About Daisy Chains
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Daisy Chains, formerly known as West Wickham Pre-School was established in 1976 is made up of a small group of children from West Wickham and the surrounding villages of Balsham, Weston Coville, West Wratting, Streetly End and Horseheath. We take children from the age of 2 until they reach the age for main stream school.
Sessions are run by our friendly, qualified staff who put a lot of effort and their own time into the planning and preparation of activities. |
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Please go to our Staff pages to find out a bit more about them.
Daisy
Chains is a non-profit charity and therefore solely relies on income
from pre-school fees, Government Funding, Employer Childcare Vouchers and fundraising. |
Daisy
Chains conform to the new Early Years Foundation Stage
(EYFS) framework set by the Government. This
is a framework has been instigated for learning, development and care
in all registered early years settings and schools from birth to
five. The
sessions are managed by Susan Harrow our Pre-School Leader, Claire
Collings, Deputy Leader and Nadine Warner our Assistant with help
from Committee members, volunteers and parents. The capping of each session is based on a point system which is
defined by the age of the children and how many staff are working on
that day. Overall
management of Daisy Chains is by a committee of parent volunteers.
The
aim of the Pre-School is to enhance the development and education of
pre-school children in a parent involving, community based
pre-school. We provide play and learning in a safe, secure, happy
and stimulating environment whilst working within a framework which
ensures equality of opportunity for all. The
principals employed in achieving this aim are that the children are
given the opportunity to: Enjoy
the company of other children and adults outside of the home
environment. Be
in a group which values everyone, whatever their sex, race, age or
cultural background and whether or not they have disabilities Enjoy
activities relevant to their age or stage of development Grow
in self confidence and gain independence by encouraging what they
are able to do Have
adult support when and if necessary. The
principals listed above are achieved through the provision of: High
adult: child ratios Space
to move about and learn Time
to explore and experiment Qualified
staff Actively
involved parents A
curriculum tailored to children’s individual needs. Caring
for Your Child We
understand that young children do need a lot of care and attention
and we strive to provide a loving, kind and secure place for them.
In our 2009
and 2006 OFSTED reports,
we were particularly praised for our strength in care for the
children's health and wellbeing. Key
Workers: Reinforcing
our strengths, we have a Key Worker system in place giving each
member of staff responsibility for a small group of children. Each
Key Worker is accountable for their personal needs and to give them
the reassurance of feeling safe and cared for. If
any child feels upset, hurt or become ill, that member of staff will
give them the one to one care they need and help them to cope
with the situation. Please rest assured that all of the staff are
equally responsible and will attend to any child in trouble and are
available for consultation at any time to discuss any of your issues.
Your Key Worker is not your only point of contact. At the end of
the session, parents are kept fully informed of their child's
misfortunes. If they have an accident, it is explained to the
parents what had happened and they are asked to sign the Accidents
and Emergency Book which is kept on site together with the first aid
box. Each
child in the group can then relate to their key worker if they have
any problems and which can also make the settling in process much
easier. This makes for strong, positive relationship building.
It is important that all children feel happy and secure at
Pre-School. Your
key worker will also monitor your child's developmental progress
during the day and if there are any serious issues, they will report
these back to you. In
the meantime, every six months parents are invited to come into
Pre-School to discuss their child’s progress with their key worker.
A full written report is compiled from observations of the child
throughout this period. A copy will be given to you for you to keep. These
meetings also give parents the opportunity to discuss any concerns
of their children's progress. Key
Workers are usually assigned during your induction meeting.
OFSTED: OfSTED: Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills
set regulations in which all pre-schools, nurseries, schools in which
they must achieve excellence in the care, education and skills of
young people. On
occasion, usually every three years, OfSTED will inspect settings
unannounced. Their objective is to inspect settings, gather
evidence by observing and talking to staff. The inspectors will then
provide an assessment to the Pre-School as to how well they are
performing. We
actually had an unannounced inspection visit from OfSTED in February
2009 right in the middle of the snow storm. Yes, we were probably
one of the few childcare settings open in the area during this time
(advantage of having local people staff and manage the Pre-School). Even
though the staff had no time to prepare, the Pre-School was overall
awarded Satisfactory. We have been given a couple of recommendations
to improve the provision further mainly on developing the children's
independence and self help skills and develop a culture of reflective
practice, self evaluation and informed discussion to identify the
settings strengths and priories for development. There is an
immediate action the setting needs to address: reviewing the way we
carry out observations, assessments and record keeping for each child
which are being undertaken.
All
parents are encouraged to help take part in the sessions and
activities via a Parent Helper Rota system which is fully supported
by the Pre-School Committee. The
rota system is distributed to parents at the beginning of each new
half term. The rota helps ensure the smooth day to day running of
the setting and assists staff members with daily chores such as
organising the mid-morning snack, washing up and help the children
tidy away the toys and activities and not forgetting to take part in
playing with the children. This allows the staff members to
concentrate on the children. This system also gives parents the
opportunity to take an active part in their child’s activities and
learning at Pre-School and allows the children to see their parents
in a different role. Also it gives parents an insight and perhaps a
better understanding of how the Pre-School is run. Parent’s
contribution is seen as invaluable in keeping the Pre-School running
as well as keeping down costs to a minimum. We
also have a team of volunteers who also come into pre-school to lend
a hand with being with the children. They usually do not take part
in the chores, their sole purpose is to be with and help the
children.
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The Village Hall Sessions are held in West Wickham's Village Hall, a modern building, just off the High Street in Home Close. The hall is very spacious, light and airy and very secure. There is plenty of off road parking so the children can be dropped off and picked up safely, disabled access along with a tarmac play area with the village recreation ground beyond where games and nature trials take place over the summer months. |
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Inside there is plenty of room which allows for physical indoor play when the weather is wet. We also have use of a kitchen where the mid-morning snack is prepared and any baking can be done for the “cooking school”, although an adult does the baking in the oven. Obviously there are plenty of toilet facilities with the children having their own toilet adjacent to the main hall with specialist features such as lower hand basin and child’s toilet.
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