Statement of Purpose

Bijou was born out of a vision of our founder, Samantha Rennison, to provide top quality yet affordable childcare for parents and carers. Bijou Cowbridge having opened our doors is now able to do so within the Cowbridge and surrounding areas children aged from 6 months to 12 years where our staff adhere to the principles of The Curriculum for Wales and our Montessori inspired learning.

Services Offered

Bijou is offering Full Day Nursery between 7:30 am and 6 pm from Monday to Friday all year round apart from Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and Bank Holidays.

Our opening hours can be broken into sessions for those children who do not require full day care but would benefit from sessional and wrap around care. Additionally, we offer Crèche facility for Parents/Carers who have emergencies requiring this type of care or for those who wish to have a pamper day, a gym visit, shopping trip, attend a course or generally have some “me time”.

Our Crèche is short term care and is for a minimum of 1-hour space providing. If Crèche care can be planned, then we will have more availability whereas emergency Crèche will be limited by the availability of spaces and staff numbers.

Sessions & Times

Nursery Fees

Crèche Sessions

Pre & After School Clubs

Additional Charges

Quality childcare has benefits for the whole community enabling Parents/Carers to return to work knowing their children are in safe and responsible hands, thereby enabling them to combine family life with their employment, it enables employers to retain key staff and recruit quality employees and of course most important it provides children with a safe, happy, educational environment where they can thrive.

At Bijou we want Parents/Carers to feel part of their child’s day no matter where they are and to enable this, we are introducing the FAMLY app that has been developed specifically with childcare in mind.

As parents ourselves we have struggled with the same emotions as every other parent of finding the right Nursery and learning to let go and then wondering if they are alright. Have they had their breakfast, what did they have, did they have some fruit and a drink for snack, have they eaten lunch, is it story time, have they slept?

It doesn’t matter how old our children get we will always worry about them and at Bijou we want to try and help Parents/Carers feel part of their children’s lives even when they are at their employment working.

Admissions Policy

We offer facilities to children between 6 months to 12 years old and to support children with their physical, emotional, social and intellectual development we shall be ensuring that SHEEP is used so that our children are Safe, Happy/Healthy, and their Emotional, Educational and Physical needs are addressed.

It is vital that Parents/Carers feel comfortable with the quality of care that Bijou Nursery and Crèche is offering to their children and our FAMLY app is not designed as a one way communication tool for the Nursery to the parent but it enables the parent to communicate with Bijou as well, be that leaving a message, making or cancelling a booking or providing vital information to the nursery.

If you require further information on this then please contact The Manager on 01446 396000 or by email at managers@bijou-nursery.com.

Aims & Objectives

Bijou has undergone a major refurbishment, and we have five rooms for different ages of children. At Bijou we have 71 children’s places.

We use the “birth to three matters” framework for babies and children under 3. Then we implement the Curriculum for Wales for children aged 3 years and over. This gives us the opportunity to provide younger children with excellent care and stimulation while the older ones attending after school will get to participate in arts and crafts, games, cooking, and sports.

Whilst Parents/Carers trust their children to our care, we believe we need to continually demonstrate our outstanding duty of care with communication being a key factor to our openness in showing our being an excellent nursery provider while using skills and training to ensure that children attending Bijou develop and grow into well-rounded children who have been encouraged to use their character, personality, and individuality.

We believe including these factors will promote a positive image to the children, along with developing their self-esteem, confidence and well-being.

The Bijou team are passionate about providing a fun environment for children to learn and explore. We strive for excellence and deliver a service in which Parents/Carers feel comfortable and content when leaving their child in our care.

Our team have the necessary experience, knowledge, qualifications and skills to provide excellence in childcare, where we can offer a nurturing, caring and fun environment. The team tailors our services to meet specific requirements of children, we offer the highest possible standard when meeting registration requirements.

The Bijou Organisation

Bijou is owned by Samantha Rennison who is one of the staff holding a Level 3 childcare qualification and Level 3 in Playwork. Samantha is also the Responsible Individual and directly responsible to the Care Inspector for Wales to ensure that not only the premises is well kept but that the Manager and Staff are maintaining a high standard of care for the children.

