Policy & Procedures

This page provides an overview of the philosophy, aims, principles and strategies for the delivery of the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum at Yew Tree Nursery & Pre-School. Our approach ensures that the EYFS meets the aim of improving outcomes and reflects that it is every child’s right to grow up safe, healthy, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and with economic well‐being. We value our community where children, parents/carers and staff can feel secure and happy, thus enabling them all to work together and fostering an ethos of tolerance and mutual respect.

Our curriculum is child‐centred, focused upon the development of the individual child, socially, emotionally, physically, aesthetically, morally and cognitively. We recognise that the needs of our young children are such that it is not possible to separate their need for learning experiences from their need for care and emotional support.

Children learn through their senses and through powerful interaction with their environment. There is a strong focus on play‐based and outdoor learning together with a combination of structured play, first‐hand experience and some directed teaching. The development of the whole child is considered crucial.

Safeguarding

We work with children, parents, external agencies and the community to ensure the welfare and safety of children and to give them the very best start in life. Children have the right to be treated with respect, be helped to thrive and to be safe from any abuse in whatever form.

We support the children within our care, protect them from maltreatment and have robust procedures in place to prevent the impairment of children’s health and development. Safeguarding is a much wider subject than the elements covered within this single policy, therefore this document should be used in conjunction with the nursery’s other policies and procedures.

Parents as Partners

We believe that parents and staff need to work together in a close partnership in order for children to receive the quality of care and early learning to meet their individual needs. We welcome parents as partners and support a two-way sharing of information that helps establish trust and understanding. We are committed to supporting parents in an open and sensitive manner to be an integral part of the care and early learning team within the nursery.

Promoting Positive Behaviour

We believe that children flourish best when they know how they and others are expected to behave. Children gain respect through interaction with caring adults who act as good role models, show them respect and value their individual personalities. The nursery encourages and praises positive, caring and polite behaviour at all times in and provides an environment where children learn to respect themselves, other people and their surroundings.

Children need to have set boundaries of behaviour for their own safety and the safety of their peers. Within the nursery we aim to set these boundaries in a way which helps the child to develop a sense of the significance of their own behaviour, both on their own environment and those around them. Restrictions on the child’s natural desire to explore and develop their own ideas and concepts are kept to a minimum.

Inclusion and Equality

We take great care to treat each individual as a person in their own right, with equal rights and responsibilities to any other individual, whether they are an adult or a child. We are committed to providing equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice for all children and families according to their individual needs. Discrimination on the grounds of gender, age, race, religion or belief, marriage or civil partnership, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, ethnic or national origin, or political belief has no place within our nursery