- When are fees payable?

The fees are payable 1 month in advance. Fees must still be paid if children are absent for a short period of time. If your child has to be absent over a long period of time, talk to Amanda Cook - Proprietor. Special arrangements for fees can be made.

For your child to keep her/his place at the setting, you must pay the fees. We are in receipt of nursery education funding for three and four year olds; where funding is not received, then fees apply.

We always hope that children are collected on time for their own emotional well being. If children remain uncollected for an hour then in accordance with our policy 1.6 ‘Uncollected Child ‘ in our Safeguarding policy we will contact First Response and follow their advice. If you would like a copy of this policy please ask any member of Staff. A copy is also available on site for you to view.

- What type of clothing do I need to provide?

We provide protective clothing for expressive Arts and design etc and encourage children to gain the skills that help them to be independent and look after themselves. Please provide 1 pair of slippers and 1 pair of wellington boots to be used at the nursery on a daily basis. Please make sure child’s name is clear on all personal belongings.

We hope that you and your child enjoy being members of our setting and that you both find taking part in our activities interesting and stimulating. The staff are always ready and willing to talk with you about your ideas, views or questions. We request that when purchasing slippers and shoes for your child you select Velcro fastenings to enable your child to develop independence in self care.

Please also ensure you send your child with a suitable warm coat and sun hat as necessary dependant on the weather. Sun cream should be applied before the session if the weather is sunny!

- Do you cook meals onsite?

Yes all meals are cooked on site in our brand new kitchen by our resident chef.

- What kind of meals do you provide?

We aim to provide a high quality nutritious menu using seasonal and locally sourced food where possible that appeals to small children adhering to healthy eating guidelines. Cultural and religious beliefs and dietary requirements will be met including fussy eaters, vegetarians, cultural beliefs. We will work with you to provide the very best food for your child.

- Do you cater for allergies?

Yes we do,

Allergies are becoming more common within our nursery, our cook will work with parents and the children to ensure that they have meals cooked to their diatry requirements. If your child does have an allergy, you will be asked to fill an allergy form in and list the allegies and any side affects that the child may have if they come into contact with it.

you will also be asked if any medication is needed to treat it if a reaction does occur.

- What qualifications do your staff have?

All members of staff and their qualifications can be found on the 'Meet the Staff' page.

- Information

The Learning Mill is able to offer 2, 3 and 4 year funded places, we offer 15 hours funded which can all be used within the setting or split between multipule settings. Children are eligable for the 3 year funding the term after their 3rd birthday.

- What is the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)?

This is a very important stage as it helps your child get ready for school as well as preparing them for their future learning. From when your child is born to the age of 5, their early experiences should be happy, active, exciting, fun, secure and support their development, learning needs and care.

We as a nursery have a legal obligation to deliver the legal document EYFS.

- What is the EYFS framework & why do we have one?

The EYFS framework exists to support all proffesionals working in the EYFS to help your child, it was developed with early years proffesionals and parents.

The new framework has a greater emphasis on your role in helping your child develop, it will also be easier for practitioners to use and it focas's on things that matter the most.

- The EYFS framework sets out...

• The Legal welfare requirements that everyone registered to look after children must follow your child safe and promote their welfare.
• 7 Areas of learning and development which guide us to plan activities, experiences to help children learn new skills and widen their knowledge.
• We will carry out assessments that will inform you of how your child's is progressing.

- How will my child be learning?

The EYFS framework explains how and what your child will be learning to support thier healthy development. Your child will be learning skills, aquiring new knowledge and demonstrating their understanding through 7 areas of learning and development.

The areas of development are broken up into prime area's and the specifics.

The prime areas are:

• Communication and Language
• Physical development
• Personal, social and emotional development

These 3 areas are essential for your child's healthy development and future learning.

As your child will grow the prime areas will help them develop skills in further area's known as the specific areas.

The specific areas are:

• Literacy
• Mathmatics
• Understanding of the world
• Expressive arts and design

We use these areas to plan your child's learning and activities during there time at nursery. The staff teach your child and support them and ensure the activities are unique to your child's needs. The EYFS allows children to play and explore, be active and creative and critical thinking which takes part inside the setting and outside at nursery.

- As a parent, how can I help with my child's learning?

All the fun activities you do at home are so very important as it supports the learning and development and have a really long lasting effect on your child's learning as they progress through school. even if your child is really young and is not yet talking, talking to them helps them to learn and understand new words and ideas. if each day you make time to do something each day it will make a real difference to your child's confidence.

- How can I find out how my child is getting on?

it is important for you and your child's keyworker to work closely together, it is important that you and the keyworker share information and discuss things that benefit your child. your child's development will be kept in the form of a summerative assessment, you are also able to add to your child's learning journey with things such as photos or observations that you have made at home.

- Do you complete assessments?

We assess how young children are learning and developing by observing them frequently. We use information that we gain from observations to document their progress and where this may be leading them. We believe that parents know their children best and we ask them to contribute to assessment by sharing information about what their children like to do at home and how they as parents are supporting development.

We make periodic assessment summaries of children’s achievement based on our ongoing development records. These form part of children’s records of achievement. We undertake these assessment summaries at regular intervals as well as times of transition, such as when a child moves into a different room or when they go on to school.

The EYFS also requires children attending nursery to have a two year old progress check at the age of two which will be shared with the health visitor.

- What are the child's records of achievement?

The setting continually observes and assesses children and their records are in their Learning Journey. Staff and parents working together on their children's records of development is one of the ways in which the key person and parents work in partnership. Your child's record of achievement helps us to celebrate together her/his achievements and to work together to provide what your child needs for her/his well-being and to make progress. Your child’s learning Journey file will be available at all times in your child’s play room for you to view or add too. Your child is also welcome to add to it pictures etc from home.

Your child's key person will work with you to keep this record. To do this you and she/he will collect information about your child's needs, activities, interests and achievements. This information will enable the key person to identify your child's stage of progress. You and the key person will then decide on how to help your child to move on to the next stage.

- Have any more questions?

Go to our 'Contact Us' page to find our contact details and get in touch, we'll be happy to answer any questions you may have!