Our primary goal is to ensure that we provide the highest quality childcare that is both accessible and affordable. Our nursery will differentiate itself by a passionate attention to detail in everything we do underpinned by our quality programme.

Your children will be safe, loved and stimulated in an efficient, well maintained and above all homely environment. We will promote a healthy understanding and respect for natural values in all aspects of the nursery.

Above all, we want your children to leave our nursery with the confidence and skills to help them meet the challenges that lie ahead in the school system and beyond. We passionately believe this to be a joint effort between the nursery and parents and to that end we will promote the right environment for that partnership to succeed.

Ultimately, we wish to be a leading exponent of day nursery best practices and to achieve this through consideration of the needs of the child, the family, our staff, the community and the environment. The strategy we have adopted to achieve our mission is:

To enhance our quality of provision through continuous improvements in:

• Communication and participation
• Our policies and procedures
• Management and staff training
• The quality of our equipment and materials
• Investing in the building and its fixtures and fittings
• To engender the trust and respect of the nursery stakeholders and funders
• To manage the balance between business needs and people needs
• To effectively implement childcare strategies and Government legislation
• To maintain nursery development plans

The values that we have adopted to achieve our Mission are that we will always strive to:

• Behave ethically
• Ensure that children and their families are our paramount concern
• Create a stimulating and comfortable working environment
• Respond sympathetically to the needs of our people
• Ensure the care of the environment
• Act with integrity and trust
• Take pride in everything we do
• Always strive to improve what we do
• Value the contributions of employees
• Encourage and reward the highest standards

 

Aims and Objectives

 Our key aims and objectives can be broken down into the following areas:

•  Aims and objectives for the nursery generally
• Aims and objectives for children and the curriculum
• Aims and objectives for parents, carers and families
• Aims and objectives for staff

Ownership and Communication of Aims and Objectives

Ownership of the aims and objectives of the nursery ultimately resides with the Management Team, comprising the Proprietor, Nursery Manager and Deputy Manager. This team will meet each year in January to review the aims and objectives of the previous year and to formulate the policy for the following year.

Aims and objectives will be communicated through:

• The curriculum
• Child observation process
• Staff Handbook
• Staff appraisals and targets
• Parent Handbook
• Nursery Information Guide for Parents and Carers
• Parent meetings and events
• Policies and procedures (copies available in reception area)
• Staff meetings (monthly)
• Management team meetings (quarterly)
• Newsletters
• Noticeboards and signage
• Nursery web site

Policy Formulation

Our aims and objectives will be formulated and reviewed by regular reference to the following:

• Parent surveys
• Staff surveys
• Feedback from the children as appropriate
• Through quality programmes such as QuILT
• Management review meetings
• Awareness of industry best practices (our membership of the NDNA)
• Subscription to industry periodicals such as Nursery World, NMT, etc.
• Awareness of DFeS, Surestart and Early Years initiatives
• Our staff training programme

For the purposes of this policy we describe an aim as a general statement of intent. It tries to summarise, in broad terms, an activity which needs to take place to maintain and improve nursery operations.

Once we have established our aims it is them important to break these down into small, achievable activities and tasks, which will become our objectives. These objectives will be contained in our policies, procedures, handbooks and general documentation. Each activity will be governed by:

• What we will do.
• When the task or activity will be achieved.
• Using what (resources, equipment, facilities).
• To what standard.

Our Overall Business Aims and Targets

In order for the nursery to develop, we need a clear vision of where we want to be and to have sight of the key aims and targets that need to be understood by everyone involved in the nursery operations:

• To achieve a sustainable level of financial stability
• To achieve an “Outstanding” rating from Ofsted across all areas of inspection.
• To be recognised as the leading nursery in Brighton and Hove.
• To achieve quality accreditations such as QuILT (Qulaity in Learning and Teaching)
• To maintain an occupancy level above 90% in all rooms.
• To attract high quality, motivated and loyal staff.
• To secure most of our bookings by referral and word of mouth.
• To maintain a good working relationship with Surestart and the local Early Years groups such as the CEYC, PreSens, EMAS and other agencies.
• To have a healthy working relationship with local maintained and independent schools.
• To be recognised by local businesses as the nursery of choice for their employees.

