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Sandholm Nursery Leaflet

Registration
Sandholm Holiday Club is registered for 20 children aged between 4-11years we are based in the conference room at “The Glenshee Hotel” on Harrow Place Blackpool. If you require any further detail on the designation of the hotel please do not hesitate to call.

To book a place for your child or need further information, our telephone number is 01253 400060 (In School Holidays) or 400030 (Term time).

When booking a place a deposit of one week’s fees will be payable, which will be refunded for the child’s first week of attendance. However, in case of cancellation of booking, deposit will not be refundable.

Session times

Our main opening hours are 8.30am – 5.30pm and due to the conditions of our Registration and Insurance parents are requested not to arrive before 8.30am or to collect their child after 5.30pm. It is also very important that children are not arriving before 1.00pm for afternoon session in order to maintain the correct ratios of children to staff.

Normal morning session:          8.30am – 1.00pm
Including snack & lunch

Normal afternoon session:      1.00pm – 5.30pm
Including afternoon snack & light tea

Normal full day – 9 hours (applicable for ages 5-11):              8.30am – 5.30pm
Including morning snack, lunch, afternoon tea

Fees

Fees are payable weekly in advance on Monday or the first day of attendance. It is possible to set up a standing order or to pay by cheque or cash. Parents will be given a minimum of one month notice of any increase of fees.

We regret that no refund of fees will be given for periods due to illness or holiday, nor is there any reduction for weeks shortened by Christmas and Easter holidays when the holiday club is shut. Deductions for these days have been taken into account in the initial setting of weekly fees.

If your child is send home due to vomiting or diarrhoea, you will be expected to keep child at home for minimum period of 24 hours from last attack. It is important that we have parent’s full cooperation due to these highly contagious illnesses which can spread very quickly and infect other children and staff. However, full fees are still applicable as explained in the above paragraph.

Please note that a charge will be made for late collection of children, returned cheques and if fees are in arrears.

Cheques are to be payable to Sandholm Nursery Ltd

Meals

Care is taken to provide a healthy, balanced diet throughout the day. The cost of food and drinks are included in the daily fees. Drinks and fruits are available throughout the day.

Our lunch is made fresh on the premises by our cook, and we follow our three week menu. If your child has any dietary requirements, please let us know and we will do our best to provide an alternative.

ARRIVAL & DEPARTURE of CHILDREN

Parents / Carers are responsible for delivering their children into the hands of holiday club staff – please do not leave your child until you have made a sure that we have entered them on the register. On departure the children will be signed off the register (both arrival and departure is timed).

Children must be collected before the end of the session, by the Parent / Carer or named adult. Password is additional security measure which only Parent / Carer or named adult and staff will know. If child is not collected on time, we will try to contact the Parent / Carer or emergency contact person and further charges will apply. If we still cannot get a response, the staff will call the police and social services.
Please note: no child will be allowed to leave with anyone other that those previously identified to us by the Parent / Carer, nor can they be handed over to anyone under the age of 18 years. Parent / Carer will not be allowed in the holiday club until positively identified. If members of staff do not recognise the Parent / Carer they are trained to not let you in until other member of staff can make positive identification. If anyone other than the specified adult calls to collect a child, we will try to contact the Parent / Carer but under no circumstances we will release the child if we cannot get confirmation from the Parent / Carer to do so.

Please do not send taxi drivers to collect your child, under no circumstances child is to be discharged to awaiting taxi that Parent / Carer has arranged.

OUTINGS

Any outings are carefully planned with all aspect of children’s safety. In order to achieve full potential of outing, a full risk assessment will be carried out for each outing prior to children leaving the holiday club.

Parents / Careers will be informed in advance of the time and place the visit will take place. We will advise parents on the equipment needed for the trip (coats, rucksack, hat, gloves etc.)

For the children that are not participating in outings, various other activities will be in place. We will make sure that on outings and in holiday club staff ratios will be maintained.

