Induction Information for 2 Year old & 3-4 Year old Children Starting at WKEYC
Welcome to West Kilbride Early Years Centre
Induction Information
Prior to starting nursery we will send you:
An introductory email including your standing order information.
Click the link for the All About Me booklet, this is to be completed and submitted before your child starts at WKEYC.
An Ante preschool or Preschool contract.
Other key & useful information will be included in this Induction tab.
Early Years Induction Feedback
In order to make your introduction to Early Years as positive as possible we would appreciate you providing us with a little feedback so we may review our procedures.
We would be grateful if you clicked the orange link and complete our very short questionnaire.
Security And Safety
Due to Covid restrictions we are operating separate doors for the entry and
exit of the children to ensure a one way system as much as we can.
Each class has a signposted door and there are short videos displayed on our webpage. The classes are :
A staff member will open the doors to allow children to enter/exit. At all other times we asked that you wait for staff to open the doors ready for home time. However in case of taking your child out early for appointments please press the button on the pad, in order to minimise the disruption to classes please try to keep this to a minimum.
Arrival & Collection of Children
It is important that you arrive at your dedicated start and end time as
children are taken in with their key worker group and all groups are staggered to reduce congestion and adhere to the covid restrictions we are working with. Should you arrive later than your allocated time you must come to the nursery office( Main door of centre) where office staff will take your child to class.
It is expected that a responsible adult over the age of 16 will bring your child to and from the centre. In the interests of your Childs safety you should make a point of telling the key worker if your child is to be collected by someone not known by the manager or staff members. You will be required to provide us with the names of people collecting your child. If we do not know the person collecting your child they will be required to sign to confirm that they are one of the people who you have appointed to collect your child. Where you use a childminder to collect your child from nursery, please ensure that you have updated the office with the childminders contact details and the days that they will be collecting your child from nursery. We will not allow a child to leave with an adult who is a stranger to the staff.
Late Collection
Staff are always as flexible as possible - caring for your child is more important than clock watching. However where staff feel there are continual late pick ups you will be formally asked to arrive promptly and failing that a payment will be incurred. Cases of extreme lateness will incur a late payment fee. We hope this penalty will not be enforced.
Security Procedures
Safe Access
All doors are kept closed during the working day with alarms on all fire doors and a security door entry system in place.
Busy Bees & Rainbow class Keyworker Staff will open the doors in the morning at 8.30 & 8.45.
Hometime is 11.45,2.30 or 2.45 depending on your session times (later if you have booked wrap around care)
We ask that you arrive for your entry/pick up time stated on your letter.
Emergency Closure
The EYC will be closed on the times outlined on the noticeboards and calendars but on some occasions circumstances may arise which means the centre has to close unexpectedly. This may be caused by severe weather, power failures or difficulty with fuel supplies. Under such circumstances we will keep in touch with you by Email, Telephone, Twitter & Facebook.
Health and Safety
Absence From Early Years Centre
It would be appreciated if parents/carers could notify the EYC on the first day of absence. Please call 01294 829217 or email manager@wkeyc.co.uk by 9:30 am for morning classes and by 1:15 pm for afternoon. If we do not hear from you we will give you a courtesy contact call.
Emergency Contacts
Parents whose children are in the EYC are asked where possible to provide us with the names, addresses and telephone numbers of two contact persons in case of an emergency. Ideally the contacts should live close by. It is imperative you keep us up-to-date with any changes in this information.
Child Protection
Our organisation will follow the child protection procedures and guidelines issued by North Ayrshire Council. We also have a Child Protection Policy and you may access this through the button below. All North Ayrshire Council staff operating in the community centre have undergone an Enhanced Disclosure in common with the EYC staff and the Chairperson of our Board.
Medical & Health Care
If a child has been sick or had diarrhoea, a clear 48 hours should be given prior to the child returning to class in order to avoid other children and staff becoming infected.
If a child takes ill during session time every effort is made to inform the parent/carer first or there are emergency contact so that the child can be taken home.
Any minor accidents will be dealt with by staff and the person picking up your child will be informed. Should your child receive any injury to the head you receive a telephone call informing you.
