Puddleducks Nursery & Pre-School
General Info
Contact us:
Puddleducks Nursery & Pre-School
School Campus
Wilcot Road
Pewsey
Wiltshire
SN9 5EL
Tel: 01672 562371
Ofsted Registration Number EY454837
Our last reported Ofsted inspection took place September 2022
We were graded 'Good'
You are welcome to view our Ofsted Report.
Please click below for the link and enter URN EY454837
http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk
Safeguarding Notice To All Parent
We liaise, consult, and work with multi-agencies and through links with Project Encompass. We will be advised by the police force if there are domestic abuse / family difficulties within a family who attends our setting.
In a national drive to reduce possible abuse in children under one, we will always refer a concern of bruising in non mobile babies.
We offer spaces for 2 year-old funding, as well as Universal 15 hour, and 30 hour extended funding.
Nursery & Pre-school opening times:
Monday to Friday, 8am - 6pm throughout the year
(excluding Bank holidays and Christmas)
Sessions available
To meet the needs of the community, we will offer a variety of day care options, and can work to 15 minute increments.
We consider our core childcare sessions to be between 9am - 5pm.
Sessions booked outside of these times will attract lower rates.
The minimum booking requirement is two 2-hour sessions per week.
Hourly rate
The hourly rate varies according to sessions booked. Please see details below.
Our pricing strategy is based on a 3-tier structure: Higher dependency babies aged 0-18 months, Toddlers aged between 18-36 months, and those aged 3-4 years.
All prices include nappies, formula milk (we offer SMA 2), and freshly prepared snacks and refreshments.
Cooked Meals
We offer cooked meals for lunch and tea.
Menus will be based on a two-week rolling rota, ordered in advance. Meals will incur additional charges (£2.54 for a main and dessert) Please refer to our Cooked Meals page.
If you do not wish to take advantage of this, packed lunches and/or tea can be provided from home.
Settling-In Sessions
We can offer introductory sessions to allow your child to become familiar to their new surroundings prior to starting. These are available upon request and only chargeable (at standard hourly rates) if you leave your child with us.
Discount
We offer 10% discounts to two or more siblings attending at any one time.
For term dates, please click the link below:
Typical Questions You May Have
Is my 3 year-old child eligible to receive 15 hours of funding?
Free early education funding can be claimed by parents of all three and four year olds. Your child becomes eligible in the first full funding period following their third birthday, for example:
A child who turns 3 between 1st January - 31st March, funding starts April term.
A child who turns 3 between 1st April - 31st August, funding starts September term.
A child who turns 3 between 1st September - 31st December, funding starts January term.
Is my 3 year old eligible to receive 30 hours of funding?
Please visit the Government website, linked below, to test your eligibility. If approved, all you need to produce is your 11-digit authorisation code plus your National Insurance number and we will do the rest. The same funding periods apply as per 15 hours.
https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/
Is my 2 year old child eligible to receive 15 hours of funding?
Parents who are in receipt of one of the following from the list below will generally be accepted on this program. An application form will need to be completed by the parent and sent to Wiltshire Council (if you require assistance to do this please just ask and we will be happy to help).
Either:
- Income Support
- Income based Job Seekers Allowance (JSA)
- Income related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Support under part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- The guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
- Tax credit and have an annual household income of less than £16,190 (as assessed by HM Revenue and Customs).
Or maybe these:
- Has a statutory statement of Special Educational Needs (SEN) or an Education, Health and Care plan. As statements and statutory plans are issued by Wiltshire council, we are able to identify these children internally. Therefore, parents are unable to self-refer for funding based on this criteria.
- Has left local authority care through a Special Guardianship Order, adoption or a Residence Order.
- Is currently a Looked After Child. For example: In foster care.
- Is in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
1. Seven key features of effective practice:
- All children deserve to have an equal chance of success.
- High-quality early education is good for all children. It is especially important for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- When they start school, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are, on average, 4 months behind their peers. We need to do more to narrow that gap.
- Children who have lived through difficult experiences can begin to grow stronger when they experience high quality early education and care.
- High-quality early education and care is inclusive. Children’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are identified quickly. All children promptly receive any extra help they need, so they can progress well in their learning.
2. High-Quality Care
- The child’s experience must always be central to the thinking of every practitioner.
- Babies, toddlers, and young children thrive when they are loved and well cared for.
- High-quality care is consistent. Every practitioner needs to enjoy spending time with young children.
- Effective practitioners are responsive to children and babies. They notice when a baby looks towards them and gurgles and respond with pleasure.
- Practitioners understand that toddlers are learning to be independent, so they will sometimes get frustrated.
- Practitioners know that starting school, and all the other transitions in the early years, are big steps for small children.
3. The Curriculum: What We Want Children To Learn
- The curriculum is a top-level plan of everything the early years setting wants the children to learn.
- Planning to help every child to develop their language is vital.
