Trustee annual Report Cylch Methrin Rhymni 30/1/2023
Cylch Meitrhin Rhymni is a long established Welsh Medium pre-school provision in Rhymney. We take pride ourselves in offering a caring and learning experience for the children from the age of 2 years until they leave to go to school.
We are based in St David’s Community Centre in Rhymney. Alongside the Cylch Meithrin we offer children of the local primary school the chance to access Welsh medium wraparound care in our second setting, Cylch Meithrin Mwy Rhymni which is located on the grounds of Ysgol y Lawnt. Where children have their education in the morning and stay in the afternoon either as fee playing children or parents access the childcare offer through caerphilly council.
Our strengths….
We provide our parents with information about our service before the child starts at the setting, parents are able to visit the setting with their child before the child starts so that they feel comfortable in leaving their child with us.
Our session runs for 2.5 hours. 95% of children attending the setting move onto Ysgol Y Lawnt ), Other children go to Idris Davis Primary School and upper Rhymney. children are attending upper rhymney this year due to their additional needs and feel that because of their speech and language delay an English school would be more suitable.
Our wraparound sessions have grown in numbers since opening in September 2018 and we now have 3 members of staff working there. Offering the wraparound service means that children have the opportunity to be further immersed in the Welsh language. The staff are all qualified to L3 in child care courses and have up to date DBS checks.
The leader of cylch meithin Rhymni has Level 5 childcare qualification, with 1 staff member level 4 and other two staff level 3.
How do we assess the quality of our services?
Parent questionnaires.
We carry out questionnaires during the time the children are at the setting During 2021 the end of Christmas term 12 questionnaires was giving out 10 were returned, all stated that the welcome, care and resources within the Cylch were excellent or very good. No questionnaire stated that any aspect of the service had room for improvement. They mostly stated their children’s behaviour has improved since attending. Our attendance is excellent as all children attend every day. Parents was disappointed that story and singing sessions had stopped due to the covid 19 therefore we started a facebook page and with parents consent we video the children and send pictures to the parents so they can still be involved and see their children having fun and developing their skills.
We speak to parents on a daily basis and take on board any comments they make about the immediate needs of their child. If they are upset any home life changes.
Children
Children are seen to be having fun, keeping themselves busy during free play and getting involved during circle time. We receive numerous ‘Thank You’ cards and presents when the children leave the setting. We can see the children are enjoying as they express themselves laughing and asking to repeat activities when they enjoy them. Our routine is strongly in place as children soon settle and have an understanding what comes next and knows what’s expected, eg sit for snack time, wash hands after painting and outdoor play.
Environment.
We relooked at our environment at the end of each term with a plan to improving the activities and resources available to the children on a daily basis. New resources are purchased as and when are needed, and areas are developed to enhance and to encourage more independent play.
From attending courses on the natural environment we are creating this in our Meithrin. Each time we set out activities.
In our wraparound setting we make good use of the resources which are readily available in the classroom and that the children are familiar with.
Policies
During the Winter term we have carried out a review of our policies including Health and Safety, Behaviour Management. All risk assessments have been reviewed. Staff attended courses online due to COIVD. We keep up to date with CIW regulations during covid to ensure we are following the correct procedures.
Funding
As we tender to flying start a lot of our funding comes from them as they fund each child we have enrolled. Some children on our books pay fees of £7 Per day as they live out of the catchment area for a funded place. From the Funding this pays 4 full time staff wages and rent for the centre. The Wrap around is funded through the childcare offer in Caerphilly where they fund children that met the funding criteria from the funding we pay 3 members of staff and a weekly rent of the class room. Due to COVID 19 this year our setting was closed from March 2020 till September 2020 we haven’t closed since then. We have been very lucky as no children attending had to isolate due to covid or out setting hasn’t had to close due to staff isolating.
We are keen to embed the new curriculum this year and staff are attending training on the new modules. We will then meet as staff as share knowledge and work on delivering the curriculum. We would like to explore the outdoors more and encourage children to use real life skills to help them develop in real life situations.
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