Tuffkid staff won a ‘Dream Team’ award from the Jewish learning disabilities organisation Kisharon, under whose umbrella we operate. In reality though, parents are a critical part of our team, and we’re always looking to create more opportunities for dialogue.
We aim to build a strong bridge with parents and it’s only by doing this that real trust develops. We see this in our number of returning parents. It’s always a pleasure to see them back year after year with new children ready for enrolment.
As well as one-to-one conversations, we run training evenings where parents get the chance to learn from experts about emotional coaching, behaviour management, Friedrich Froebel, schemas, Makaton and more. Our speakers include occupational and speech and language therapists, oral health professionals and educational psychologists.
Continuing professional development for staff is an important priority. On our ten annual inset days, we invite top childcare educators including luminaries like Professor Tina Bruce, Dr Stella Louis, Tricia Johnson and Julia Manning-Morton.
Staff retention and recruitment is one of our biggest challenges. Staff shortages can cause huge stress, and to avoid this we look to recruit continually. Nurseries were forgotten by the Government during Covid and we need urgent support.
There’s always a waiting list for our 28 places. About a third of the children have a physical or learning disability and specialist therapists are part of the team. All therapy takes place in the main room with the other children present, and not in a clinic setting.
Interestingly, the focus of the latest Ofsted inspector was how the staff worked with our children. The paperwork check and other inquires took place in advance and the Ofsted inspector spent a whole day observing and assessing every staff member, making sure they knew the children and their next steps.
One predicament for us is the shortfall between government money and the actual cost of running the nursery and staff salaries. But far worse is watching parents of our children with disabilities, whose lives are already stressful, jump through hoops to source funding. Claimants of the Disability Living Allowance, SEN funding and Free Early Education for two-year-olds (FEE2) all face frustrating delays.
Our aim is to offer the absolute best for our children. We follow Froebel’s principles, and want them to become independent and thoughtful learners. We encourage children to be interested in nature and to learn through activity and reflection.
We’re always on the lookout for new research that will help our children thrive and learn, stretching them as best we can.
We are proud winners of the Bronze, Silver – and became the first nursery in Barnet to achieve Gold – Healthy Early Years London (HEYL) awards. We teach the children about oral health, motivate them to make healthy food choices and the nursery is sugar free. Every afternoon the children practise yoga and often we have staff from local nurseries training with us.
One of our rewards at Tuffkid Nursery is seeing the wonder on a child’s face when they dig up a potato they planted themselves or master the tricky skill of sawing through wood.
Perhaps best of all though is observing when a mainstream child includes another with learning disabilities in their play. The children have a way of working out each other’s needs beautifully and the prejudice that comes later is simply not there. That’s really what we are all about, and it’s a joy to watch.