Little Apples - Creche & Montessori

The aims & objectives of Little Apples are:

		To provide a safe, secure, stimulating environment which embraces all children and values their race, language, gender, age, disability, culture, class & religion.

		To value & respect parents/guardians as the prime carers and experts of their own children.

		To ensure that all staff receive adequate training & maintain high levels of practice.

		To value all children as individuals and to value their uniqueness.

		To introduce the children to and encourage them to experiment with a wide range of age appropriate stimulus.

At little Apples our staff are dedicated and committed to the children entrusted in our care. We believe that good quality staff is at the core of an Early Years Centre. We ensure that all our staff has continual access to training and development, both in-house and with the recognised training institutes. All staff members must be fully trained in Childcare before being employed in Little Apples, they are also fully trained in Paediatric first aid with many of the staff having further qualifications such as manual handling, food and nutrition & Childrens First guidelines.

All Staff members have an induction on all of Little Apples policies and procedures prior to commencing employment. Daily records are kept in all rooms on all children aswell as monthly health and welfare forms and three monthly developmental records, these records are available for all parents to see on their own children.

Settling In:	Every effort is made to ensure that the settling in period is as easy and pleasant for the children and their parents. We have a week settling in period gradually increasing the time day by day.

Parental Involvement:	We strive to promote active participation of parents in the planning and development of Little Apples. Our doors are always open for parents at all stages throughout the day.

Medication:	Staff at Little Apples will administer medication to a child only after receiving a completed medication release from thr parent/guardian.

Behaviour:	We use positive methods of discipline which encourage self control, self direction, self esteem and cooperation. We encourage the children to put their feelings into words and we try to positively help the child to understand and deal with his/her anger or frustration.

Accident Prevention:	We promote the health and safety of all children and adults involved in our service through developing and regulary reviewing accident prevention procedures.

Fire Safety:	Little Apples complies with all relevant fire regulations and follows the recommendations in the Department of the Environment’s Fire Safety in Pre-Schools booklet.

Insurance:	All employer liability, public liability, staff liability and all Childcare insurances are in place. These insurances comply with Childcare regulations and are approved by the Health Board, the NCNA and the IPPA.

Hygeine:	We are committed to promoting a healthy environment and a high standard of personal hygiene for adults and children. The HACCP cleaning system is in place in all rooms in Little Apples.

Food service:	Little Apples complies with all food hygiene regulations. All meals are prepared by a professional Chef and great care is taken to provide menus that are balanced, nutritious and varied. We also cater for any dietary needs that your child may have.

It is the policy of Little Apples to ensure that children are protected and kept safe from harm while they are with staff in our service. We do this by:

		Ensuring that our management and staff are fully qualified and avail of training in child protection

		Ensuring that children are appropriately supervised at all times.

		Developing codes of behaviour amongst staff, amongst children and between staff and children.

		Security is always of the utmost importance and at Little Apples we have a range of safety policies of which all staff are made aware of and which must be adhered to at all times.

		No child will be allowed to leave Little Apples with any person who cannot be identified by the staff or who is not a nominated contact person.