Aims

We strive to enable children to;

• develop and appreciate their own personality and abilities
• Become highly motivated lifelong learners
• Think creatively to solve problems and achieve in our modern world
• Have high self-esteem – respecting themselves, others and the environment
• Be able to work independently and also together
• To make progress in the prime and specific areas of the EYFS
• Develop an enquiring mind and a spirit of curiousity
• To be ready for their next stage in learning

Mission

Playaway believe that each child will succeed through experiencing quality in:

• A safe, secure, happy and stimulating environment
• A broad, balanced and challenging curriculum
• Strong key relationships
• Effective and innovative teaching
• A well planned provision to ignite and consolidate learning
• Clear and consistent boundaries
• Rich, varied and engaging resources
• An investigative and hands on approach to learning
• An ethos of support, challenge and encouragement to succeed
• The opportunity to be independent, take risks, and have a voice.
• Learning partnerships between the school, home and the community

We demonstrate our commitment to working as a learning community by:

• Being self reflective
• Striving for continuous improvement in all we do
• Working collaboratively towards common goals
• Investing in and training our staff

• Since 2009, when we took part in the government initiative Every Child a Talker - We have been a setting which closely monitors all children's speech development. Within this we took part in additional training to enable us to monitor and develop children's speech effectively. We gained the skills needed to support children who may have a speech delay and we work with families and other professionals as needed.
• Since opening first nursery in 1995 and our second in 2002 we have continued to improve ourselves, our premises, our provision and our knowledge. We believe our ability to reflect and improve is vital to achieving our aims. This is why the owners and managers of Play a way have completed further studies including a Foundation degree, BA Hons Degree and an Early Years Professional Status. We also ensure all of our nursery staff take part in further training.
• We monitor all children's development regularly though a keyperson approach which links the children to their ideal keyperson. The key person observes development and learning and and plans next steps which are stage appropriate and challenging.
• We monitor every child's progress of devlopment through a 'Progress monitor system' to ensure all children make steady progress according to their own speed and individual starting points.
• We have good systems in place which enable parents to add to their children's learning journals by telling us about the learning and achievements their child makes at home. We know that parents are the first educator and we aim to work alongside all parents to help children achieve good outcomes.