Examples of how the aims will be achieved

• By producing monthly management accounts we will be able to monitor the financial health of the nursery.
• We will continue to participate in the QuILT programme as well as consider other quality initiatives such as Investors in People. This will keep us focussed on the detail of maintaining high standards.
• We will ensure that we have an action plan that is built around the Outcomes for Children to ensure that we can maintain and improve our Ofsted rating.

Aims and Objectives for Children

The overall aim is to create a warm, welcoming and homely environment in which children across the age ranges in their dedicated rooms can feel comfortable and safe, allowing them to thrive and grow in confidence. Working in conjunction with parents, carers, families and other appropriate groups such as (PRESENS, EMAS, SURESTART) we will focus on the children’s personal, social and emotional development when planning our curriculum and activities.

Children attending the nursery will be safe, loved and stimulated in an efficient, well maintained and above all homely environment. We will promote a healthy understanding and respect for natural values in all aspects of the nursery.

Above all, we want children to leave our nursery with the confidence and skills to help them meet the challenges that lie ahead in the school system and beyond. Our programme of care and education will aim to achieve the following key outcomes for our children:

• To encourage language and communication with other children and adults.
• To teach each child about sharing and being part of a group.
• To offer each child the most suitable stimuli for their stage of development.
• To help each child with understanding the basic concepts of mathematics, including length, weight and volume.
• To teach children about their five senses and how to use them.
• To help children recognise and identify shapes, colours and sounds.
• To help children understand their own bodies.
• To provide a greater understanding of other parts of the world and different cultures from their own.
• To teach children to respect themselves and others, as well as their background.
• To instil in each child the skill and co-ordination required to control writing tools and basic literacy.
• To encourage each child to persevere, without fearing being wrong.
• To encourage each child to be kind and compassionate to others.
• To encourage children to control their emotions and learn to express themselves appropriately.
• To allow each child to learn through fun and pleasurable activities.

We passionately believe this to be a joint effort between the nursery and parents / carers and to that end we will promote the right environment for that partnership to succeed

Curriculum, Learning and Play

We will promote a natural and stimulating environment both inside and out to allow children the time to explore the world around them at their own pace.  Our curriculum and approach to day care aims to include best practices from both private and government maintained settings, ultimately preparing the way for child’s entrance into the school system.

We aim to achieve a sensible balance between free and structured activities by offering a wide range of supervised activities designed to encourage language, confidence and independence. Our curriculum is based on good childcare best practices and is underpinned by the Government's Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) into our daily activities and curriculum.

Children’s feedback about the nursery

Q1. Why do you think you come to nursery?

“ My mummy brings me in a car and then goes to work.”

“ To play games and to see my friends.”

“ I like playing on the computer.”

“ I like everything at nursery.”

“ Because my mummy and daddy work”.

Q2.  What do you do at nursery?

 “ We play.”

“ We do lessons”.

“ We have breakfast and play outside and inside.”

“ Play Lego and go outside.”

“ Play with my friends.”

 

Q3. What do you think the adults do at nursery?

 “ Look after us.”

“ If you’re sick they make you better or phone mummy.”

“  Play with us.”

“ Tell us we need to share.”

 

Q4.  When you come to nursery what do you see?

 “ Lots of toys.”

“ Little people.”

“ I see birds outside.”

 

Q5. What happens if you do something special like a piece of work?

 “ If I do a picture I put it in my drawer.”

“ I show my mummy and daddy.”

“ We put it on the wall.”

 

Q6.  If you could change something about the nursery, what would it be?

 “ These cars.”

“ Some of the toys, I change them like a wizard.”

“ The rain.”

 

Q7  Who tells mummy and daddy what you’ve been doing at nursery?

 “ Us.”

“ Lorraine.”

“ Grown ups.”

“ Grandad.”