We will take a regular head count (before setting off, on arrival, twice through the visit, before departure and on arrival at the holiday club). A designated First Aider will be present on outings with first aid kit.

If Parent / Carer bring a child directly to an outing, we will insist that Parent / Carer collect child at arranged time. Any Parents / Careers delays on collection will break the organised planning and can jeopardise safety of other children.

If a vehicle is used for outings we will ensure that seat belts are used. We will check that Transport Company has an appropriate insurance in place. Maximum seating is not exceeded and staff will be sitting with children to increase better supervision.

CHILD SAFETY and PROTECTION

All staff within the holiday club is subjected to clearance from the CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) before allowed to work with children. Their contract of employment is subject to clearance. Newly appointed staff, trainees, students and unqualified staff are supervised at all times and under no circumstances are allowed to be left with the children on their own.
Staff who has not been registered as “fit” persons will not take children unaccompanied to the toilet

Children will be encouraged to develop a sense of autonomy and independence through adult support in making choices and in finding names for their own feelings and acceptable ways to express them. This will enable children to have the self-confidence and the vocabulary to resist inappropriate approaches

The layout of the playroom permits constant supervision of all children.

The first concern will be the child. Children whose condition or behavior has given cause for concern will be listened to, reassured and helped to understand that they themselves are valued and respected and have not been at fault

Whenever worrying changes are observed in a child’s behavior, physical condition or appearance, a specific and confidential record will be set up, quite separate from the usual on-going records of children’s progress and development. The record will include, in addition to the name, address and age of the child: timed and dated observations, describing objectively the child’s behavior / appearance, without comment or words spoken by the child; the dated name and signature of the recorder

Such records will be kept in a separate file and will not be accessible to people other than Child Protection coordinator, supervisor and manager / owner or other member of staff as appropriate.

The holiday club operates in accordance with Guidelines laid down by the registering authority. Confidential records kept on children about whom the holiday club is anxious will be shared with the Social Services Department if the holiday club feels adequate explanations for changes in the child’s condition have not been provided

The holiday club will take every step in its power to build up trusting and supportive relationships between families and staff and volunteers in the group. Where abuse at home is suspected, the holiday club will continue to welcome the child and family while investigations proceed. Confidential record kept on a child will be shared with parents. The care and safety of the child must always be paramount and the holiday club will do all in its power to support and work with the child’s family.

CONFIDENTIALITY POLICY

The holiday club’s work with children and families will sometimes bring us into contact with confidential information. To ensure that all those using and working in the holiday club can do so with confidence, we will respect confidentiality in the following ways:

• Parents will have ready access to the files and records of their own children but will not have access to information about any other child

• Staff will not discuss individual children, other than for the purposes of curriculum planning with people other than the parents / careers of that childformation given by parents / careers to the staff will not be passed to other parents

• Students on training, when they are observing in the holiday club will be advised of our confidentiality policy and requested to respect it

MISSING CHILD PROCEDURE

The safety of the children in our care has to be priority at all times. However, if at any time we have a situation where a child is ‘missing’ staff have to consider it a matter of urgency and the following procedure would take place: -

• A thorough search of the premises, starting from top floor; training room, staff room and toilets, moving to the first floor (including staff toilets, staff room and office), ground floor (including Baby Unit, kitchen and dinning room), play-garden, grounds and surrounding area. All other children remain supervised throughout.

• If unsuccessful, we will contact the parent, career or emergency named person as per registration records.

• We will continue to search whilst other staff maintain as near to normal routine as possible for the rest of the children in the holiday club.

UNCOLLECTED CHILD PROCEDURE

We would strongly recommend that Parent / Carer always inform the holiday club if they are going to be late to collect their child. Additional charges will be added.

We will always try to contact the parent, carer or emergency named person first. It is, therefore, very important that you notify us of any changes on the enrolment form.

If a child is not collected after normal working hours (after 6.00pm) we will aim to contact the parent, career or emergency named person first for at least ½ hour. If there is no response, we will call Social services and local police.

