Last Updated - November 5, 2024
Tadpoles Nursery is on site of Eden Park Primary School Academy.
We offer a safe, stimulating enviroment, which provides activities for all children aged 2-3 (The September after their 3rd birthday)
We are a 20 place nursery, offering sessions both morning and afternoon or all day sessions.
We offer local trips, parent play days, have links with childminders.
All children are observed closely and next steps are set for individual children so we can extend their experiences and learning to help them to thrive and develop confidently.
We have a secure ouside area, as well as a “Wild for Learning” forest school area, set in the school grounds.
Qualifications and training: Manager NVQ Level 3 in Childcare and Education and 18 years experience. Extensive list of training in various areas including special educational needs, and also worked as a support worker with families. All staff have a recognised qualifications within childcare and previous experience.
Your child may be entitled to 15 hours free childcare (please ask for more information)
Ofsted Grade: Good
Contact Name : Mandy Fisher
Contact Position : Manager
Telephone : 01803 854011
E-mail : admin@eppsa.org.uk
Website : www.eppsa.org.uk
Notes : mfisher@eppsa.org.uk
Name : Eden Park Primary School
Address : Eden Park
Brixham
Postcode : TQ5 9NH
Details : Please contact for costs
Age Ranges : 2 years to 3 years 8 months
Has Provision : Yes
Has Provision : Yes
Experience with : Emotional needs
Global Developmental Delay
Hearing Difficulties
Cerebral Palsy
Severe dietary needs
Social development impairment
Challenging Behaviour
Spinabifida
Diabetes
Downs syndrome
Visual impairment
Motor impairment
Physical impairment
ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Renal failure
Asthma
Serious allergy / Anaphilaxis
Autistic Spectrum Disorder ASD
Language impairment
Learning difficulties
Loss or Bereavement
Medical NeedsDetailsWe have a qualified SENCO on site who has experience of a variety of additional needs and disabilities and 17 years experience. Please see attached Local Offer for details.
Has Provision : Yes
Has Provision : Yes
Experience with : Yes
Details : Please contact for up to date information on sessions available.
3 & 4 year old funding : Yes
2 year old funding : Yes
Opening Times
| Day | Opening Time | Closing Time |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 08:50 | 15:15 |
| Thursday | 08:50 | 15:15 |
| Sunday | 08:50 | 15:15 |
| 08:50 | 15:15 | |
| 08:50 | 15:15 |
Facilities : Visit & Outings
Push-alongs
Ballet
Picnics
PC’s & Game Consoles
Offers pickups : No
Ofsted URN: 136892
Link to latest and historical ofsted inspection reports
SEND at Eden Park Primary & Nursery School (eppsa.org.uk)
Tadpoles Nursery has 5 qualified members of staff, the nursery manager is SEN trained and attends regular updates and training.
Most of the staff has basic makaton training, with intention of having all staff qualified by 2015.
The manager has a wide background of training and experience which includes ADHD, Autism, Cerabal palsy, speech and language, behavioural difficulties, fine and gross motor disabilities, and has also supported individual children with specialist diagnosis.
We have very close links with the school, who has qualified SEN, pastoral and Thrive leaders.
We have close relationships with the local speech and language therapists, whoo come into nursery to advise and observe the children who are receiving speech and language therapy.
We also have good relationships with Health visitors and social workers, educational psychologists, early years advisory support, portage workers, and family support workers. Tadpoles nursery attend regular training to help support parents/ carers and children with their individual needs.
Tadpoles is an Inclusive Provider and will consider placements for any child aged 2 to 3 (the September after their third birthday) whose parent(s)/carer(s) wish them to access our provision.
We follow the guidance as laid out in the Equalities Act 2010.
All children are welcome to our setting regardless of any special education needs.
We will discuss with the parent(s)/carer(s) the needs of their child and how we will meet their needs working in partnership with any other parties/agencies.
Having established the child’s needs, you will access training and/or resources to make every reasonable effort to enable the child to access our provision.
If you decide that you would like your child to attend Tadpoles, we ask that you fill in the application form, arrange a meeting with the manager to discuss your child’s needs and requirements, and the sessions you would like. If your desired sessions are not available then we will put you on the waiting list until they become available, but try and offer you something for the time being.
We follow the guidance set out in the SEND Code of Practice 2001 (to be revised in 2014).
We will organise settling in sessions for your child, where we will introduce you to staff and your child’s “Keyperson” and we will fill out a “settling in form” to gather together as much information as possible.
We will also with your consent gather information from other professionals and agencies your child is involved in and arrange a meeting with all together so your child gets the best possible start.
