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Nurseries and Playschemes |
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Written by Dawn Hunt
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Staff and children sitting down for lunch in the Tiggers Room at St Peter’s First Steps Nursery.
We are committed to providing a range of benefits and schemes to help our staff achieve a work -life balance.
Childcare at First Steps Day Nurseries
For many staff, the availability of high quality, affordable, reliable childcare (full or part time) is one of the most important factors when returning to work and or choosing to work in a particular location for a given employer. Opening from 7am* until 6pm daily and closed all bank holidays.
* for nursing staff only
First Steps Nursery at Ashford Hospital
In this Trust we provide day nurseries operational 50 weeks a year on both sites which are both Ofsted registered catering for children from the age of 3 months to 5 years. Opening from 8am until 6pm daily and closed all bank holidays.
Contact telephone no:
| St Peter’s site |
01932 722192 |
| Ashford site |
01784 884721 |
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Childcare at Hop, Skip and Jump Playschemes
During all school holidays we provide two Ofsted Registered Playschemes on both sites catering for children from the age of 4 years (if in full time education) until 10 years 11 months.
Contact telephone no:
| St Peter’s site |
01932 722192 |
| Ashford site |
01784 884757 |
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Childcare Manager
The Trust provides a Childcare Manager Dawn Hunt who is available as a source of expertise on all childcare concerns and can be contacted on 01932 722192 (St Peter's site) or 01784 884757 (at Ashford). Email
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Childcare Vouchers
The Trust operates a childcare voucher scheme which can reduce the cost of paying for childcare.
This is run by Salary Exchange.
First Steps Nursery at St Peter’s scores well
The Tiggers Room, for children aged three to five, in the First Steps Nursery at St Peter's Hospital, was recently re-audited and received a score of 6.4 out of 7 for the ECERS E Environment Rating Scale, which specifically looks at learning and development in early years. This figure is much higher than the average ECERS E score across Surrey, which was at 3.29 on 31st March 2010, and is a great improvement on their first audit score of 3.5 in 2009.
The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) is a standardised tool used by Surrey Early Years and Childcare Services (EYCS) for measuring and improving the quality of provision of children aged from three to five years old and is supported by ECERS E for learning and development in this age range.
Environment Rating Scales are a structured approach to quality assessment and have been around since 2008. There are scales for different ages, but all use a rating from one (inadequate) to seven (excellent). The Environment Rating Scales also fit well with current Early Years Guidance and Standards, clearly illustrating the relationships with the four themes of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), the five Every Child Matters (ECM) outcomes and the Ofsted National Standards.
Dawn Hunt, Childcare Manager for the Trust, has been an Early Years Practitioner for 30 years, with 20 of those years at Ashford and St Peter’s. She explains: “We continually strive to improve our service and, as a result, our nursery consistently comes out well against various standards and targets set. Our desire to achieve high standards has consistently shown during 2011. We are working towards becoming an ECAT Centre of Excellence for communication focusing on language skills before the age of two. Additionally this year the provision received the Quality Improvement Award from Surrey Early Years, covering all aspects of Early Years Provision which the nursery provides.
First Steps is an incredibly valuable, diverse and forward thinking nursery that has been operating for over 50 years. There are approximately 20 staff members working in the nursery, all of whom are qualified or are working towards the NVQ Level 3 or Level 4 in different aspects of childcare. Working alongside Dawn is Catherine Young the Deputy Nursery Manager and Lindsey Waghorne who manages the whole team at the nursery. First Steps provides childcare internally for NHS staff in accordance with the NHS Child Care Strategy and is also open to members of the public for children aged zero to five.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 26 April 2012 10:00 |
