Ladybirds Pre-School

Last updated: 05/01/2024

Ladybirds is a small, friendly, stimulating and happy pre-school. We currently take up to 28 children in our sessions for 2.5 – 5 year olds.  We open between 9am and 3pm, term time only, with sessions split into  morning (9-11:45), afternoon (12:00pm – 2:50pm including lunchtime) and full day (9am-2:50pm).  We aim to offer flexible arrangements for parents and carers, so sessions can be taken in any combination provided we have space available. 2.5 year olds can only attend morning sessions. 15 and 30 hour free entitlement places are offered, along with funded 2 year old spaces and fee paying sessions.

Our premises are purpose built and fully accessible for all children and adults, with ramps and accessible toilets.  We are the only people who use the site and its facilities.

At Ladybirds we pride ourselves on understanding the children as individuals. We adapt our environment and routine to ensure every child is included, whatever their individual needs.

The pre-school itself includes a large playroom, a quiet room for reading and small group play as well as a 'challenge zone' used for adult led activities and sensory play. Activities are varied and are changed for each session.  Our outdoor area is well maintained with an open astro turf ‘active play’ zone and two covered areas, enabling outside play in all weathers.  We have a small climbing frame, a construction area, sand kitchen, exploration gardens and many different types of play equipment.

We run the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum which underpins our ‘learning through play’ philosophy.

Who to contact

Contact Name
Vikki Hart
Contact Position
Manager
Telephone
01635 40481
E-mail
ladybirdsoffice@ladybirdsnewbury.co.uk
Website
Ladybirds Pre-School

Where to go

Name
Ladybirds Pre School
Address
Ladybirds Pre School
Roebuts Close
Newbury
Postcode
RG14 7AP

Other Details

Costs

Table of costs
Table of costs
AmountCost Type
£6.25 per hour
Details
£6.25 Per Hour for all sessions plus small contribution for snack and cleaning per term.

Availability

Age Ranges

Age Range Notes

From 2 years 6 months to 5 years 0 months

Other notes

We do not hold funded places specifically for 3 or 4 year olds so it is difficult to give accurate figures above. We do not restrict the number of funded places we offer.  Our sessions are fully flexible.

Inclusion Information

Dietary Needs

Has Provision
Yes
Details
Specific dietary requirements are catered for at the snack bar. Children provide their own lunch. Nut free environment

Childcare Information

Vacancies

Immediate vacancies
Details
We are taking waiting list places for January 2024
Date updated
20/08/2023
Vacancy range(s)
Vacancy range(s)
PlacesStart AgeEnd Age
0 2 2
0 3 5

Funded Places

3 & 4 year old funding
2 year old funding

30 Hours Extended Entitlements

Are you intending to provide 30 Hours?
Yes
Are you registered to provide 30 Hours?
Yes
30 Hour Partner Summary
None

Waiting List

Do you have a waiting list?
No

Opening Times & Facilities

Opening Times
Opening Times
DayOpening TimeClosing Time
Monday 09:00 14:45
Tuesday 09:00 14:45
Wednesday 09:00 14:45
Thursday 09:00 14:45
Friday 09:00 14:45

School Pickups

Offers pickups

Ofsted Information

Ofsted URN
2773346
Link to latest ofsted inspection report 

Local Offer

Description

Ladybirds is a small, friendly, stimulating and happy pre-school. We currently take up to 35 children in our sessions for 2 – 5 year olds.  We open between 9am and 2:45pm, term time only, with sessions split into morning (9-11:45am) and afternoon (12:00pm – 2:45pm). We aim to offer flexible arrangements for parents and carers, so sessions can be taken in any combination provided we have space available. 15 and 30 hour free entitlement places are offered, along with funded 2 year old spaces and fee paying sessions.

Our premises are purpose built and fully accessible for all children and adults, with ramps and toilets.  We are the only people who use the site and its facilities.

At Ladybirds we pride ourselves on understanding the children as individuals. We adapt our environment and routine to ensure every child is included, whatever their individual needs.

The pre-school itself includes a large playroom, a quiet room for reading and computer activities and an art and craft room. Activities are varied and are changed for each session.  Our outdoor area is well maintained with an open astro turf ‘active play’ zone and two covered areas, enabling outside play in all weathers.  We have a small climbing frame, a pebble construction area, sand kitchen, exploration gardens and many different types of play equipment.

We run the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum which underpins our ‘learning through play’ philosophy.

Contact Name
Vikki Hart
Contact Telephone
01635 40481
Contact Email
ladybirdsmanager@outlook.com
SEN Provision Type
Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties, Medical, Specific Literacy Difficulties, Speech & Language Difficulties, Behavioural, Emotional & Social Difficulties, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Physical Disability, Hearing Impairment, Moderate Learning Difficulties, Severe Learning Difficulties, Visual Impairment
Local Offer Age Bands
1 to 4
Needs Level
Low

Early Years Private, Voluntary & Independent Settings

1: How does the setting identify children with additional needs or SEND?

