• Provide high quality full day care in the 60 place full day care nursery meeting the needs of the local community and its purpose as a Neighbourhood Nursery Initiative and a Children's Centre.

In 2006/2007 Denton Island Nursery has delivered:

• 60 place nursery open 50 weeks of the year from 8am to 6 pm to meet the full day care needs of the local community and parents who are working or accessing training, the criteria as an Neighbourhood Nursery and the full day care setting within the Children's Centre for Newhaven


• Growth in registrations from 82 children registered in March 2006 to 86 by end March 2007 with an average attendance daily of 30 children


• Qualified teacher input maintained at 0.5 of full time equivalent to meet Children's Centre requirements and negotiation of ESCC qualified teacher placement in the Nursery


• 14 of 17 staff are qualified, with 13 qualified to Level 3 or above


• Weekly in-house training on Foundation Stage curriculum by qualified teacher


• Full rolling programme for staff of compliance and development training including: Appointed First Aid; Paediatric First Aid; Child Protection; Inclusion; Special Educational Needs; Observation and Assessment, planning for outdoors, learning styles, early literacy and supporting independent learning, Common Assessment Framework and Highscope.


• Professional development for staff included: two studying for NVQ 3; one studying for NVQ4 in Childcare, Learning and Development and one studying for Early Years Professional Status


• Student placements from Sussex Downs College each term.


• Embedded systems for observation, planning and assessment of children and recording achievements in ‘Special Books'


• Ofsted inspection in July 2006 under the more rigorous framework as a Children's Centre indicated that standards of care and education were satisfactory


• Fortnightly management meetings and termly reviews to maintain the management plan of continuous development


• Successful in achieving additional funding to develop support groups for parents of children with special needs and supplementary equipment for the sensory room.

Parent involvement:

• Questionnaires to parents May 2006


• Parent consultations in July 2006 and February 2007 in addition to special weeks for the demonstration of each child's Special Book


• Daily reports to parents for child aged 3 and under


• Nursery Parent forum established in September 2006 which holds bi-monthly meetings with one representative appointed to Steering Group for the Centre


• Termly parent newsletters

 

7th September 2008