Parent page
Our service
**Our normal opening hours are from 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Thursday. We do not work Fridays, weekends or Bank Holidays.
**We are registered with Cheshire East Local Authority as a food business and we have up-to-date food hygiene training.
**The Designated Safeguarding Lead for the setting is Sarah Graven.
**We are registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).
**We are insured for childminding through Childcare.co.uk.
**Vehicles are fully insured for childminding use.
**We collect children from Manor Park School and Nursery.
**We have statutory policies including the Cheshire East model Safeguarding / Child Protection policy and Complaints; we also have a written Privacy Notice for ICO purposes. Please ask for more details.
Our fees
We have a parent-provider contract including all the statutory information we are required to collect and a comprehensive written fees policy which we will share with you during your child’s induction period and:
**Parents pay for their child’s booked sessions in advance.
**We review fees bi-annually in September and April.
**We accept cash, bank transfer, a range of childcare vouchers and Tax Free Childcare payments.
**Sarah is registered with Cheshire East to accept the Government funding for 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds. Please note that there is a separate contract and funded fees policy for funded children.
Our food and drink provision
Nige is our chef – he is classically trained and loves making the best food for the children:
**We provide meals and snacks including breakfast, a small morning snack, lunch (in the house, on an outing or a picnic) and a cooked tea.
**All food is prepared in-house from fresh natural ingredients where possible to support the children’s current likes, dislikes, allergies, intolerances and family wishes.
**We support parents who are breast and bottle feeding.
**When babies are weaning, we ask parents to provide food – as soon as they are able to eat normal food we move them onto our menu.
**We are happy to provide food for special dietary requirements such as vegetarian or vegan after consultation with parents and we have experience of exclusion diets.
**If parents prefer to supply their child’s food, we will provide you with the latest DfE guidance on healthy eating which we are required to follow in the setting.
Our meal and snack times
We are proud of our Golden Apple Health Eating Award from Cheshire East for our food provision:
**Breakfast – if your child arrives before 8am, we will give them breakfast.
**Healthy morning snack – 10.30am (ish).
**Lunch – 12.30 to 1pm (ish).
**Tea / dinner time – 4.30 to 5pm (ish).
We ask that parents respect our meal times and do not collect their children when we are eating as this can be very disruptive for everyone.
Our charges for meals and snacks are included in our fees policy.
Our home and garden
Our home is child-friendly, with many different spaces used for childminding:
**A room for quiet play, targeted learning sessions for small groups of children, reading sessions and eating.
**A playroom which has lots space lots of fun games and activities.
**A conservatory which is where most of our resources are stored – there’s also a table and chairs and lots of floor space.
**A large child friendly garden with some planting and some astro turf.
**2 covered areas outside (to the back and side of the house) so we can offer year-round outside play.
Daily routines
Ofsted have graded our provision and ways of working outstanding:
**Children are free to move inside and outside depending on what they are doing at the time.
**We encourage children to choose the resources they want and to take them to the place where they feel most comfortable.
**Children’s days are relaxed and fun. They are part of our wider family and we want them to enjoy their time here.
**We support children’s learning through child-initiated activities and adult-guided teaching, as required by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) which is our statutory framework.
**We often take children into the local community and on outings to explore the Cheshire countryside.
**We have a curriculum which complies with the statutory requirements, including individual and group planning for all children.