training, which is regularly updated. 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 Enhanced DBS 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.

Special/Additional needs

Dry Drayton 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 additional support for a child in order to meet his or her needs. We will 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

Equality and diversity

Dry Drayton 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.

Healthy eating

We are a NO NUT setting, in line with Dry Drayton Primary School – please do not pack any item containing nuts into your child’s lunch.

We ask that every child brings a reusable drinks bottle every day filled with water only. No squash or juice.

You are able to book a school lunch for your child. If you choose to pack a lunch for your child, we follow the school’s healthy eating policy and request that healthy, non-packaged lunches are provided, with no fizzy or sugary drinks or crisps. In hot weather, we advise that you include a cool block as we have limited fridge space.

At snack time, we offer a variety of fruit and savoury foods, such as crackers and breadsticks.

Illness and medication

Please do NOT bring your child to pre-school if they are suffering from acute illness that may prevent them from participating in normal group activities or that 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 provide written information and speak to a member of staff so that we can follow correct procedures. If your child suffers from asthma, please ensure that a spare inhaler is left at pre-school; your child will not be able to attend without it.

If your child suffers from a chronic condition that requires regular monitoring and/or medication, we will meet to discuss these needs with you before your child starts at pre-school, to ensure your needs can be met and the correct protocols are followed.

Clothing

Children should wear clothing that is easy for them to deal with by themselves, e.g. when using the toilet. You have the option to purchase a polo shirt with the pre-school logo, but this is not compulsory. These may be ordered from our school uniform supplier, Price & Buckland.

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 requested. Parents are asked to send in named sun cream and will be asked to give permission for this to be applied by pre-school staff to top up during the day.