Dingley Family & Specialist Early Years Centres - News

Ofsted Inspection at Reading Centre.

noreply@blogger.com (Leah - Reading) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:03:00 +0000

I am thrilled to announce that the Reading Centre has been successful once again following an unannounced inspection on September 23^rd. The inspector was incredibly complimentary on practice and practice management. Under the new inspection regime there are three categories with respective sub categories. These are listed below with our grades!

Quality of Provision - GOOD

Outcomes for Children - GOOD

Achieve and Enjoy - OUTSTANDING

Feel Safe - GOOD

Adopt Healthy Lifestyles - GOOD

Positive Contributions - GOOD

Develop Future Skills - OUTSTANDING

Leadership and Management - GOOD

Driving Improvement - GOOD

Deploying Resources - GOOD

Equality and Diversity - OUTSTANDING

Safeguarding - OUTSTANDING

Self Evaluation - GOOD

Partnerships - OUTSTANDING

Engaging with Parents - OUTSTANDING

Overall Effectiveness - GOOD

Meeting Children's Needs - GOOD

Continuous Improvement - GOOD

For further information on what these grades mean and meeting the requirements that Ofsted impose on settings working with children, see www.ofsted.gov.uk

Needless to say we are over the moon. A lot of the constructive feedback we have received over the last few months through the distribution of questionnaires to families past and present we have proved to have been addressing, specific practices have been implemented or amended in order to satisfy the needs, requirements and desires of the families and our Ofsted inspection report is testimony to the hard work we have all been putting in recently towards this end.

Support Dingley with your old junk!

noreply@blogger.com (dan) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:40:00 +0000

If you have any unwanted items that are too good to go to landfill, now you can use them to raise valuable funds to help Dingley.

JumbleAID lets individuals and businesses post unwanted stuff online and anyone can pledge a donation in return for an item - so go rummage now!

Newbury Racecourse exit collection raises £3200

noreply@blogger.com (dan) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Visitors attending Newbury Racecourse the Ladies Day racing on 15th August helped the West Berkshire Centre to raise £3200.

After a good day's racing, the crowds enjoyed a Simply Red concert in the paddock. Dingley volunteers collecting at the gates did notice a good uptake in donations during Money's too Tight to Mention.

The money shall help fill the gap in our West Berkshire operating costs for 2009/2010. If you are able to help more, you can donate online using Justgiving.com.

Many thanks to all our supporters and volunteers on the day!

Wokingham Centre chosen as Sainsbury's Charity of the Year

noreply@blogger.com (dan) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:14:00 +0000

The staff at our Wokingham Centre are proud to have been chosen by Sainsburys Winnersh as their Charity of the Year for 2009/10. Sainsburys have set themselves and their customers a target of £5000 to benefit the children who attend the Wokngham centre.

In addition to their support in store, staff from Sainsburys cheered on parents and the children at our sports day on the 20th July in Wokingham.

Reading Centre - Official Launch and Open Day Report!

noreply@blogger.com (Leah - Reading) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:41:00 +0000

The official launch and open day on July 2^nd was a big success.

Martin Salter MP opened our facility and congratulated us on more thatn 20 years of successful practice in the Reading area. I am led to believe that it was Martin who officiated at the opening of the facility when it was first established in Battle Hospital so what an honour to have had him involved once again and experiencing our progression, many years later!

Reading Borough Council were represented and many discussions took place regarding our practices and provision moving forward from the new location. There was food, drink and too much cake but I think it might be accurate to suggest a great time was had by all.

Fred in the Shed and centre staff facilitated fun activities for the children and Reading Football Club interacted brilliantly with the children and adults distributing free Young Royals packs! It was great to see past children, parents/carers, staff and committee members too.

I must express my gratitude to our financial contributors and volunteers this last year and to everyone else who has supported us in one way or another. These include children and their families, committee members, staff at Wokingham and West Berks centres, Zurich Cares, Reading Voluntary Action, Morgan Cole Solicitors, Youth Offenders Service, Reading Borough Council, Reading Football Club, CBS Furnishings, Reading Community Radio, RCVYS and I’m sure some others I cannot recall, please forgive me but with sincerity, thanks to every one. It has been my pleasure be involved with you!