If your child suffers from any medical problem e.g. asthma, epilepsy, allergies etc. you should inform the office as soon as possible. Should your child require medication whilst in class you will be required to complete an insurance and medical consent form. Once the insurance cover has been granted we will be able to administer the prescribed medication. Please be advised that we have a nut free policy in the Early Years Centre.
Medication should not be left in your Childs bag outside the classrooms. All medications for the children are kept within a locked cabinet in a secure place.
Personal Hygiene
You will of course have been teaching your child the importance of hygiene when visiting the toilet and about washing hands before eating etc. The staff will be encouraging this. If your child develops any problems which perhaps mean frequent trips to the toilet please let staff know.
If your child happens to have a problem, e.g. Infestation then please inform a member of staff who can provide advice and support. As your child is mixing closely with other children it is important to check your child’s hair regularly and to have long hair tied back.
Behaviour
We have a few rules which are based on two principles:
Ensuring safety
Respecting others
And here are our nursery rules:
Listening ears
Quiet lips
Sharing hands
Walking feet
Fees
Information is provided in your induction email sent to you. Should you require further information please email Alison Wilson: finance@wkeyc.co.uk
Healthy Meals & snacks
Provision of meals and snacks
It is important to ensure that meals are relaxed and enjoyable for the children giving them time to socialise with their peers all while having practical approaches preventing the spread and control of infection. NAC is delivering hot lunches. Staggered dining will take place to allow for a comfortable dining experience. Please note that if your child leaves after the morning session they will not receive the free meal owed to the timing of the lunch deliveries.
Further information regarding the lunch menu can be found here, Lunch Menu.
Snacks
During the session your child will be provided with a healthy snack including milk or water which varies from day to day & from time to time will be linked to theme work the children are working on.
Unfortunately we cannot take in birthday cakes due to allergies. We will provide the Birthday child with a card and a tub of bubbles instead of cake.
Water bottles & Change Bags
Could you please ensure your child brings in a filled water bottle daily and ensure it is labelled with their name and ensure it is familiar to your child. These will be taken home daily by your child to be washed and refilled for the next session.
Clothing/Uniforms
Children often have most fun when they’re actively involved and this may be messy. We will do our best to make sure that your child wears an apron but accidents do happen.
We would ask that your child wears suitable clothing or you can purchase nursery polo shirts, fleecy hoodies etc with our embroidered logo on them. This is optional.
For children starting 2021/22 terms we will purchase and keep on site a fleecy for every child that will remain in the nursery. This is due to increased ventilation in the rooms to follow Covid guidelines. You can if you wish, purchase more online from MyClothing.com, we receive a 5% donation of all sales, which goes to help holding our Fantasy Evening & Winter Wonderland nights.
Please provide indoor shoes, a change of clothes for your child and accessories dependent on weather conditions i.e if it is sunny, a sun hat and sunscreen (already applied if a half day session and supply a bottle in their bag if they attend all day). If it is colder ensure they have a warm hat and wellies if wet/snowy weather.
Ideally if these could be left on site in case of the ever changing Scottish weather.
The nursery will have a puddle suit, a snow suit and gloves for each child which will remain onsite.
If your child is still in nappies please also provide spare nappies/pull ups and wipes etc for changing throughout the day.
WKEYC will not be held responsible for any loss of personal effects.
Covid
Our website provides lots of information on government guidelines as they are updated and our policies to help in the fight against the spread of the Coronavirius. Please see the Covid-19 tab here.
Learning journals/ Communication
We will communicate about your child's learning through the e-learning journals.
Recording of children’s learning is uploaded onto an E learning program. This means that you will now be able to access your Childs profile any time you want as long as you have an Internet connection. If you do not have an Internet connection at home you are welcome to view your Childs profile within the nursery using our computers (Covid-19 restrictions depending). Learning journals enable your Childs key worker to make observations of learning and a fraction of the time it would have taken previously. This means they are going to have so much more time to play, teach and care for the children instead of filling out paperwork. It’s also extremely environmentally friendly. You will have much easier access to the development and progress of your childand it is easier for you to contribute to! The real benefits to you and your child are that you may access to learning journals and look at it with your child. This will open up discussions about what your child has been learning and both of you may leave a comment underneath the observation.
