Our Kindergarten aim is to promote curiosity and an eagerness to learn in an environment where a child can develop skills at his/her own pace.

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The Kindergarten is owned by La-Ryne van der Westhuizen who will be on hand to answer any questions you may have. The Manager is Kirsty Johnson who works full time and is also available to help and answer queries at any time.  Our staff are looking forward to welcoming all the new children for the new school year.  Our staff team are caring, experienced, qualified, safeguarded and first aid trained and DBS checked.  We are committed to providing a safe and happy learning environment and supporting you and your family throughout their Preschool journey, building a strong foundation for entry into Primary School.

 

We have children moving on to all the local primary schools including Sonning Common, Caversham Park Primary, The Hill, Emmer Green, Caversham Primary, The Heights, Kidmore End to name a few.  We are in contact with all foundation teachers and work with them when children transition to Primary school.

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Key Information for parents

At Kingfisher we follow a free-flow system using ‘Planning in the Moment' where we set an enabling environment and encourage the children to explore and learn through their own interests.  This approach to learning results in the children having higher levels of involvement and being engaged for longer periods of time rather than lots of adult-led activities.

 

We still believe that the children should be involved in celebration activities, story and group time, music and P.E. sessions in order to prepare them for school so these will be included in our daily and weekly routines and planning. 

 

Throughout the day, all staff observe and interact with the children and use teachable moments in which they can extend their learning and make a difference. 

 

Every week, we have focus children and the observations/interactions made by the staff are then recorded in their Learning Journeys.  We will notify you when your child will be a focus child and we will ask you to fill in a form and email photographs of any special moments that have occurred at home or simply any photographs of the children, for example going to park or with their family.  There is also a section for you to fill in if you have any questions or concerns.  The week after being a focus child, we will invite you into Kingfisher for a discussion about your child’s progress and development.

 

We screen all children within the setting, every term, using our WellComm screening tool and the results will be discussed in your Focus Meeting.  

The WellComm toolkit was developed by Speech and Language Therapists at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust with the aim of providing easy to use support for everyone involved with children.

The toolkit helps us to quickly identify areas of concern in language, communication, and interaction development in order to ensure early targeted intervention if needed.

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As well as teachable moments, the staff will also observe when children start to do things independently which we will refer to as 'Wow Moments’.  The children will receive a certificate which will go up on our ‘Wow Wall’ display board which is next to the children’s trays. 

 

Each child will be assigned a member of staff as their 'Key Worker’.  The responsibility of your Key Person is to help your child settle and ensure their care is tailored to meet their individual needs, liaise with you regarding any issues and to provide you with developmental progress updates throughout your child’s time with us.    We have a small staff team and we do all work together and get to know all the children as a team.  Your child’s key person may change as your child progresses through the setting and you will be notified of these changes. Your child’s key person is your first point of contact for anything you wish to discuss about your child.