We will keep child occupied with some activities until suitable arrangements have been made for the collection of the child.

BEHAVIOUR & DISCIPLINE – POLICY & PRACTICE

In Sandholm, we believe that children and staff flourish best in an ordered environment in which everyone knows what is expected of them and children are free to develop their play and learning without fear of being hurt or hindered by anyone else. We aim to work towards a situation in which children can develop self-discipline and self-esteem in an atmosphere of mutual respect and encouragement. In order to achieve this:

• All staff will try to provide a positive model for the children with regard to friendliness, care and courtesy and to offer strategies for handling any conflict. Calm approach and reassurance is essential when dealing with children. Conflict of any kind between children has to be avoided with constant and good supervision of the key worker.
• Rules governing the conduct of the group and the behavior of the children will be discussed and agreed within the holiday club and explained to all newcomers, both children and staff.
• All staff in the holiday club will ensure that the rules are applied consistently, so that children have the security of knowing what to expect and can build up useful habits of behavior. Good behavior will be encouraged by our ‘gold star chart’ and rewards at the collection of 5 gold stars. We will praise and endorse desirable behavior such as kindness and willingness to share.
• No bullying is allowed. Staff will have to discourage the children from bullying and make them aware that is wrong thing to do.
• In case of child biting other children, staff will make a plan of how to deal with the problem. The Parent of the child who is biting will be notify and asked to work with the holiday club staff to discourage the biting.
• Staff will take positive steps to avoid a situation in which children receive adult attention only in return for undesirable behavior.

When children behave in unacceptable ways:

• They will be given one-to-one adult support in seeing what was wrong and how to cope more appropriately. Where appropriate, this might be accomplished by a period of “time out” with an adult.
• Children will never be sent out of the room by themselves.
• Physical punishment, such as smacking or shaking, will be neither used nor threatened.
• Techniques intended to single out and humiliate individual children such as the “naughty chair” will not be used.
• Physical restraint, such as holding, will be used only to prevent physical injury to children or adults and/or serious damage to property.  Any significant event of this sort will be recorded, and the parent informed the same day.
• In case of serious misbehavior, such as racial or other abuse and bullying, the unacceptability of the behavior and attitudes will be made clear immediately, but by means of explanations rather than personal blame.
• In any case of misbehavior, it will always be made clear to the child or children in question that it is the behavior and not the child that is unwelcome.
• Staff in the holiday club will make themselves aware of, and respect, a range of cultural expectations regarding interactions between people.
• Any behavior problems will be handled in a developmentally appropriate fashion, respecting individual children’s level of understanding and maturity.
• Recurring problems will be tackled by the whole holiday club, using objective observation records to establish an understanding of the cause. We will look out for a possible pattern.
• Staff has to be aware that some kinds of behavior may arise from a child’s special needs and SENCO representative is to be informed.

SPECIAL NEEDS – POLICY & PROCEDURES

Sandholm holiday club aim to provide welcome and appropriate learning opportunities for all children.

• Children with special needs, like all other children, are admitted to the holiday club after consultation between parents, SENCO, key worker and supervisor.
• Our aim is to provide for the developmental needs of each child in the group.
• All children in the group, irrespective of their special needs, are encouraged wherever possible and appropriate to participate in all the group’s activities
• Our system of observation and record-keeping, which operates in conjunction with parents, enables us to monitor children’s needs and progress on an individual basis.
• The needs and progress of children who have special educational needs are monitored by our group’s special educational needs co-ordinator.
• Our key worker system ensures that each adult is especially responsible for their group, so each child receives plenty of adult time and attention.
• We work in liaison with ‘Advisory Teachers’ in Blackpool EYDCP, to meet children’s specific needs.
• Our staff attend whenever possible training arranged by the professional bodies

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES POLICY

In Sandholm, we believe that the group’s activities should be open to all children and families, and to all adults committed to their education and care. We aim to ensure that all who wish to work in, or volunteer to help with, in our holiday club have an equal chance to do so.