- The curriculum needs to be ambitious. Careful sequencing will help children to build their learning over time.
- Young children’s learning is often driven by their interests. Plans need to be flexible.
- Babies and young children do not develop in a fixed way. Their development is like a spider’s web with many strands, not a straight line.
- Depth in early learning is much more important than covering lots of things in a superficial way.
4. Pedagogy: Helping Children To Learn
- Children are powerful learners. Every child can make progress in their learning, with the right help.
- Effective pedagogy is a mix of different approaches. Children learn through play, by adults modelling, by observing each other, and through guided learning and direct teaching.
- Practitioners carefully organise enabling environments for high-quality play. Sometimes, they make time and space available for children to invent their own play. Sometimes, they join in to sensitively support and extend children’s learning.
- Children in the early years also learn through group work, when practitioners guide their learning.
- Older children need more of this guided learning.
- A well-planned learning environment, indoors and outside, is an important aspect of pedagogy.
5. Assessment: Checking What Children Have Learnt
- Assessment is about noticing what children can do and what they know. It is not about lots of data and evidence.
- Effective assessment requires the practitioners to understand child development. Practitioners also need to be clear about what they want children to know and be able to do.
- Accurate assessment can highlight whether a child has a special educational need and needs extra help.
- Before assessing children, it’s a good idea to think about whether the assessments will be useful.
- Assessment should not take the practitioners away from the children for long periods of time.
6. Self-Regulation And Executive Function
- Executive function includes the child’s ability to: Hold information in mind, Focus their attention, Think flexibly, Inhibit impulsive behaviour.
- These abilities contribute to the child’s growing ability to self-regulate: Concentrate their thinking, Plan what to do next, Monitor what they are doing and adapt, Regulate strong feelings, Be patient for what they want, Bounce back when things get difficult.
- Language development is central to self-regulation. Children use language to guide their actions and plans. Pretend play gives many opportunities for children to focus their thinking, persist and plan ahead.
7. Partnership With Parents
- It is important for parents and early years settings to have a strong and respectful partnership. This sets the scene for children to thrive in the early years.
- This includes listening regularly to parents and giving parents clear information about their children’s progress.
- The help that parents give their children at home has a very significant impact on their learning.
- Some children get much less support for their learning at home than others. By knowing and understanding all the children and their families, settings can offer extra help to those who need it most.
The Characteristics Of Effective Teaching And Learning
In planning and guiding what children learn, practitioners must reflect on the different rates at which children are developing and adjust their practice appropriately. 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.
- Creating and thinking critically – Children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.
There are seven areas of learning and development that must shape educational programmes in early years settings. All areas of learning and development are important and interconnected. Three areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, building their capacity to learn, form relationships, and thrive. These three areas (the prime areas) are:
- Communication and language
- Physical development
- Personal, social and emotional development
Providers must 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
- Expressive arts and design
Safeguarding and Child Protection
Providers must be alert to any issues for concern in the child’s life at home, or elsewhere. Providers must have, and implement, policies and procedures, to safeguard children. These should be in line with the guidance and procedures of the relevant Local Safeguarding Partners (Formally Local Safeguarding Children's Board LSCB). The safeguarding policy and procedures must include an explanation of the action to be taken in the event of an allegation being made against a member of staff, and cover the use of mobile phones and cameras in the setting.
A practitioner must be designated to take lead responsibility for safeguarding children in every setting.
Our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is Beverley Smith
Our Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL) is Carol Eyles
Our Senior Safeguarding assistant is Amy Spence
The lead practitioner is responsible for liaison with local statutory children's services agencies, and with the Local Safeguarding Partners. They must provide support, advice, and guidance to any other staff on an ongoing basis, and on any specific safeguarding issue as required. The lead practitioner must attend an advanced child protection training course and renew training every three years, and train all staff to understand their safeguarding policy and procedures to ensure that all staff have up-to-date knowledge of safeguarding issues. Training made available by the provider must enable staff to identify signs of possible abuse and neglect at the earliest opportunity, and to respond in a timely and appropriate way. These may include:
- Significant changes in children's behaviour
- Deterioration in children’s general well-being
- Unexplained bruising, marks, or signs of possible abuse or neglect
- Children’s comments which give cause for concern
- Any reasons to suspect neglect or abuse outside the setting, for example: In the child’s home
- Inappropriate behaviour displayed by other members of staff, or any other person working with the children. For example: Inappropriate sexual comments, excessive one-to-one attention beyond the requirements of their usual role and responsibilities, inappropriate sharing of images.
We are of the belief that the child's voice is an important factor and should not be ignored in any instance. A child growing up knowing that they are important, valued, and listened to will have greater self-esteem, realise they have a say in life choices, and know right from wrong. We will listen to all they have to say even if it causes us to have difficult conversations with parents. The welfare of the child is paramount.
To view Statutory Framework for Early Years Foundation Stage:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2
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