Abbeymore, our 'Unique' Nursery and Preschool in Reading has an excellent reputation for providing the highest quality early care and education for babies and children from 3 months to 5 years.

Our nursery operates from a beautiful converted Victorian house, spread over two floors, with seven spacious play rooms and outdoor play areas. Our premises are clean, airy, well lit, and are welcoming year round.

Our group rooms and communal areas are brightly decorated with the children's art work, posters, notice boards, hanging decorative mobiles and photographs – each area is stocked with high-quality toys and resources appropriately matched to different stages of your child’s development, giving your child the opportunity to learn and grow confidence from their earliest stages right through to when they are almost ready for school.

Our staff team is well qualified and highly-experienced in delivering excellent childcare. Our workers strive to provide the children in our care with a wide range of activities including quiet, story time, role-play, creative activities and outdoor learning - we like to keep little one’s fit and active and the nursery has ample provision for outdoor play, with excellent opportunities for exploration and fun in our garden.

To keep your child happy and healthy, all meals in the nursery are home made, nutritious and freshly prepared by our cook on the premises.

Abbeymore is an inclusive nursery and all nappies and wipes are also included in the fees.

We offer many educational programmes in our Preschool room including, Growing Readers, Growing Writers and Growing Mathematicians. We have also introduced Growing Artists and Growing Scientists. We also offer extra curricular activities including, Zumba, Football Club and Mini Maestros Music Lesson. These activities are all included in the fees and Term Time only, with external Qualified Teachers, Instructors and Coaches.

Updated August 2021

At Abbeymore Day Nursery equal opportunity and inclusion is at the heart of all that we do. We are committed to continuous improvement and evaluating what we do to help us provide the best possible care. We challenge ourselves to ask questions, seek solutions and embrace new ideas. We are actively committed to valuing individuals and to inclusion.

We value the importance of secure Key Person practices in supporting each child’s emotional wellbeing and the value of strong key person and parent partnerships in meeting the needs of young children.

The Key Person ensures that regular observations of the child’s learning and development are recorded and that the child’s Learning Story is up to date. The Key Person meets with the parent/s regularly to discuss progress, celebrate learning and to support the child’s development at home to compliment the learning and development provided in the nursery.

The observation assessment and tracking of all children is an integral aspect of our work in relation to planning for children’s development and learning. Where a concern is raised about a child’s learning and development and they are identified by the parent/carers, a specialist agency or through the observations and assessment of staff as having special educational needs, the nursery will provide information regarding evidence, supporting this and contact multi agencies in order to start the process of an individual learning plan and anything further we need to put in place as a setting.

If a Key Person becomes concerned about a child’s learning and development she/he will discuss her/his concerns with the nursery Special Educational Needs Coordinator.   A parent and Key Person meeting is arranged.

Regular meetings are held with the child’s Key Person to keep parents up date with their child’s development, achievements and next steps. Also involving what is in place at home, in order to keep consistency for that child.

If the Key Person , SENCO consider it to be appropriate to trigger further intervention through the graduated approach with the four stages of action: Assess Plan Do Review following the initial assessment. A meeting will be arranged with the parents. The decision to trigger further intervention will only occur if the parents have agreed for this to happen.

All meeting are conducted with sensitivity and parents are fully informed of their rights and the support available.

The child’s progress will be monitored throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage and being recorded in the child’s Learning Story. Additional monitoring of progress in relation to special educational needs and disability will be recorded in the My Support Plan review - which is placed in the learning journal. When planning for learning experiences and activities the teaching strategies and provision will be incorporated, so as to ensure that the child has full access to the curriculum. Alongside the support plan, the child will have an individual education plan (IEP) which records targets, strategies and timing of this achievement. These are reviewed frequently, based on the child’s capability.

This can be a number of different strategies, depending on each individual and the need they had. We are able to gain further resources if needed and are able to put necessities in place these include:

-       A visual timetable (to support them with their daily routine)

-     Use of now and next visuals

-     Use of Makaton

-       Small group sessions

-       Specific resources (for that child’s needs)

-       One to one time with that child’s key worker

-      Attention Autism strategies

All individual needs are respected and valued and what would make that child’s development grow would be our priority within their time spent at Abbeymore.

If at a review meeting it is felt that external support is required this will be discussed and agreed with the parents before any referrals are made. A referral will then trigger intervention through the Education, Health and Care needs assessment where a My Support Plan will be completed with the advice and support of the relevant external support service.

In certain circumstances we can provide additional support / resources for children with SEND. The local Authority in each council will have set criteria for each case and if the needs meet the criteria funding and extra resources may be made available. If training is made available to enable us to care for a child with additional or SEND we would also invite parents along to join in too.

The SENCO and Key Person, in consultation with the child’s parents, will start to ‘The My Support Plan’ as well as the Local Authority Send Development Journal. In addition to the My Support Plan Booklet the SENCO, in consultation with the Nursery Manager, may need to arrange for additional staff development or training and or the acquisition of specific learning materials or specialised equipment.

The My Support Plan Booklet  is reviewed regularly with the childs Key Person, Parents and SENCO as required depending on the child’s needs and progress; as a guide this should be at least three monthly. The involved external support services should be invited to the review meeting as

necessary. Where possible complete the Child’s views, thoughts and feelings page in the My Support Plan Booklet to gain the child’s awareness of her/his needs and how these could be best supported.

We provide a differentiated curriculum in the setting and so experiences are provided which allow all children to participate.  One to one support can be provided for any children with additional needs or SEND when needed. 

The nursery has a ramp at the rear of the nursery for wheelchair users and has a lift to access the rooms upstairs

How will you support my child’s transition to a new setting or school?

As children develop from birth throughout childhood they move, or make a transition from one learning environment or setting to a new one. Often, these transitions involve a process of change that requires them to adapt their thoughts, feelings and behaviours to meet new expectations.

Transition form home to nursery

• Flexible settling in visits

• ‘All about me’ forms and information sharing

• The introduction of a key carer

Transition between different age groups within the nursery

• Phase in visits

• Information sharing

• Key Person and learning story handover

Transition to school

• Discussions and activities about school

• Learning Story handover to parents and any other relevant documents

• Nursery staff to partake in any transition events the schools may put on

• School teachers are actively encouraged to visit the nursery

Transition document completed by the child’s Key Person to be set to the school

The nursery operates a number of opportunities for parents to share feedback and reflect on the service we provide.  The nursery actively seeks parents views through......

Open Door Policy

Customer Listening Groups

Parent Survey

Parent Questionnaires

Parent meetings (with their Key Person)

Nursery manager Paula Reynolds

Telephone No. - 01189 26 00 00

Email - abbeymore@brighthorizons.com

The nursery operates a number of opportunities for parents to share feedback with us…..

Open Door Policy

Customer Listening Groups

Parent Survey

Parent Questionnaires

Parent meetings (with their Key Person)

Nursery complaints procedure