Admissions-   Our holiday club is open to every child and every family in the community. Families joining our holiday club are made aware of its equal opportunities policy, which is regularly reviewed.

Employment-  Any vacancies will be advertised. The holiday club will appoint the best person for each job and we have a system in place that will treat fairly all applicants for jobs and all those appointed. Commitment to implementing the holiday club’s Equal Opportunities Policy will form part of the job description for all workers.

Families-      Sandholm holiday club recognizes that many different types of family group can and do successfully love and care for children. Our aim is to offer support to all families.

Festivals-      Our aim is to show respectful awareness of all major events in the lives of the children and families in Sandholm, and in our society as a whole, and to welcome the diversity of backgrounds from which they come.

In order to achieve this:

• We aim to acknowledge all the festivals which are celebrated in our area and/or by the families involved in the holiday club
• Without indoctrination in any specific faith, children will be made aware of the festivals which are being celebrated by their own families or others, and will be introduced where appropriate to the stories behind the festivals.
• Before introducing a festival with which the adults in the holiday club are not themselves familiar, appropriate advice will be sought from parents and other people who are familiar with that festival.
• Children and families who celebrate at home festivals with which the rest of the holiday club is not familiar will be invited to share their festival with the rest of the group, if they themselves wish to do so.
• Children will become familiar with and enjoy taking part in a range of festivals, together with the stories, celebrations and special food and clothing they involve, as part of the diversity of life.

The Curriculum-      All children will be respected and their individuality and potential recognized and valued. Activities and the use of play equipment offer children opportunities to develop in an environment free from prejudice and discrimination. Management of the resources within the holiday club will ensure that both girls and boys have full access to all kinds of activities and equipment and are equally encouraged to enjoy and learn from them. Appropriate opportunities will be given to children to explore, acknowledge and value similarities and differences between themselves and others.

Resources-    These will be chosen to give children a balanced view of the world and an appreciation of the rich diversity of our multiracial society. Materials will be selected to help children to develop their self-respect and to respect other people by avoiding stereotypes and by using images and words which reflect positively the contribution of all members of society.

Special Needs-       The holiday club recognises that children have a wide range of needs which differ from time to time, and will consider what part it can play in meeting these needs as they arise. Planning for holiday club’s meetings and events will take into account the needs of people with special educational needs and disabilities.

Discriminatory Behavior/Remarks-Any discriminatory language, behavior or remarks by children, parents or any other adults are unacceptable in Sandholm. Our response will aim to demonstrate support for the victim(s), to help those responsible to understand and overcome their prejudices and to make it clear that such behavior/remarks will not be tolerated.

Language-     Basic information, written and spoken, will be clearly communicated in as many languages as are necessary and possible. Bilingual/multilingual children and adults are an asset to the whole holiday club. Parents will be encouraged to speak to children in their first language at home. Children and parents who have English as a second or additional language will be valued and their languages recognized and respected in the holiday club.

Food-          Working in partnership with parents, children’s medical, cultural and dietary needs will be met...

Meetings-     The holiday club will make every effort to ensure that the time, place and conduct of meetings enable the majority of parents to attend so that all families have an equal opportunity to be involved in and informed about the holiday club.

HEALTH & SAFETY

All the staff are instruct and trained to possible exposed risk and are aware of protective/preventive measures. All accidents, injuries and first aid treatments are recorded.

ILLNESS – Health & Safety

Following exclusion procedures for illness in accordance with Health Protection Department:

• Temperature- Child must be off until temperature is back to normal
• Vomiting-    Child must be off minimum 24 hours from very last attack
• Conjunctivitis-       Child must be off for a minimum of 1 day or longer if eyes still weeping
• Diarrhoea-  24 hours from last attack or until at least 2 clear nappies / 2 clear stools
• Head Lice-  Until appropriate treatment has been given & clear of lice & eggs
• Infective hepatitis-        Minimum 7 days from onset of jaundice
• Measles-     Minimum 7 days from appearance of the rush
• Mumps-     Minimum 7 days from onset of illness and until swelling has subsided
• Rubella-       Minimum 7 days from appearance of rush
• Meningitis  Child must be off until recovered from the illness
• Whooping Cough- 21 days from the onset of cough
• Polio-       Until declared free from infection
• Scarlet Fever-    Minimum 3 days from the start of treatment
• Mouth Thrush-   Until declared free from infection
• Chicken Pox -       Until spots have stopped weeping.

