Cawdor Primary School
Early Learning and Childcare
All About Us
KINDNESS - TEAMWORK - BELONGING - RESPECT
Cawdor Primary School Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) operates from 9.05am - 3.05pm, providing 30 hours of childcare (term time). From the term after their third birthday, three and four year olds are entitled to funded childcare. We also have a breakfast club from 8.15am.
Meet the Team
Adele Mackenzie - Early Years Practitioner
Caroline Docherty - Early Years Practitioners
Fiona McAuley - Support Worker Early Years
Gizelle Souter - Support Worker Early Years
Helen Kelly - Early Years Practitioner
James Cook - Head Teacher
Jayne Babey - Breakfast Club Auxiliary
Stacey Glass - Early Years Practitioner
Your Child's Key Worker
In Cawdor ELC we work together as one team, all supporting your child's development, learning and wellbeing. When your child joins us, they will be appointed a "Key Worker" which will be one of our Early Years team. The Key Worker will be the main point of contact for you and your family, and will be responsible for documenting and sharing your child's learning.
Contacting Us
If you need to speak with or get in touch with a member of the team you can do:
at drop-off/ pick-up time;
via the school telephone on 01667 402460 or via the ELC phone on 01667 402463;
via the school email cawdor.primary@highland.gov.uk
via the ELC email cawdor.elc@nairnacademy.net
See Saw
We use an electronic system called SeeSaw as a way to share general Cawdor ELC information with you. This allows us to share information about the setting with you digitally. You will receive information about SeeSaw when your child first begins at Cawdor ELC.
Information for families is also communicated via the Cawdor Primary School website
Our ELC Policies are reviewed throughout the session and detail the policies and procedures we have in place to keep your child safe, and support your child's development, learning and wellbeing.
Supporting Your Child's Learning, Development and Wellbeing
Learning through Play
We know from research and guidance that young children learn best through high quality play, supported by caring adults.
In Cawdor ELC, we support your child's development, learning and wellbeing through play outdoors and indoors.
Through watching, listening to, and playing and talking together with your child, we support their learning through experiences and interactions that are tailored to their stage of development and their interests.
We have spaces outside and inside for your child to build, to construct and be creative and curious.
We support your child to take risks in their play, developing confidence and independence.
We prioritise your child's wellbeing, with spaces to explore on their own, with friends and with adults.
We plan for games, rhymes, songs and stories to support your child's language development. These help reading and writing when they are older.
Your child has opportunities to develop big and small movements and make marks - all of which help with writing when they are older.
Your child will be supported to develop their thinking about maths and numbers through their play.
Our Outdoor Spaces
In their play our children often choose to spend a considerable amount of time outdoors. It is helpful for your child to have appropriate clothing with them, being mindful that clothes can get grubby and damp as they play. We ask that children have a change of clothes with them in their bag.
Our Indoor Spaces
Depending on the weather, we encourage our children to change their footwear when they are going between indoors and outdoors. It's helpful to have indoor and outdoor shoes that your child can put on and take off independently.
Capturing, Planning for and Sharing Your Child's Learning
Your Child's Profile
When your child begins in Cawdor ELC, we will begin your child's Profile. This is a folder that contains observations about your child's learning, the planning for their individual learning and key information about them that you provide and that we gather.
We believe that each child is an individual. We support their individual development, learning and wellbeing.
The Profile is owned by your child and includes:
All About Me – information that you provide about your child (this is updated with you throughout the year as part of our ongoing progress meetings)
Developmental Overviews – a tool created by Highland Council to capture information on the milestones that your child is developing CLICK HERE to find out more
Personal Targets & Next Steps – these are developed with your child based on their interests, their strengths and their areas for development and are recorded as part of Learning Journey approach.
SHANARRI (Wellbeing) Reflections - your child reflects on how they are developing the SHANARRI wellbeing indicators of safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included.
Key Learning Observations – observations of your child’s knowledge, skills and interests.
Wider Achievements – information that you provide about your child out with Early Learning and Childcare and a record of their achievements in Early Learning and Childcare.
Learning Journey -
Significant Observations
Our team listen to and watch your child's learning. When they notice something significant (something which demonstrates their developmental milestones, or something they have mastered that they have been grappling with), this is recorded as a significant observation. We capture significant observations as an ongoing process on our Ongoing Observations Learning Journey sheets. All staff members document observations for all children.
Staff reflect on these observations and identify how these observations are relevant to the five headings from the pre-school developmental overview:
Movement and coordination
Routines
Social and emotional
Play and imagination
Understanding of and expressive language.
Staff also reflect on how they observations are relevant to the eight curriculum areas of Curriculum for Excellence:
Literacy and English
Numeracy and Mathematics
Health and Wellbeing
Social Studies
Sciences
Technologies
Religious and Moral Education
Expressive Arts.
Staff reflect on these observations with your child, adding any relevant photographs, your child's words or marks, and any connections they make to the SHANARRI wellbeing indicators.
