Ethos of Head Start Day Nursery

It is our aim to provide care and an early learning environment which is tailored to each individual child’s needs, in safe, secure, happy and relaxed surroundings.

We adhere to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) which is made up of a statutory framework for the Early Years. This sets the standards of learning, development and care for children from birth to five years.

We provide a place for your child to develop a strong sense of belonging and to build their self esteem and confidence. With a high regard given to your child’s personalised learning and through encouragement we help them to reach their full potential socially, physically and intellectually.

We employ Early Years Practioners, who are qualified and with a high regard to their own professionalism. Our staff continue their personal development through various courses, updating their skills and keeping abreast of new ideas and developments. We carry out annual performance reviews, which enable us to identify ongoing training requirements as well as regular progress reviews and staff meetings.

The staff are deployed to cover the correct ratios in each area of the nursery, this ensures that your child’s needs are fully met; safety and security is of paramount importance. In addition to ensure correct ratios are met, we employ a team of staff that we can call on to cover at lunch time, staff sickness and holidays. The cover staff are team members who participate in training and staff meetings. All our staff have an Ofsted approved enhanced CRB check.

Our nursery is divided into three age groups (Happy Hedgehogs, Busy Bees and Wise Owls) each area of the building caters for specific stages with appropriate equipment and facilities to promote your child’s independence, confidence and intellectual growth.

We regularly reflect on our practice and make adjustments where necessary. We often have visitors who share their expertise and skills (we may group the children differently in these instances to accommodate this additional activity).

We welcome the opportunity to work closely with parents and have an open door policy; which means you can phone, visit or stay at any time. Your child is allocated a Key Person who will build a secure relationship with them and compile their Learning Adventure Folder using a variety of narrative and photographic observations. We invite you to share with us any observations or personal achievements you may have noticed at home.

We adopt a positive approach in welcoming your child to Head Start. This ensures they settle into the nursery routines as easily as possible. We find a few short visits to the nursery prior to starting with us will help your child familiarise themselves with their new environment.