We ensure early identification and intervention using a Graduated Response, this focuses on Observation, differentiation of activity and resources, parental involvement and assessment to help each child progress in their learning, bringing in support from outside agencies if needed. In the first few weeks of joining us your child's Key Person will complete a baseline assessment identifying a starting point with their development, enabling us to see the on going progress they are making. We gain an understanding of their development stage using development matters/Early years outcomes and if they are developing within the expected norms of development for their age This initial assessment is recorded in your child's "look what I can do"; learning journey, where we record observations of achievements weekly, over all areas of learning. This evidence informs our weekly updated assessment sheets, which in turn are used to track development termly to clearly show the progress your child is making with their learning and development and will also identify children who are not making expected development. We record children's levels of involvement and well being using Leuven Scales each term. Involvement focuses on the extent to which children are operating to their full capabilities. In particular it refers to whether the child is focused, engaged and interested in various activities and experiences. Monitoring these levels helps us look at each child individually and evaluate if our environment is providing the stimulation, challenge and opportunity for play and exploration to every child regardless of their stage of development. Well-being focuses on the extent to which children feel at ease, act spontaneously, show vitality and self-confidence. We monitor children's wellbeing, helping us identify if we need to give additional support to any children for example, as they settle in some children may struggle to form secure attachments or find the separation particularly difficult. Once identified we can talk to the child and parents to work on effective strategies both at home and in the setting, helping regain high levels of well being. We are an ECAT setting, which means we support the ";Every Child A Talker" approach. We understand the importance of early identification of delay in speech and language. We have a designated ECAT lead person, who works with all practitioners, supporting them in working with children and families. We provide advice of and work with local outside agencies who can advise of the next steps to take and strategies to help children make progress. The register keeps track of who might be at risk and how each key person is providing additional support to the child and parents/carers.

If you have concerns about your child please speak to your child’s key person, SENCO or Manager, who will work with you in taking the next steps in supporting your child. As parents you are able to make your own referrals and we will also support and advise you through this process.

2: How will I be informed / consulted about the ways in which my child is being supported?

If our assessments show that a child may have a learning difficulty, we use a range of strategies that make full use of all available resources. The child's Key person will offer interventions that are different from or additional to; those usually used. The Key person will keep parents informed and draw upon them for additional information. If the SENCo, Key person and parents feel that the child would benefit from further support, the SENCo will then take the lead in coordinating further assessments of the child's needs this may be in the form of a SAPP. Support and Achievement Play Plans (SAPP) and Supporting Steps, which employ a small-steps approach, feature significantly in the provision that we make in the setting. By breaking down the existing achievements into smaller steps and outcomes, we ensure that children experience success. We will record the strategies used to support the child in their SAPP and this will have involvement from the child's Parents/Carers and show the Long term hopes and outcomes they have for their child's development. At regular staff meetings all staff will discuss how your child is being supported in their learning and as a team how we will ensure a consistent approach to this.

3: How will the setting adapt the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum for my child's needs?

When children join our setting we spend time with their parents/carers to get an understanding of their interests, likes dislikes and capabilities at home. We make initial assessments that would include how our environment and routine supports them, their development stage across all areas of learning, their characteristics and patters of play will also have a huge influence on how we plan for them individually. Our SENCO supports all staff with planning and ensuring we meet the needs of children with SEN. We would put additional support in place if necessary and seek advice from outside agencies and professionals, with parental involvement if needed. SAPP's would be used to adapt and differentiate learning opportunity, setting outcomes in smaller achievable steps enabling us to measure progress being made, and identify possible lines of development to take. We understand that every child is unique, with their own interests likes and dislikes, our planning in action; approach allows the children to adapt their own systems of learning, supporting their independence and autonomy over the experiences they engage with. While adults act as their main resource extending and supporting learning and creating opportunity in all areas of the curriculum as we play.

4: What teaching strategies does the setting use for children with additional needs or learning difficulties?

Together with parents and carers we put together Support and Achievement play plans for children with additional needs or who need additional support in a specific area of learning. It is important to understand the parents long term hopes for their child and use this as our starting point to put together a teaching strategy that sets out the clear outcomes we want to achieve, supporting parents working on these same targets at home, if possible, promoting the best learning outcomes. We take small group activities in key person groups, covering all areas of learning and phonics and if needed take time during a session for 1:1 activity. We plan individually for children, using the development matters to ensure appropriate differentiation of activities and next steps. We use visual prompts, timetables, choice boards, picture exchange communication and Makaton and gesture to support children's communication and understanding and would seek advice from outside agencies about specialist equipment that might be needed or how to improve our environment making it more accessible to a child's specific needs.

5: What additional support does the setting provide for children with additional needs or SEND?

