Parents Information
At Rainbows Day Care we involve parents and carers in their child’s learning and development through our ‘open door policy’ to ensure all parents are involved in their child’s development.
The Open House policy also highlights the importance of regular communication, not only on a day today basis but throughout the child’s time with us.
Further Support for Parents
1. Childcare Tax Credits available via https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/tax-free-childcare
2. Your employer can convert part of your salary for Childcare Assistance – via Childcare Vouchers. Please ask your HR department. https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/tax-free-childcare
3. Your employer can convert part of your salary for Childcare Assistance – via Childcare Vouchers. Please ask your HR department.
4. Free Universal: https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/tax-free-childcare
5. Extended Funding offering an additional 15 funded hours is available to families, who qualify and have received an Eligibility Code from Worcestershire Local Education Authority.
6. We offer places for children eligible for 2 year old funding https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-
costs/free-childcare-and-education-for-2-to-4-year-olds.
For the most up to date information on funding please refer to the gov.uk website (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-funding-2024-to-2025)
What to Expect and When
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
The early years foundation stage (EYFS), sets standards for the learning, development and care of your child from birth to 5 years old. All schools and Ofsted-registered early years providers must follow the EYFS, including childminders, preschools, nurseries and school reception classes.
How Children Learn
Children learn in many ways from observing, practising, testing ideas, sensory exploration, asking questions, experimenting, and listening. When observing the way a child engages with the world we are given a glimpse of the world through the child’s eyes. By taking account of how they learn we can then plan and support the children learning. We believe for learning to be effective it must be meaningful for the child, so they are able to then practice these skills independently and use in new situations.
The characteristics of effective learning recognise children need to be engaged, motivated and have opportunities to think to be effective learners. We use these characteristics to plan for the unique child to ensure we are meeting the needs of all our learners.
7 area's of Learning
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 inter-connected.
1: Personal social and emotional development – This is an important area of the Early Years Foundation Stages where children form attachments and connect with others. They will begin to understand who they are and will express this through play. If a child forms relationships, starts to recognise and manage feelings they will become more confidence in who they are, which in turn helps them to become active learners.
2: Communication and Language – As adults we naturally communicate with children as soon as they are born. As babies get older these quality interactions between parent and baby are the key to early
communication. In the early years we progress these skills by focusing on opportunities for children to listen, to learn and understand an increasing vocabulary and to be a confident speaker.
3: Physical development – Physical development is another essential part of early years practice. Developing core strength and physically exerting oneself has huge benefits to not only health but for
self-esteem and confidence levels. We encourage all children to experiment with movement throughout our setting, to allowing them freedom to run, skip, jump, balance and so much more. Once a child can master these gross motor skills, they are then more able to develop fine motor skills.
4: Literacy – Igniting curiosity and interest into the wonderful world of literature sparks a child’s
imagination, showing them that anything is possible. Storytelling teaches rhyme, alliteration and how to predict. Allowing children to tell their own stories, and experiment with language brings to life their imaginations. Reading also allows children to see that print has meaning. We provide opportunities for children to mark make and start early writing skills which are meaningful and purposeful to them.
5: Maths – Introducing mathematical concepts through play, stories and song gives children multiple opportunities to explore maths in a meaningful way. Maths is everywhere and includes counting, estimating, noticing patterns, the language of size, and the understanding of shape and measure. Our role is to support children in developing important reasoning skills and to demonstrate that maths is a natural part of their life which, will help them to grow up as confident mathematicians.
6: Understanding the world – Children need to feel that they belong, and it is our role to help them explore and make sense of their world. Role play is an opportunity for children to act out scenarios from
home and explore this in a safe way. Exploring the local communities, meeting local people from a variety of professions and backgrounds and teaching children about inclusivity and diversity helps children to understand the world exists beyond themselves, which builds children & self-confidence. Our local environment allows children to really take notice of the natural world and start to understand our role in
caring for this.
7: Expressive arts and design – Expressive arts cover a range of activities and experiences from art to music exploration and opportunities to engage imagination through play. Our resources and materials are open ended for children to explore and use how they wish. This allows children to lead their learning and as educators we can then expertly extend this through sensitive interactions and following the child & lead.
Outdoor Learning
Our daily outdoor sessions benefit children in many ways. Come rain or shine our children go out every day to explore the local environment.
* Freedom: when outside children have the freedom to be children and allow their explorative
impulses to take over. Adults are there to be a supportive partner and encourage the children to take
ownership of their play.
* Building resilience: When outside children can learn independently and are encouraged to assess and take supervised risks and deal with unfamiliar, unpredictable situations such as climbing trees or building a den to test their own abilities in these situations.
* Developing vocabulary: As well as building on their communication skills with each other, there are
always new things to see or hear which means new words and new knowledge as children freely
explore their local environment and A connection with the natural world: Spending more time outside is a multi-sensory opportunity where they use all their senses to investigate, to enable a better understanding of the world around them. Children learn to identify different animals, insects, trees and flowers.
* Collaborative working: Children can set their own challenges, and this is where we observe
teamwork and collaboration in achieving and celebrating these tasks.
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