• Parents are asked to keep their children at home if they have any infection, and to inform the holiday club as to the nature of the infection. This will allow the holiday club to alert other parents as necessary and to make careful observations of any child who seems unwell.
• If child has a two continue loose nappies or stools, Parent will be notified and asked to collect the child from the holiday club. Exclusion will proceed for minimum 24 hours.
• Parents are asked not to bring into the holiday club any child who has been vomiting or had diarrhoea until at least 24 hours has elapsed since the last attack. Careful observing the children for signs and symptoms of meningitis, hepatitis, mumps, measles, rubella, diarrhoea, vomiting and fevers. If child has high fever, particularly of 101ºF/38ºC or over staff will contact immediately parent/carer to collect the child as soon as possible. In the mean time staff will make a sure that child is as comfortable as possible.
• In case of serious illness or accident then parent/career will be immediately contacted along with the child’s doctor for further advice. Appropriate action should be taken. If parent/career cannot be contacted then staff will call emergency named person and follow the instructions. In the unlikely event of the parent, career or emergency named person not being available the owner and supervisor will assume charge and if necessary take the child to hospital.
•   In the events of major accident, the following procedure should take a place:

• We will assess the situation and decide whether the child needs to go immediately to hospital.
•  If child need immediate hospital care then an ambulance will be called and senior member of staff will accompany the child and stay with child until parents/career could be contacted and take over. Member of staff will not sign for any treatment to be carried out.
• A report of the accident will then be recorded in the accident book.
• As soon as a child is back to holiday club Parent/career have to read and sign the book what is being reported in the accident book.

•   In the events of minor accident, the following procedure should take a place:

• Any minor accident is assessed by the key worker and if necessary the ‘first aider’ and supervisor is called
• The injury is then treated
• The child is then observed until first aider is satisfied that child is fit enough to continue their activities.
• The incident is then recorded in the accident book.
• Parent/career will be informed of an accident when they collect the child. They need to read and signed accident book

• If children of holiday club staff are unwell, the children will not accompany their parents to work in the holiday club
• Cuts or open sores, whether on adults or children will be covered with appropriate dressing. Staff are to obtain permission from the parents/careers to apply a plaster to child whenever they feel necessary.

• If the child is on prescribed medication the following procedures will be followed:

• If possible, the child’s parents will administer medicine. If not, then medication must be stored in the original container and clearly labeled with child’s name, dosage, expiry date and any instructions.
• Only Supervisor or Deputy Supervisor will administer medicine in absence of Supervisor and witness by other member of staff.
• All medications will be kept in a lockable cupboard
• Information about medication will be obtained from the parent giving clear instructions about the dosage, administration of the medication and permission for a Supervisor or Deputy Supervisor to follow the instructions.
• A ‘Medicine Book’ is situated on the ‘Medicine box’ and will be available to log in: name of child receiving medication; times that the medication should be administered; date and time when medication is administered, together with the signature of the person who has administered each dose

• There will always be on the premises at least one qualified first aider trained to administer first aid to children. The First Aider representative will ensure that the first aid equipment is kept clean, replenished and replaced as necessary. Sterile items will be kept sealed in their packages until needed

Information sources

• Parents will have opportunity to discuss health issues with holiday club staff and will have access to information available to the holiday club
• The holiday club will maintain links with health visitors and gather health information and advice from the local health agencies.

