Parents Brochure - Sacred Heart School

LITTLE PEDLARS
Part of Sacred Heart School
CONTENTS
Page
Mission Statement
2
Welcome
3-4
Admissions
5
Typical Day
6-7
Early Years’ Staff
8
Early Years Foundation Stage Principles
9-16
Information for Parents
17
General Information for Parents
18
1
The Sacred Heart School is a
community committed to the
education of its pupils within a
Catholic Christian ethos, where each
person is invited to serve God and
others, in faith, hope and love.
Aims
o To foster growth in Christian faith
and Values
o To value, appreciate and enjoy
learning
o To work for excellence
o To further curiosity and creativity
o To aspire to high ideals
o To give generous service to others
2
Welcome
We hope this handbook will be a useful guide to help you
settle your child into Little Pedlars and to act as a
reference document for the future. All of our staff will be
happy to answer any questions you have or to explain
anything that is unclear.
We look forward to building a strong and positive
relationship with you and your family.
We provide a happy, safe and stimulating environment for
children aged between 3 and 5 years. We are committed to
ensuring that your child gets the best start to their
education. We firmly believe that every child should be
treated as an individual and each child's strengths should
be celebrated and nurtured.
We offer a full and enriching curriculum to enable each
child to reach their full potential, whilst still maintaining an
emphasis on fun and discovery.
3
We recognise the importance of play and exploration,
utilising both the indoor and outdoor areas. We make great
use of the school grounds and have our own secure play
area. We also have woodland where we explore, discover and
play.
We invite visitors to the school, explore the local
environment and also go on trips.
We have small classes with a high ratio of well qualified,
experienced, caring staff. ‘Little Pedlars’ is led by a
qualified teacher and suitably qualified support staff. All
children at ‘Little Pedlars’ are assigned a Key Person to
ensure that every child’s learning and care is tailored to
meet their individual needs.
We are very proud of Little Pedlars and we hope that you
and your child will enjoy being part of its present and
future.
4
Admissions
We are open during the school term. Dates are available on
our web site.
Children are welcome to join our Little Pedlars following
their third birthday. We prefer the children to stay for full
days, so they experience a full range of activities and a
freshly cooked hot lunch. Many children start with three
days a week, building up to full time by the term they are
rising fives and in the Reception Year.
The day in the classroom starts at 8.50am. A member of
staff is on duty in the playground at 8.30am and your child
can be safely left there to let off steam and socialise with
their friends. Alternatively, your child can be brought in to
the classroom after 8.30am where there are activities and
staff to supervise. The choice is yours.
Children are encouraged to participate in activities as well
as enjoying free child initiated play.
5
A typical day will comprise the following…
The day starts at 8.30 am. Children may either, be left on
the playground, and supervised alongside their friends in
the EYFS and in the lower school, or in the classroom to
access the continuous provision.
At 8.50 all children are greeted by the staff and register
for the day. A short, flexible, welcome session follows this.
Throughout the day the children access a variety of
activities for learning and developing. The environment is
set up so that children can access the continuous provision.
This is set up with areas demarked as: the writing area; the
maths area; the book area and book nooks; the creative
workshop; role play areas; science area; small world area,
construction area; sand and water areas. These activities
are set up inside, outside and in the woods. The children
may have free flow access to these as appropriate.
The children’s learning is child led (they choose for
themselves and are supported by adults as appropriate) and
adult led (more formal activities are led to teach the
children specific skills).
Adult led activities include lessons from across the
curriculum. We use “Letters and Sounds” to teach discrete
phonic sessions. Children in “Little Pedlars” have a qualified
PE teacher and Music teacher also.
6
Lunch is at 12 until 1.30 pm. All children have a hot dinner
in the dining room which is supervised by the
teacher/teaching assistants. After this there is a short
quiet time in the activity room (children may listen to a
story, draw or listen to music). Children then go out onto
the playground or the field or play on the jungle climber. If
it is a wet play they may play in the activity room or play
games in the sports hall. Lunchtime finishes with a ‘calm
down’ and milk or water and quiet games.
The afternoon session in “Little Pedlars” continues as
before lunchtime until 3 pm. At this point we tidy up,
prepare to go home and have a story or songs.
Children are taken either to the gate or boarding house as
previously arranged.
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Early Years Staff
Management
Sr Francis Ridler
Headteacher BEd (Hons), EYPS
Miss Sally Gooderson
Head of Lower School, Cert of Ed
Permanent Setting Staff
Mrs Sarah Parnham
Head of Early Years, BA (Hons), PGCE
Mrs Jackie Cockman
Assistant Level 3
Miss Liridonna Laska
Assistant, Level 3
Miss Graziela Goncalves
Assistant working towards Level 2
Mrs Catherine Riedlinger
Year 1 / 2 Teacher, BA (Hons), PGCE
Team teaching for projects and, if
necessary, relief teacher
Specialist Staff
Miss Irene Hendon
SENCO, BA (Hons), PGCE
Miss Rachel Wilson
PE Teacher, BA (Hons)
Mr Jeremy Hodges
PE Coach, BA (Hons)
Mrs Sarah Pickard
Music Teacher, BA (Hons)
Sr Linda Pergega
Music Assemblies, Degree in Catechesis (Alb)
Break time Supervisors
Miss Sarah Wookey
NCFE Level 3
Mrs Anne Keating
Miss Anna Yeo
MSc
Mrs Vanessa Adcock
Level 2
Staff ratio – variable, but always at least 1: 8 when considering NVQ
staff, and far in excess for teaching staff 1: 13
8
Early Years Foundation Stage Principles
At ‘Little Pedlars’, the way that we work is defined by the
“Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation
Stage” which sets the standards for learning, development
and care for children from birth to five (published March
2014, effective September 2014).
