Online Prospectus

This is the online prospectus - a slightly more detailed version can be obtained on paper by calling 0161 763 9976.

Introduction: welcome message

It gives us great pleasure to welcome you to our day care nursery. We are a local married couple who are both highly trained professionals, one from teaching, one from midwifery, and it was our passion to open our own quality nursery for the arrival of our first child – little Joe, whom you may see in the nursery from time to time.

We believe the nursery has many strengths and it is our aim to provide unrivalled quality of care, educational opportunity, quality of service, quality of environment and opportunity for enjoyment for your child. After all, we want to be confident we can bring our own child here, and so only employ staff whom we believe to be genuine and caring! The management team consists of Sonia and Andy, the Owner/ Managers, and two Deputy Managers, Emma and Kristel, and together we work brilliantly as a team in running the nursery.

We exist to encourage and promote both achievement and enjoyment for your child whilst under our care – we seek to do this by providing a stimulating learning community, highly qualified and experienced staff and an environment filled with genuine love and caring. We have an “open door” policy for parents wishing to discuss their child’s progress. We fully support equal opportunities regardless of ethnicity, culture or religion, home language, family background, special educational needs, disability, gender or ability.

One of the most important aspects of the nursery is the staff who look after the children. We value our staff and believe they are caring, skilled and committed to their vocations; however, childcare is low paid by its nature and staff do sometimes move on quickly – for the importance of consistency, we have several schemes in place to help retain good staff including two different bonus schemes, delivery of hot and cold meals and a rota of social events for staff to promote team spirit! Our approach is that we believe people need to feel valued and empowered, and we aim to look after our staff.

Finally, we think you will find added security in the fact that Sonia is a fully qualified Registered General Nurse with experience of Children’s Wards and Accident and Emergency, and a fully qualified Registered Midwife with over twelve years experience within the NHS; she is always happy to give advice and trains all staff with basic medical expertise. Because of these staffing strengths, we welcome children with Special Needs and children who might otherwise experience difficulty in a “traditional” nursery setting. We are very proud of our nursery and welcome you to visit at any time in order to see what services we offer and to meet our committed team of enthusiasts! Our recent OFSTED inspection was also very positive and extremely favourable, and the inspectors complimentary of many aspects of the nursery!

Sonia Remic

Registered General Nurse RGN

Registered Midwife RM

Andy Remic

BA(hons) English

Post Grad. Cert. Education

Admissions Procedure, Opening Times and Fees

There are three types of place at HunnyPot:

1) Full time 7-30am – 6pm placement;

2) Daily 7-30am – 6pm placement (minimum of 2 days booking required)

3) Morning or afternoon sessions lasting 7-30am – 12:30pm and 1pm – 6pm respectively.

A £50.00 retainer fee is asked when booking a place. This is fully refundable as part of your first months fees.

Pricing Tariff

	Full time	Per day	Am or PM
0 – 2	£105	£24	£16
2 – 5	£100	£23	£15
2 or more children on full time basis	-10%	NA	NA

Please see "Prices" for any current special offers.

* All full time fees are to be paid by standing order or by cheque, on or around the 21^st of each month and a bill will be provided 1 week prior to fees being requested.

* It is requested that all places are paid one month in advance.

* Sickness: if a child is absent through sickness the place must still be paid for; if a child is brought on an extra day in lieu of sickness, then this place will incur an extra charge.

* A minimum booking of 2 days is requested.

All meals, snacks, drinks and nappies are provided. Meals are prepared by our qualified cook Marie, who specialises in Italian and French cuisine. “Pampers” nappies are used, but if parents prefer they can supply alternative brands. HunnyPot Nursery closes at 6pm. Any parents collecting children after this time will be charged a penalty of £4.00 per 5 minutes, per child, to pay for un-planned staff overtime and inconvenience to staff.

HunnyPot Benefits

We believe we have many benefits to offer children placed under our care, and a selection are listed below:

1) Highly qualified staff including NNEB (or equiv.) nursery nurses, on-site Registered General Nurse and Registered Midwife, on-site qualified teacher, a qualified cook with over twelve years experience of working with Bury MBC.

2) A quiet, rural location away from busy town centres and sporting drop-off areas far removed from the main road; the rural setting will allow for nature rambles and Winnie the Pooh picnics.

3) In no way do we condone or use physical, emotional or mental sanctions – no shouting, slapping or shaking at HunnyPot!

4) High security including CCTV protected premises .

5) Children are assigned with personal keyworkers for monitoring and reporting procedures, reporting on parent’s evenings and assessing progress and links between teaching and learning.

6) Current PC suite with use of scanner, digital camera, printing and internet surfing.

7) We adhere to all Health and Safety policies, and welcome inspection from OFSTED; our aim is to work together to provide superior and educational care.

8) Fire protection includes smoke detectors, integrated alarm system, emergency back-up lighting, full 1 hour protection between floors, fire extinguishers and fire blankets at key locations; we also have termly fire drills.

Aims and Objectives

Our main aim is that your child is happy, well cared for and safe during his/ her stay at HunnyPot day care nursery. We believe in equality, self-esteem, self-confidence, positive rewards, stimulation and safety, and all staff follow rigorous guidelines and constant review to ensure our standards are maintained at the highest level.