OUTDOOR PLAY – Health & Safety

Children will have the opportunity to play outside throughout the year (either in the holiday club’s play garden or on regular outings to parks). In sunny days, particularly in summer, Sandholm holiday club will provide each child with named protective hats against sun. However, sun cream is to be provided by parent clearly labeled with child’s name. Staff will take a special care to apply sun cream on all sun-exposed skin and reapply if necessary. Only staff that had clearance from CRB is allowed to do so. At the end of the summer season, unused sun creams will be returned to parents

SAFETY POLICY & PROCEDURES

Environment

• Safety checks on premises, both outdoors and indoors is made before every day/session. Our play garden is securely fenced and garden doors locked
• The layout and space ratios will allow children and adults to move safely and freely between activities.
• There is adequate systems and equipment for the detection and control of fire. Firedoors are easily identifiable.
• In case of loss of electric power, emergency lights will stay on for period of maximum three hours. If the time is longer than three hours and late in the afternoon, it is required that supervisor or person in charge, contact all parents whose children are still in the holiday club to be collected. If time expectation is less then three hours we will occupy children with arranged activities, singing etc
• A record will be kept of any checks by the Fire Safety Officer and also of fire drills and servicing of fire safety equipment. Any recommendations by the Fire Safety Officer will be carried out
• All dangerous materials, including medicines and cleaning materials, will be store out of reach of children
• Equipment offered to children will be developmentally appropriate, recognising that materials suitable for an older child may pose a risk to younger children
• Internal safety gates/barriers will be used as necessary
• Smoking is strictly prohibited anywhere inside or outside of premises

Supervision

• All children are to be supervised by staff at all times and will always be within sight of an adult
• Children will leave the group only with authorised adults
• Children will not have unsupervised access to kitchens, cookers or any cupboards storing hazardous materials including matchers, lighters, etc.
• On outings, the adults: child ratio will be monitored at all times.  We do encourage parents to take a part as volunteers. If a small group goes out, there will be sufficient adults to maintain appropriate ratios for staff and children remaining on the premises.
• Children who are sleeping will be supervised at all times and checked regularly

Special considerations

Some areas and activities pose particular hazards. All staff will be aware of these:

• Children playing with or near water will be continuously supervised
• There will be safe surfaces beneath and around all climbing equipment and such activities will be appropriately supervised. We will take in consideration number of children playing on climbing equipment.
• All cooking activities involving the use of heat will be continuously supervised. Any cooking equipment for these activities will be checked for potential hazards before activities take place. Children will not be allowed in the kitchen at all.
• Access to stairways will be physically restricted and when in use, closely supervised

COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

If there is any reason for queries or complains, these should first be discussed with Supervisor of the area and if the problem is not solved at this stage, an appointment should be made with the Senior Supervisor and Proprietor. If a solution to the problem is not found and you wish to take the matter further, then you should write to:

OFSTED Early Years
3rd Floor, Royal Exchange Buildings
St Ann’s Square
Manchester
M2 7LA

RISK ASSESSMENT POLICY

A risk assessment is nothing more than a careful examination of what, in our holiday club, could cause harm to children, staff, students and visitors, so that we can weigh up whether we have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm. Our aim is to make sure that no one gets hurt or becomes ill.
It is very important that staff report whether an unreported hazard is significant and how to cover by satisfactory precautions so that the risk is small.

Staff are aware of the risk assessment which will be reviewed every six months or if there is any change on the premises.

All staff are aware of Health & Safety procedures and that equipment is in good working order and is checked on a regular basis.

CO-ORDINATORS

First Aiders:            Brenda Gallagher – Proprietor
Pamela Musgrave-Haddow

Fire Wardens:           Vicky Cason – Fire Marshall

Equal Opportunities:     Vicky Cason

Special Education Needs: Rebecca Jennings

Child Protection:        Pamela Musgrave-Haddow
Rebecca Jennings                     

Behaviour & Discipline:  Rebecca Jennings

Health, Hygiene & Safety:    John Gallagher

Risk Assessment:     Brenda Gallagher
Pamela Musgrave-Haddow