Aims and Objectives for Staff

The overall aim of our staffing policy will be to establish an environment which promotes staff loyalty and commitment. By generally ensuring there is consistency in our staffing, children develop a sense of security and are able to relate to their key carers in the nursery. In order to promote high levels of staff loyalty within the nursery, we are proposing the following:

•  To build an environment and reputation with which staff are proud to be associated.
• To pay a realistic and reviewed salary that will attract quality staff.
• To offer incentives for longer serving members such as additional holiday days, annual bonus and paid sick leave.
• To offer quality in house training such as NVQ and Apprenticeship schemes.
• To have regular appraisals by the manager and the proprietor.
• To enrol staff in associations such as the NDNA.
• To have regular staff meetings.
• To have a quality council on which key staff members will sit.
• To have clearly defined HR policies and procedures.
• To promote an environment of open and honest communication.
• To promote a team spirit through brand values.

In terms of staff to child ratios, we acknowledge the Ofsted requirement as follows:

Age of child	Staff-child ratio
0-2 years	1:3
2 -3 years	1:4
3-5 years	1:8

 

However, at The Wishing Tree, it is our policy to operate at more than the statutory minimum, ensuring that each group of children is cared for by a team led by a qualified and experienced member of staff. 

Staff feedback about our aims and objectives

We asked staff to comment on what they perceived our aims and objectives to be and here is a cross section of the results:

We believe the nursery is striving to provide:

• A safe environment
• A place to learn through play and interaction.
• A setting in which parents and carers feel happy to leave their children.
• A supportive setting for parents and staff.
• A happy and friendly atmosphere.
• A high quality of care to all children within the nursery.
• Regular and up to date training for staff.
• Ensure staff are familiar with up to date standards such as Foundation Stage, Birth to Three and the new Early Years Foundation Stage when it arrives.
• To have staff that are approachable for parents such that they feel they can discuss their children’s needs comfortably and confidently.
• In order to maintain the quality of our staff, we will ensure that each team member has a comprehensive training, assessment and appraisal programme, which is overseen by the Nursery Manager.
• By holding regular (every 4-6 weeks) staff meetings which are minuted against agreed agendas and followed up, we will ensure that we maintain a close working relationship with staff.
• We have always followed an open door policy in respect of access to management. Staff have unrestricted access to management at all times and similarly the Nursery Manager and Deputy have a hands on approach involving a good deal of time spent in the rooms working with staff.
• We conduct regular staff surveys to elicit feedback about a range of subjects from pay and remuneration to working conditions and daily operations.
• To promote staff retention we regularly review pay and remuneration and conduct annual appraisals.

Aims and Objectives for Partnership with Parents, Carers and Families

We recognise that a child’s first impressions of the world begins at home and it is therefore vital that both the nursery and parents work together. Parents are encouraged to share their ideas with us to help shape the service we offer to the children.

We value the contributions made by parents and will actively seek a partnership through which the children will benefit by having continuous and consistent care. This is an essential ingredient in supporting their confidence and developing their learning potential. At the Wishing Tree Nursery we understand that parents are the first and most enduring carers and educators of their children.

Regular communication and exchange of information is the key aim of our parent partnership which we will achieve in the following ways:

•  Our parent handbook.
• Our web site (www.wishingtreenursery.com).
• The parent and carer notice-board.
• Daily written and verbal reports about each child (eating, sleep, learning and care updates).
• Long term reports about each child based on observations.
• Nursery policies published in our reception area.
• The nursery quarterly newsletter.
• General notices and signs around the nursery.
• Parent and carer evenings.
• Social events such as parents evenings, summer fayre and open days.
• Travel plan to assist with dropping off and collecting children from nursery.
• Training sessions for parents such as behaviour management and child protection.
• Suggestion box.
• Complaints procedure (on parent notice board).
• Key person allocated to each child.
• Links with schools, health centres and local businesses.

Bearing in mind parents and children could be with us for many years, it is essential we establish an environment that makes it easy to exchange information and views. We also want to make it easy for parents as well as children to make new acquaintances and friends and we will provide lots of opportunities for this to happen.