How the system works:
Once your child starts at West Kilbride Early Years Centre you will receive an email from Learning Journals prompting you to log on and create a password and Pin number. Please ensure you do this as soon as you get the email as it is time bound. (Also check your junk mail in case the email goes in there)
Responsibilities:
You are responsible for keeping your login details secure. You are the only one who knows your password and PIN combination and it is best practice to adhere to the following:
● Choose a password that is unique to your Learning Journals account. (i.e. do not use the same password for multiple sites)
● When creating a password try to ensure that it is not something easily guessed. Add numbers and symbols to make it more secure. Ideally use a password management service (e.g. Last Pass)
● Do not tell others your password or PIN
● Do not write down your password or PIN
● If you access your Learning Journals account from a public computer or device then ensure you have logged out at the end of your session, especially if you are on a computer that is not your own, to make sure your account cannot be accessed by anyone else.
● Ensure you keep your nursery up to date with any changes in your email address
Sharing of information:
If your child is also being cared for by a Childminder we would like to work in partnership with them to record your child’s learning and achievements whilst they are in their care.
This would include sharing information on what has been planned for your child and how they can contribute to the recording of learning. If you agree to the sharing of information your childminder will be given their own log in details and they can create their own secure password and Pin. Please speak to your child’s key worker if you agree to the sharing of information with your childminder.
We would also encourage you to contribute to your child’s learning journal by clicking on the wider achievements tab. This gives you an opportunity to share what your child has been learning at home or within the wider community e.g. dancing display, swimming lesson, karate, riding a bike.
The ‘home link’ section on the planning sheet emailed to parents and carers has ideas to extend the learning at home. It is very easy to upload photos to your child’s profile and we would like to see what they have been doing. Your child’s key worker can also use information from parents, carers and childminders to record what progress they are making in achieving their milestones.
We hope you enjoy reading the observations and viewing the photographs that have captured your child’s learning.
Security for Learning Journals
Our system is very secure. For the techy types amongst you, the connection is made using a secure server holding an SSL certificate (meaning the address starts with HTTPS and carries the padlock symbol). You will be the only person outside the nursery that can view your Childs profile and you will access it with a unique username as well as a password and PIN that you create.
Spanish Lesson 3-5 year olds only
The nursery offers spanish lessons which are delivered by Kidslingo. There is a small subsidised weekly cost for the lesson. If you do not wish your child to take part then please provide 4 weeks notice in writing that you are opting out of the Spanish lessons.
Relationships
Constructive Feedback
The board of directors and staff are keen to promote an open and honest working environment where involvement from parents/carers is always welcome.
Improved Communication
this has been developed by introducing:
1) An informative newsletter each term which is emailed to parents/carers.
2) Online noticeboard which holds relevant information.
3) Parents/carers evenings & play dates
4) an e-learning folder is provided for all children.
5) Parents/carers of preschool children receive an end of year transition report.
6) Parent/Carers of ante pre-school children receive a report called Next Steps.
7) Personal learning plans for your child.
8) Educational plans for learning now emailed to Parents/Carers
9) Ongoing information letters.
Listening and Learning
It is our policy to encourage feedback on the service from parents/carers and children. This is part of our overall commitment to giving the best possible service and to work in partnership with you.
we hold an annual self evaluation of the centre to identify our strengths and weaknesses. During this time we will send out a questionnaire for parents/carers and group work will take place with the children to establish how everyone feels about our service.
Complaints
If you have a complaint about the service, please let us know. It is better to be shared openly and resolved fairly, rather than being allowed to damage relations between home and the early years centre. There will be no negative consequences arising from making a complaint and we will deal with the issue as confidentially as possible. If we have made mistakes we will apologise quickly to resolve the situation.
these are some of the things you should take note of in relation to making a complaint:
It is useful if complaints are made initially to the early years manager, any concerns/complaints will be responded to as quickly as possible and a written response will be given within 28 days. If you are not satisfied with a response then you have the right to take up the matter with the board of directors and if you are still unsatisfied then you can take your complaint to the care Inspectorate.
Lastly but not least we would like to Thank you for choosing West Kilbride Early Years Centre for your child's Early learning & childcare.