Wellbeing at Cylch Meithrin Hill Street
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Information about the setting
Cylch Meithrin Hill Street is situated in a mobile building on the grounds of Ysgol Plas Coch. It has 16 children at present and two full-time and one part-time members of staff. It has predominantly English speaking parents with a small selection of Welsh speaking families. Most children that attend the Cylch move on to the Nursery class in the school.
Context and background to the effective or innovative practice
The Cylch tries to ensure that it is meeting the needs of the individual children whilst making them a part of the Cylch. Its goal is that children play happily alongside others and all children are given the same opportunities to explore, grow and develop in its newly developing natural environment. Practitioners believe strongly in giving every child in the Cylch the best possible start in life and seek to support children with individual needs, developing their full potential.
Description of nature of strategy or activity
During the recent Estyn inspection, the setting was recognised for good practice with creating an inclusive environment for the children with additional individual needs. Practitioners have regular team meetings to discuss the children and adapt practice and provision according to their needs.
Practitioners have recently developed the following: routine, areas of interest, invitations to learn based on children’s interests. They established a dinosaur small world area out of reels for a child to be able to play near to where they have self-registration and story time. They also adapted welcome time to be shorter and use large photographs so that selecting their photograph can be completed independently and quickly.
Practitioners have also extended free play during the session to give the children time to explore and play independently in the areas without interrupting their play. This works well and children with additional needs are more settled and happier. Small boxes of loose parts were also added to the environment to stimulate the children’s interests.
Practitioners have worked closely with parents and carers, completing one-page profiles to develop specific plans for individual children. Equally, things that upset a child or that they do not like are made known to all members of staff in order to make every child’s experience a happy one.
What impact has this work had on provision and children’s standards?
Working towards the new curriculum, practitioners have introduced a natural environment with emphasis on loose parts and this has had a big impact on the children’s learning. It has allowed the environment to be child centred, providing opportunities for them to play at their own level and pace. This has benefited the children’s well-being and given them opportunity to succeed, which is a very important part of a young child’s early education. All practitioners interact sensitively alongside the children, careful to support them as required but not intervening too soon. In staff meetings, they discuss each child’s development and progress with different skills and talk about what can be done to best encourage and support them.
How have you shared your good practice?
The setting has shared good practice with other settings through visits and also out of county with settings visiting with their advisory teacher. They also share good practice with fellow practitioners through photographs on a Wrexham County funded Early Education closed Facebook page.