Through our initial assessment process and observation we can identify if a child will need additional support, we have a high staff child ratio which allows us to focus this support immediately, ensuring every child feels safe and secure, we have the time to build strong relationships between child and adults which allows us to put together strategies to support your child. We plan specific small group activity sessions, focusing on where support is needed e.g. Speech, Understanding, Social skills, Attention. When necessary we would work with our early years advisory team in making an application for additional funding to support your child within our setting, maybe providing funding for additional staff to provide 1:1 support or for additional resources. If training is available to support us in specific areas we would encourage parents to join us, we also advise parents on training available specifically for them and local support groups they could contact. Some of the support services we access:

Early Years advisory Team

Pre School teacher counselor service

Pre school SEND funding

Health Visitors

Help for Families

Educational Psychology Services

Children’s Centre

Speech and Language Drop in service

Sensory Consortium Service

6: How will the setting monitor my child's progress and how will I be involved in this?

Induction sessions give the parents and key person time to share information, it is important to gain an understanding of your child’s development at home and their experiences so far. We build our planning around this development from those past experiences and what they know. We make a Baseline assessment observations in the first few weeks, we will observe your child at play and find where they best fit in our expected development matters norms, this will be our starting point on which to show the progress they make each week. We record each child's development as they grow in their look what I can do journal, updating Assessment sheets weekly, noting their achievements and clearly showing the progress they are making in their development, these then helping us plan for their next steps. We have a termly monitoring system, which gives an overview of every child's progress, again helping us identify if more support is needed. Our planning is child centred with all activities, resources and experiences coming from our good understanding of what each child likes. There are many ways in which we gather this information, we ask parents to input into the planning for their child with a 'what I like to do at home'; sheet filled in with their child and we discuss with the children activities they like and places within our environment they choose to play in. Every child has a two year check carried out in their second year, if one has not been done at a previous setting then we will do this check with your involvement in your child's first full term. We record each child's development as they grow updating Assessment sheets weekly, noting their achievements and clearly showing the progress they are making in their development We offer Regular consultations and SAPP review meetings every six weeks, where we discuss the progress your child has made and outcomes achieved then with parental involvement we set the next steps and targets to take. Where a child attends another setting as well as ours or has moved to us, we make contact to gain information about that child and discuss any successful strategies used.

7: How do you ensure children with additional needs or SEND can be included in the same activities as other children, including trips?

We are fully inclusive of all children in every area of our pre school life, we have thorough risk assessments, have team meetings and discussion with parents/carers to come up with action plans and strategies ensuring successful, fun and stimulating experiences for all our children.

8: How accessible is the building for children with mobility difficulties / wheelchair users?

The setting is fully accessible with ramps and a toilet suitable for wheelchair users.

9: How will you support my child's transition to a new setting or school?

Transition can be a daunting time for children and adults, we try to celebrate this transition as an exciting time of change. If a child with SEND is joining us we will have meetings with the various professionals involved, who can advise us on our environment and support strategies to use. We hold staff meetings to discuss any action plan and ensure a consistent approach. When moving on to school The key person supports their key child as they make the transition. We invite the children's teachers to come in and meet them in their setting, in a social situation observing them at play with their friends. We share information, successful strategies used and any specific resource we may have developed for example picture exchange communication boards. We also make visits with children to their new school, when needed, to give support in this big step. We provide each child's learning circle for them to take to their school visit sharing important information about their likes and interests. Your child will receive a transition report summarising their achievements during their journey with us. Finally you take away your child's wonderful 'Look What I Can Do'; journal, this book holds the cherished memories of your child's early years, and will be looked through again and again for many years to come!

10: How does the setting assess the overall effectiveness of its SEN provision and how can parents / carers take part in this evaluation?

We assess the effectiveness of our SEN provision in many ways, assessing the experiences of children with SEN and their families while with us. the progress the children make in their development is critical to the continued development of our SEN provision. This is ongoing through the child and families journey with us, with regular communication and support and a strong parent partnership ensuring continued evaluation of our systems. We have regular visits from professionals involved with children with sen and they give us feedback and advise on the development of our provision and how we support families. We are a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and we encourage all parents to get involved, this is an opportunity for parents to share their experiences and ideas for development, enabling parents to really influence change.

11: Who should I contact if I am considering registering for a place at the setting?

Vikki Hart Manager and SENCO 01635 40481 ladybirdsmanager@outlook.com

12: What arrangements does the setting have for feedback from parents / carers, including compliments and complaints?

We actively encourage communication between parents and staff through informal meetings and face to face consultations. We run a parental survey once every full term (12 weeks) and publish the results on our website. Parents are encouraged to input into their child's learning journey by giving verbal and written observations of what their children have done outside pre-school. We have a clear complaints policy which is published on our website and all parents have access to these policies at any time.

Quality checks

  • DBS check

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