Learning Journey - Adult/Child Interactions
As well as ongoing significant observations, through observation, our early years team identify opportunities to extend your child's learning through adult/ child interactions. We capture these on our Adult/ Child Interaction Learning Journey sheets. These are documented by your child's key worker.
STEP 1: What did the child say or do?
Each interaction begins with something the adult has seen or heard your child say or do.
STEP 2: What did I (key worker) do or say to extend their learning?
Following this, the adult will identify how to best extend your child's current learning. This may be through providing an object, it may be through making a comment or asking a question, or it could be through showing them/ supporting them to do something.
STEP 3: How did the interaction progress their learning?
The practitioner observes by listening and watching, identifying how the interaction with your child has supported growth in their learning.
Similarly to the Ongoing Observations, the early years team will reflect on how these observations are relevant to the five headings from the pre-school developmental overview and the eight curriculum areas of Curriculum for Excellence.
Staff reflect on these observations with your child, adding any relevant photographs, your child's words or marks, and any connections they make to the SHANARRI wellbeing indicators.
Sharing Your Child's Learning
We encourage you to look at your child's Profile at any point.
On three occasions throughout the year you will have an opportunity to have a progress discussion with your child's Key Worker. You will discuss your child's progress with your child's Key Worker, and consider how we can work together to support your child's development, learning and wellbeing.
Progress Discussion 1: November/ December
Progress Discussion 2: March
Progress Discussion 3: June
At the progress discussion you will also update your child's Care Plan so that we have the most up-to-date information to support your child's development, learning and wellbeing.
Throughout the year we have opportunities for Stay, Play and Learn, where we invite you to join your child in the ELC setting. We also have specific family learning sessions on areas that you identify would be helpful for us to explore with you to support your child.
We use SeeSaw as a way to communicate general learning updates across the Early Learning and Childcare setting, and our Sharing the Learning in ELC board is on display at drop-off/ pick-up throughout the week.
Planning for Your Child's Learning
We use our observations to plan for your child's learning, matching our planning to your child's development and interests through Curriculum for Excellence. We record this through our:
Environment Map detailing the spaces, zones, and resources that we have available
Pre-School Developmental Overviews, Ongoing Observation Learning Journeys, Adult/ Child Interaction Learning Journeys and Wider Achievements for each individual child in their Profile
Sharing the Learning in ELC Board and our Floorbooks which capture the learning outdoors and indoors, and may be linked to any themes or events in the ELC
Learning Maps which are used by our children to identify their interests
A Day in Cawdor ELC
Drop-oFF/ Pick-Up
Children can be dropped off from 9.05am and are to be picked up by 3.05pm. Drop off and pick-up take place at the ELC door, which, when you come in the main school gate, is to the right.
at Drop-Off...
A member of staff will ask for your collection arrangements and your child will make their way into the setting where they will choose their own lunch and put their bag and coat into the cloakroom. We encourage the children to be independent and responsible for their own belongings.
A Day Of Play
Most of your child's day will consist of play that is led by them and supported by the team. There will be times throughout the day where we will gather in groups for rhyme, stories and games either in the ELC room, our outdoor space, the P.E hall or the playground.
Snack
In the morning and afternoon we have a self-serving rolling snack. Your child can choose to come for snack at a time that suits them during the window of time it is available. Snack provides a range of learning through motor skills when using cutlery, socialising with peers, and planning and organising snack. Your child has opportunities to prepare snack, supported by one of our team.
We follow Highland Council's Guidance on School Snacks.
Lunch
Children attending our ELC setting are entitled to lunch prepared by our catering team. Each day your child will have three choices for lunch. If your child has a specific dietary need, this should be identified at enrolment and communicated with the ELC team.
CLICK HERE - Highland Council School Meals
On our ELC Policies page you will find details of our Snack and Mealtime policy.
Joining Team Cawdor
Enrolment
Enrolment for Early Learning and Childcare takes place in February each year.
Transition Into ELC
To support your child's transition in to ELC we will initially meet with you (this can be telephone, virtually or face to face depending on your preference) to discuss how to best support your child's transition.
Prior to your child beginning with us, we will give you copies of their 'Care Plan' and their 'Permissions' to be completed to support their transition.
As part of your child's transition, your child will be able to visit the setting and you will be able to meet with your child's Key Worker to discuss your child's development, learning and and wellbeing.
Transition into P1
We work closely with the Primary 1 team in Cawdor who will continue to support your child's learning, development and wellbeing through quality play and direct teaching. Most children in ELC and P1 are learning in the Early Level of Curriculum for Excellence.
Throughout the year, your child will have the opportunity to visit the school space, and meet members of the team. During the summer term prior to beginning Primary 1, your child will have a range of transition opportunities planned jointly between the ELC and Primary 1 team.
In Cawdor, we believe that it is important for the school to be ready for your child, not for your child to be 'ready for school'. The information on Highland Council's Bumps2Bairns site is great for families of young children.