Once your child starts with us they will be continually assessed / observed and their progress recorded. Through this and dialogue with parent(s)/carer(s), any concerns are identified from which we will with consent, initiate appropriate interventions and/or approach other specialists and agencies for support to establish how best you can support the child.
We will invite families in to have a look around, and be introduced to the staff, let you and your child get a feel for the place and are welcome to ask any questions you like.(sometimes it is best to write the questions down before you come, as there may be so many you want to ask)
We offer free setting in sessions, on the first session we invite you in as a family to sta for an hour, Your childs “Keyperson” will sit with you and fill out an “all about me form” gaining as much information as possible to help your child settle, and your child will be invited to come and play with the staff, and explore the environment.
We will then invite your child back for another settling in session, where you will be encouraged to leave them for a little while, to see how they get on.
If your child does get upset and is unable to be comforted or distracted by play, we will call you to come back in and stay for a little while with your child, so they do not have a bad experience for future visits.
All children settle differently, and sometimes can take a few weeks to understand they parents are going to be coming back, and we also understand parents/carers get anxious too, but we are here to support both the children and parents to encourage a happy transition.
We will arrange a meeting with the professionals your child is involved with to gather as much information as we can, and to ensure good continuity of care.
At the beginning and end of every session we will speak to you to share information, we also have a daily information board outside for you to read when you collect your child.
We do offer written daily diaries as well in some circumstances if you would prefer.
Your child’s “Keyperson” will be responsible for their learning diary, which has observations, photographs and target for your child, we encourage parents to get involved in these regularly by taking them home adding achievements and milestones J
Tadpoles staff are always available for if you would like to discuss any matter, and you can always make arrangements to speak to the “keyperson” or manager in more depth.
All Tadpoles policies and procedures are kept out in the foyer for you to browse, including our Equal Opportunities/Inclusion Policy and Procedure.
All children are treated equally and our approach is very similar to that for all of your children, where we recognise and value the role of all those involved, parent(s)/carer(s). However, where special educational needs have been identified we ensure that we provide appropriate resources to meet these needs.
We work with other professionals and follow their advice in creating an Individual Learning & Development Plan (ILDP) for children with any additional needs; this would identify specific activities and learning / development objectives. The ILDP is developed with input from everyone involved with child,
We will arrange a meeting to set an ILDP, and also ILDP review meetings.
We encourage parents to follow the ILDP’s at home as well, so we have continuous environments. ILDP’s are followed by all staff and the child’s “keyperson” will follow the activities and strategies set each session your child attends.
Tadpoles nursery believe in having fun, learning and developing through play. We adapt activiteies in our environment to allow all children to participate.
We will use one to one adult support for children who require this to help them get involved in their peers.
A child with SEN, an ILDP or Specific learning plan will be encouraged to join in activities which are adapted to their needs, the activities will still be incorporated into the EYFS curriculum.
All children’s efforts are rewarded and praised at all times.
We can call on the support of Torbay’s Early Years Advisory Teacher and other professionals throughout Torbay for expert guidance and specialist equipment.
We will also contact portage workers and occupational therapists to access specialist equipment that may be needed.
We try are very hardest to provide the equipment, but there may be times when we may not always have the resources and facilities to meet the specific needs of an individual child.
Where this occurs, although you will make every reasonable effort to do so, there may be occasions when it is not possible and you cannot meet the child’s needs.
We are registered to accept National Education Grant (NEG) Funding for 2-5yr olds which is paid via the Local Authority; which entitles parents to 15 funded hours of childcare a week.
If it is identified that extra additional support is required beyond what we can provide as part of your normal ratios, then we can apply to the Local Authority for additional funding, for example if the child needs 1:1 support.
If additional learning support was needed we would look for support from other professionals such as;
The school also have fully qualified SEN, Pastoral and thrive workers, who also offer parenting and support groups in school and in the home, If you or we feel you would benefit from this, then we would refer you on and signpost you to the appropriate people.
We also receive regular information about courses which are happening locally and will advertise these in the foyer and on the notice board.
We have a Thrive leader in the school, as well as a fully qualified pastoral team to help support children with social and emotional development with Special educational needs.
We also have a staff member in Tadpoles who is currently be trained in “Thrive”
Tadpoles Manager attends regular SEN training and updates and feeds back to the staff members in her team.
Staff are also enthusiastic to attend training and extend their knowledge and also feedback to others.
We use makaton and visual aids, stories and puppets to help support children with understanding feelings and we encourage children into a warm, caring environment to help them feel safe and secure and be able to express their emotions.
As an inclusive practitioner we believe that:
We have a positive approach to behaviour management, and understand children’s behaviour. We understand that children have emotions and these can be expressed in so many different ways.
Our aim is to keep children from harm.