Specific Aims

1. To develop and provide a loving, supportive and well-ordered environment in which staff and children work and play harmoniously together.

2. To develop the confidence, self-esteem and ambitions of all children, and to help children develop enquiring minds in a framework of understanding, knowledge, experience and skills.

3. To help children to use language and numbers effectively.

4. To identify carefully each child’s individual needs and to provide equality of opportunity for their fullest development.

5. To prepare children for the next stage of their education.

Specific Objectives

1. To provide a pastoral system in which each child in known by a keyworker.

2. To convey to all children a sense of the enjoyment of learning.

3. To establish codes of behaviour which reflect respect and concern for all members of the community.

4. To help children have a pride in the HunnyPot premises by enhancing their appearance through displays of work. We aim to create for staff and children a pleasant and inspiring atmosphere.

5. To introduce children to a wide variety of activities as laid out by the Early Learning Goals (see Education at HunnyPot).

6. To provide learning opportunities in areas sometimes overlooked by other nurseries, such as Information Technology.

Education at HunnyPot - Early Learning Goals: Foundation Stage

Children’s curricula are planned towards the Early Learning Goals which are recommended by the DFES (Department for Education and Skills) and exemplified in Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage, published by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). The HunnyPot Foundation Curriculum (HFC) is based around the six recognised areas of learning; every child is taught, monitored and assessed by a keyworker in order to ascertain links between teaching and learning, in order to identify areas of weakness and SEN issues, and to target individuals who use English as an additional language. Our main aim is to plan and provide learning experiences of the highest quality, considering both children’s needs and achievements and the range of learning experiences that will help them make progress. We aim to provide well-planned play, a key way in which children learn with enjoyment and challenge during the HunnyPot Foundation Stage.

The Long Term Planning is divided into 12 monthly “Themes”, displayed in all rooms and with a Master displayed in reception. This shows the theme the whole nursery is working towards for any given month.

In Pre-school, each area is linked to a plan displayed on the wall with sample activities so that parents can see what kinds of activities take place in each area. Heads of Room plan weekly tasks in advance based around the Nursery Theme for that month. Even the babies take part in the curriculum!!!

Personal, Social and Emotional Development: This focuses on the children learning how to work, play and cooperate harmoniously alongside others in a community beyond the setting of family. This area covers important aspects of personal, social, moral and spiritual development including the development of personal values and an understanding of self and others. We aim to support transitions between settings, promote an inclusive ethos and provide opportunities for each child to become a valued member of the HunnyPot community in order to promote strong self-image and self-esteem.

Communication, Language and Literacy: This covers important aspects of language development and the foundation for literacy. Children must be helped to acquire competence in written and spoken English as soon as possible, making use where appropriate of their developing understanding and skills in language. The focus is on children’s development in talking and listening and becoming readers and writers. Other areas of learning also make a vital impact on achievements through practical activities and on using and understanding language. We aim to provide opportunities for all children to talk and communicate in a widening range of situations, to respond to adults and their peer group, to practise and extend their range of vocabulary and communication skills, and to listen carefully.

Mathematical Development: This area covers the important aspects of mathematical understanding and provides the foundation for numeracy. The accent is on achievements through practical activities. We aim to provide opportunities for all children to develop their understanding of numbers, measurement, pattern, shape and space by providing a broad range of contexts in which they can explore, enjoy, learn, practise and talk about them.

Knowledge and Understanding of the World: This develops the child's knowledge and understanding of their environment, other people and features of the natural and man-made world. Through this, a foundation for historical, geographical, scientific and technological learning is provided. HunnyPot aims to provide opportunities for all children to solve problems, make decisions, experiment, predict, plan and question in a variety of contexts, and to explore and find out about their environment and people and places that have significance in their lives.

Physical Development: We aim to provide all children with opportunities to develop and practise their fine and gross motor skills, to increase their understanding of how their bodies work, and to teach and promote what children need to be healthy and safe. This area includes development in the child's physical control, mobility, awareness of space and manipulative skills in indoor and outdoor environments. This also links with diet and exercise to music with the aim of relaxation, musical stimulation and, or course, enjoyment!

Creative Development: We aim to provide opportunities for all children to explore and share their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of art, design and technology, music, movement, dance, and imaginative and role play activities.

Child Protection

We comply with the procedures approved by the Area Child Protection Committee. We intend to create in our nursery an environment in which children are safe. Where the nursery is concerned that a child may be the subject of ill-treatment, neglect or other area which constitutes child protection, the nursery must follow Bury Child Protection Procedures.

For Equal Opportunities, Complaint’s Procedures and other Nursery Policies, please ask to see the HunnyPot Nursery Policy Guidelines and the HunnyPot Curriculum Document. The Nursery Policies are also supplied in reception for parents to borrow and read.

OFSTED

OFTSED can be contacted at: Early Years OFSTED, 3^rd Floor, Royal Exchange Buildings, St Ann’s Square, Manchester, M2 7LA. Telephone (Registration) 0845 601 4771 (Complaints) 0845 601 4772.