Elissa Clarke is ultimately responsible for the deputy manager Charlotte Skidmoreand room leaders who have been given responsibility for each of the Nursery Rooms and the members of Staff that will be working in those rooms and the children in them. It is the Deputy Manager’s duty to ensure that the FAMLY app is updated and that the Staff in the Nursery room are updating the children’s records.

Elissa is responsible for the staff in Bijou and is responsible to Samantha Rennison.

The Facilities

Access to Bijou is only possible through key coded and fully alarmed doors. We have a policy of restricted access with controlled electronic signing in process and a similar exit policy all of which is monitored via our FAMLY app.

Bijou has been set up to have five separate rooms specifically for the age ranges of children and although they will be kept separate most of the time, there will be times when the children will encounter other age groups.

Our Rooms

• Baby Room — babies aged 6 months – 14 months (stage depending)
• Rising 2 — children aged 14 months – 2 years
• Toddler Room 1 — children aged 2 – 3 years
• Toddler Room 2 — children aged 2 – 3 years
• High Street — children aged 3+ years

All meals are prepared by Tracy our qualified Catering Supervisor in our own kitchen and the children can have food that they enjoy and is nutritionally balanced for a healthy diet.

Emergency Procedures

Bijou has 4 emergency exits, one to the front of the building, two to the side of the building and one to the rear of the building. We have a comprehensive emergency procedure should any event happen and all Parents/Carers will be updated as to any issues via the FAMLY app or via a telephone call to their contact number.

The full details of our emergency procedures can be found in our policies.

Staffing

Our Staff are under the leadership of the Manager assisted by the Deputy Manager, a team of practitioners who are qualified to Level 3 & 4 in childcare, and assistant Practitioners who hold Level 2 in Childcare and a Playwork Qualification.

All our staff team are First Aid qualified in Paediatric First Aid, and most hold a Level 2 food hygiene qualification.

We provide ongoing professional training for our staff ensuring they stay at the forefront of developments in childcare and can offer the staff career development rather than just a job.

All our staff are contactable via the FAMLY app as well as by the landline however, our primary focus is the children so while you can contact any team member at any time about your child it may not be that team member who responds but the most appropriate person who can answer your question, all of which can be communicated on FAMLY.

National Minimum Standards — Staff-to-Children Ratios

• Children under 2’s — 3 children to 1 member of staff
• Children aged 2 to 3 years — 4 children to 1 member of staff
• Children aged 3 and over — 8 children to 1 member of staff

Age & Ranges

We are currently offering 71 childcare places in Bijou Day Nursery and Crèche from 6 months up to the age of 12 years old.

We offer our facilities to both boys and girls and work through the medium of English while developing and promoting the use of incidental Welsh and planning Welsh activities to implement throughout the week.

When You Join the Bijou Family

Parents/Carers will be given a parent pack and their own secure access to the FAMLY app and will be asked to complete the pack and app for their child so that we have all the details for their “All About Me” which ensures that we know vaccinations, doctors, next of kin, emergency contacts as well as things the child likes and dislikes, and any dietary requirements.

We acknowledge the importance of parents/carers involvement, and our staff work collaboratively alongside to support children within our provision. The Bijou team fully understand that the safety and well-being of children is paramount. We aim to provide care that adopts and facilitates the running of a safe, happy, caring and learning environment for the children.

Designated Person

Each child when their induction paperwork has been returned and they start settling in sessions will be allocated a Key Worker who will get to know the children in their care almost as well as Parents/Carers and it is this Key Worker/Designated Person who will be responsible for ensuring that other members of staff are fully aware of key issues.

Our Learning Programme

We strongly believe that The Curriculum for Wales allows each child to make choices regarding their learning, and we have used this Curriculum for our Montessori Inspired Learning which encourages the children to learn, play and discover at their own pace.