We do this by managing behaviour with distraction and a “calm down” area, where the child will sit alongside a staff member, using a sand timer,, and will have a story or calm time for 1 minute for each year. (2 minutes for a 2 year old etc) (We will never restrain a child)
If a child’s behaviour is harming other children we will discuss this with parents, and we will look at strategies we can use both at nursery and at home eg: reward charts, 1,2,3 magic etc.
In the school we have a behavioural lead who can also offer support and advise to parents and also work with your child.
When your child moves setting, we have a transition procedure we follow.
We will arrange to meet with the new setting SENCO and staff, providing with your consent all details on ILDP’s and background information about your child.
You as a parent/carer will also be invited to take part in the meeting and pass on all the important information about your child; we also invite all the other agencies involved.
We will also pass on a written transition document to the new setting alongside their learning and development file.
We will arrange with the new setting for us to visit with your child to help them settle in and have a smooth consistent transition.
We also invite the new setting to come into tadpoles, so they can get to know them in a familiar environment.
We provide a parent notice board in our foyer, which provides leaflets, booklets and forth coming events and support for children and young people with special educational needs.
We are regularly updated by Torbay early years on any new advice, courses that may benefit parents, and also we recommend the Torbay directory for ideas on available support and services.
The school also has a pastoral team, who offer support, advise and parenting courses for those who wish to receive them. If we think you would benefit from any of these we will discuss these with you confidentially and refer you on.
We offer a stimulating environment with a “Wild for learning” forest school area set up, just behind Tadpoles nursery, where we are timetabled in with the school too attend with a qualified teacher.
We also visit the school library, and the school chickens. We invite the school children over to nursery for “book buddy” time, where the older children come to tadpoles and share books with us.
We have use of 2 minibuses that we use to take the children on local outings such as the zoo, wizz kids and the local lifeboat and beaches so that children can use their senses to explore the environment.
When it comes to assessing and reviewing progress in Tadpoles, we send out termly reports, complete learning diaries, learning and development files, target tracker (this lets us see how your child has/is developing.
We also have a yearly parents open day, where we verbally share learning diaries and achievements the children have made.
We also share information daily verbally and if requested a written daily diary.
If your child has an Individual Learning & Development Plan (ILDP), which identifies specific activities and learning / development objectives, these would be reviewed every 6 weeks (depending on the individual) and we would invite in Parent(s)/Carer(s),Specialist / Support Agencies and Early Years Advisors.
We have a comments folder for parents to write in in the foyer, and also send out a questionnaire roughly 6 weeks after settling in, so you can let us know you and your child’s experience.
You are also welcome to come and express your thoughts to the manager, or a staff member at any time, and we work together to make things
We are always looking at our quality of our practice and the effectiveness of our special needs provision by using Torbay early years advisors and OFSTED self evaluation document
We ask parent/carers and young children for their ideas and feed back on the ways we can improve our provision..
We also research new developments, and keep up to date with any changes. We also have relationships with childminders who we share good practice.
Tadpoles manager, Mandy Fisher, has had 18 years experience of working with children aged 0-5 years, I attend regular SENCO and Vulnerable Children Forums, I have attended autism and aspergers, ADHD, behaviour management, makaton, portage worker training, speech and language and I was working with family support workers for 2 years.
Over the years I have gained valuable experience in a lot of special educational needs and had support from other agencies.
I have passed my knowledge and experience on to my team, and ensure they attend updated/specialist training they may need.
At Tadpoles nursery we reflect on the individual needs of the children and ensure we update training and information from other agengies when it arrises.
Myself and another staff member have had epi-pen training. Most Tadpoles staff are first aid trained, with a target to have all staff trained by 2015.
We keep parents informed daily by verbal exchange/ written daily diaries, learning diaries and my learning and development document.
We also fill out the 2 ½ year check, and every 6 weeks we complete a speech and language development check.
We also complete target tracker for every child to monitor their development and achievements.
If we feel a child needs some extra support in their development, we will raise our concern with parents/carers, and after observing and assessing them carefully, with parents consent we will refer the child on to the appropriate agency.
We always seek to resolve any issues before they get to the stage of a complaint being raised and encourage parents to discuss any concerns they may have with the manager..
If however it does get to the stage of a complaint, we have a complaints policy and procedure which we follow, which can be found on our EPPSA website.
We send out regular parent questionnaires and ask for regular feedback .
Our Ofsted poster is displayed in the foyer with our registration number and Ofsted telephone number.
You can contact Tadpoles nursery by telephone 01803 854011, or via email mfisher@eppsa.org.uk.
We have a website eppsa, where you can view our latest Ofsted report. We have an advert on the Family Information Service (FIS) website
We welcome visits at any time from prospective parents.
If you require any more information at all please do not hesitate to contact us.