The EYFS specifies requirements for learning and
development and for safeguarding children and promoting
their welfare. There are four guiding principles that are set
out in the EYFS and shape our practice at ‘Little Pedlars’.
These are:
 Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning
and can be resilient, capable, confident and selfassured;
 Children learn to be strong and independent through
positive relationships;
 Children learn and develop well in enabling
environments, in which their experiences respond to
their individual needs and there is a strong partnership
between practitioners and parents and/or carers; and
 Children develop and learn in different ways and at
different
rates.
The
framework
covers
the
education and care of all
children in early years
provision, including children
with special educational
needs and disabilities.
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The Areas of Learning and Development
There are seven areas of learning and development that
shape educational programmes at ‘Little Pedlars’. All areas
of learning and development are important and interconnected. Three areas are particularly crucial for igniting
children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for
building their capacity to learn, form relationships and
thrive. These three areas, the prime areas, are:
 Communication and language;
 Physical development; and
 Personal, social and emotional development.
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We also support children in four specific areas, through
which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied.
The specific areas are:
 Literacy;
 Mathematics;
 Understanding the world; and
 Expressive arts and design.
Our
educational
programmes
involve
activities
and
experiences for children, as follows.
 Communication
and
language development involves
giving children opportunities to experience a rich
language environment; to develop their confidence and
skills in expressing themselves; and to speak and listen
in a range of situations.
 Physical development involves providing opportunities
for young children to be active and interactive; and to
develop their co-ordination, control, and movement.
Children are helped to understand the importance of
physical activity, and to make healthy choices in
relation to food.
 Personal, social and emotional development involves
helping children to develop a positive sense of
themselves, and others; to form positive relationships
and develop respect for others; to develop social skills
and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand
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appropriate
behaviour
in
groups;
and
to
have
confidence in their own abilities.
 Literacy development involves encouraging children to
link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write.
Children are given access to a wide range of reading
materials (books, poems, and other written materials)
to ignite their interest.
 Mathematics
involves
providing
children
with
opportunities to develop and improve their skills in
counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating
simple addition and subtraction problems; and to
describe shapes, spaces, and measures.
 Understanding the world involves guiding children to
make sense of their physical world and their community
through opportunities to explore, observe and find out
about people, places, technology and the environment.
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 Expressive
arts
and
design
involves
enabling
children to explore and play with a wide range of
media
and
materials,
as
well
as
providing
opportunities and encouragement for sharing their
thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of
activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play,
and design and technology.
13
In planning and guiding children’s activities, at ‘Little
Pedlars’, we reflect on the different ways that children
learn and reflect these in our practice. Three
characteristics of effective teaching and learning are:
 Playing and exploring – children investigate and
experience things, and ‘have a go’,
 Active learning – children concentrate and keep on
trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy
achievements; and
 Creating and thinking critically – children have and
develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and
develop strategies for doing things.
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Assessment
Our staff will constantly observe your child at play,
nurturing their skills and independence. Progress and
development will be recorded in a variety of ways, through
samples
of
completed
activities,
photographs
and
observations made by staff. This provides us with a wide
overview of your child’s developing skills.
All of this information is collated to form a profile of your
child which will be shared with you online on Tapestry. We
would like you to let us have any information and
photographs that will add to your child’s story for their
online learning journey. When your child starts at ‘Little
Pedlars’ and their online learning journey is up and running,
you will be able to access it as and when you would like.
Please see staff for details.
15
During the year you will receive a termly report and have
the opportunity to attend two Parents Evenings, one in
October and the other in May. Informal chats can be held
with staff as and when appropriate and more formal
appointments can be made if you have any queries or
concerns.
During the final year in Little Pedlars the Early Years
Foundation Stage Profile will be completed. It is based on
the observations and assessments in the seven areas of
learning. This information will be shared with your child’s
next teacher to help facilitate a smooth transition into Year
one.
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Information for Parents
Information specific to Little Pedlars
For Compliance with Safeguarding, Little Pedlars is a ‘no
mobile phone’ area. Phones/Cameras must be left in the
Office before entering.
 School uniform details are available from the Office.
 Accidents do happen so please keep a clean set of
underwear at school for your child.
 All clothing needs to be clearly labelled.
 Water is always available so please provide a named
unbreakable cup for drinks.
 Your child will need a named piece of fruit or vegetable
for morning snack.
 Please keep a spare pair of wellingtons at school so we
can go outside in all weathers.
 If your child does not attend full time, please let us
know in writing which days your child will be attending
at the start of each term.
 Do speak to your child's teacher if you have any
worries or concerns no matter how small they are. We
are here to help you. We will contact you if we have any
concerns. It is important that we work together to
achieve the best for your child.
 You will be able to access your child’s Learning Story on
Tapestry. Please see staff for details.
 Please sign your child in on the playground in the
morning unless bringing them to the classroom.
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General information
 If your child is away from school, please inform the
office as soon as possible or you will be contacted by
the school.
 Please park on New Sporle Road when leaving or
collecting your child. There is an unofficial one way
system in operation from Longfields towards Station
Street, keeping the hospital on your right.
 Children should be collected from the inner gate at the
end of the day. Uncollected children will be taken to
the Boarding House.
 Please notify us if your child is to be collected by
anyone other than the usual adult.
 An arrangement may be made for children to go to the
boarding house from school.
 Please read school policies which can be found on the
web-site.
 Do not send your child to school if they are unwell.
Keep them at home for 48 hours after sickness and
diarrhoea.
Please let us know of any important changes at home which
may affect your child. This will only be shared on a ‘need-toknow’ basis.
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