There is plentiful research that has been carried out demonstrating that play is an essential factor to the development of children, a very powerful tool and Bijou children have access to areas in the nursery for them to display these skills.

Bijou provides a safe and welcoming environment that will enable children to participate in every aspect of play.

We will share children’s efforts during the day with Parents/Carers using our FAMLY app as we feel it’s important that work is shared at the time and not on a pre-defined Parents/Carers day or at the end of term and this way Parents/Carers can ask specific questions about their child’s day rather than getting a generalised statement.

Additionally, the FAMLY app will hopefully encourage Parents/Carers to share their thoughts on what they have seen as well as what they wish to see or want their child to participate in with regarding social media, observations, nursery factors and polls.

Children learn through play; as they play other strands fall into place, such as interaction, well-being and emotional development. There will be a routine each day and a board where children can visually see what’s next or later as well as being able to spend time outdoors in our garden on a daily basis.

We shall be running our programme on themes such as “All About Me” where the children will be encouraged to talk about themselves and their interests and to draw and make things that relate to this theme.

Obviously different age ranges will have different abilities, but all children will be following the theme while remembering that like the world, the Nursery is a multicultural and non sex discriminatory environment for the children and all ages and abilities are welcomed.

Daily Routine

Nappy changes are factored into the routine and children are also changed as and when required. Nappies are checked am/pm and before children leave the setting and should be changed regularly every 2–3 hours. Outdoor time will also be factored into the day, every day.

The Future

As we progress in growing the Bijou team, we offer our own training programme implemented and monitored by third party qualified trainers like Sirius Skills Training, one of the UK’s leading training agencies. This enables Bijou to ensure that the quality of the staff remains exceptionally high and meets the demanding standards set.

Reviews

Bijou Nursery will be an evolving Nursery whereby we want feedback from the Parents/Carers, the children as well as staff so that we can improve what we offer to the community and to you as parents and carers.

Our FAMLY app is an open communication channel, and we shall continue to review our Statement of Purpose to ensure that it reflects what Bijou is able to offer as a Day Nursery and Crèche and we will be informing CIW of any changes so we can ensure that everyone knows what we offer.

On at least an annual basis we want to carry out a survey to ensure that the parents and carers of the children attending Bijou have the opportunity to add their views and comments, both good and bad so that we can update how we work with the children and parents and also update this Statement of Purpose.

We want the Bijou community to be an active community where everyone has a say from the children and parents and carers to the staff and we believe it is only through this openness that we can improve.

“Every child is gifted; they just unwrap their packages at different times.”

Complaints

If you have anything you would like to discuss then please contact the Manager in the first instance and if you have a complaint then please do read our complaints procedure which carries comprehensive information for you.

All Staff members of the Bijou Team can be contacted using the main telephone number 01446 396000 or via the app.

If there is a complaint about a member of Staff then this should be made to the Manager who will investigate the matter and the person making the complaint is notified, in writing, of the outcome of the investigation within 14 days of the complaint being made.

The Nursery Manager is Elissa Clarke who can be contacted on the main telephone number 01446 396000 or messaged via our FAMLY app or by email elissa.clarke@bijou-nursery.com.

If there is a complaint about the Manager, then this should be made to Samantha Rennison who will investigate the matter reporting back to the complainant within 21 days.

The Responsible Individual is Samantha Rennison who can be contacted on the main telephone number 01639 865912, on the FAMLY app or by email samantha.rennison@bijou-nursery.com.

If there is a complaint about Samantha Rennison, then the Nursery should be notified as should the Care Inspectorate Wales whose contact details are listed below.

While Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) welcome any feedback about the setting, experiences or concerns that you may have they are not a complaints agency and cannot be linked to individual circumstances. If CIW are unable to deal with a complaint made, they will direct you to the best organisation they believe can assist you.

Care Inspectorate Wales

Government Offices, Sarn Mynach, Llandudno Junction, LL31 9RZ
Website: careinspectorate.wales
Email: CIW@gov.wales
Telephone: 0300 790 0126