Now we’re well on our way to becoming settled or ‘grounded’. The staff are about to finish for the summer months but I’ll be working hard in the background, continuing to raise our profile, improve on practices and services from the new centre, liaising with health, developing our sensory room that bit further and securing new interest in what we do to support children with additional needs and their families.

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a pleasant/happy summer and I look forward to the new challenges of the next academic year.

Woodley Pagoda 7th June

noreply@blogger.com (Dingley Wokingham) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 19:15:00 +0000

Staff and parents from Dingley Wokingham all gathered at the Pagoda in Woodley on Sunday 7th June for a nearly new sale.

Although the weather wasn't looking very hopeful there was a steady stream of would be buyers, we were very happy with the support that we received and very quickly most of the donated items found new homes.

The Henna painting was a great success, with hands, ankles and backs all being decorated with beautiful intricate patterns.

Thanks to everyone who donated their time and to everyone who bought something!

Reading Centre Official Opening and Launch Party

noreply@blogger.com (Leah - Reading) — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:03:00 +0000

We are pleased to (finally) provide you with the details of Reading centre's official opening and launch party.
The pleasure of your company is requested on:

Thursday the 2nd July between 10am and 3pm.

So that you can plan your attendance to this exciting event, you might be interested to know the cutting of the ribbon and presentations will take place at 10.30am and then, between 11am and 1pm 'Fred in the Shed' children's entertainer will be paying us a visit! (See http://www.fredintheshed.net/ for more details).
Ivar Ingimarsson, Icelandic player in defense for Reading Football Club will be facilitating a 90 minute 'kick about'. Come between 1 and 3pm for this exciting visit!
Additional activities will be planned and facilitated by our playeleaders.

We will be welcoming many other special visitors throughout the day including health professionals from the Dingley Specialist Childrens Centre, RBH, representatives from the Early Years Workforce at Reading Borough Council, local MP's, Councillors, the media/press and the volunteers responsible for assisting with our smooth transition from one location to another (those who contibuted materials, labour, time and effort). Many thanks to each one!

Please turn up at your convenience and stay for as long as you wish, refreshments will be served throughout. We can't wait to share this special event with you!

Meadow Madness in Reading

noreply@blogger.com (dan) — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:16:00 +0000

Staff from the Reading Centre ran a stall at the start of Reading’s Children’s Festival, on Saturday 9th May, which proved to be a great success. The event was used to publicise their recent move and raise much needed funds for their new sensory room.

They were helped on the day by Laura McDaniel (aged 14) who is the daughter of the newly appointed group administrator and marketing assistant for the centres, Liz McDaniel. Laura, who organised and ran a "soft toy adoption stall", said "that after hearing from my mum about all the hard work that the charity does to support children who are less fortunate than me, I just wanted to do something to help.".

Staff also ran children’s craft activities and painted Henna tattoos which all helped to raise £160.

Laughter workshop at Wokingham

noreply@blogger.com (Dingley Wokingham) — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:46:00 +0000

On the 7th May Parenting Matters arranged for Carol Thompson, a laughter leader with the Laughter Network to conduct a laughter workshop. Carol arrived giggling and laughing with the intention of bringing more laughter and happiness into our lives.
12 adults, including parents and play leaders and 9 children all sat on the little squares of carpet on the floor, feeling a little bit dubious and speaking personally, a bit self conscious!
Carol gave us some brief information about how laughter is a great stress reliever as we release endorphins, giving us the ‘feel good factor’.
Very quickly Carol had us all giggling, first shyly and quietly and then, as we begun to feel less self conscious, we were all laughing and giggling very loudly, partly as we had to hug the person next to us and laugh!
It was lovely to see the children laughing with their parents and for them to join in with the Peekabo game and singing together.
We all laughed from our bellies, we laughed from our throats and laughed like Father Christmas, the sight of 12 adults ‘ho,ho,hoing’ is a sight that has to be seen to be believed!
The workshop was a great success and the parents’ laughter from the family room as they went to have their morning coffee could be heard from outside!
A big thank you to both Maura from Parenting Matters and Carol for such a fun workshop.

Donate to Dingley online

noreply@blogger.com (dan) — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:04:00 +0000

You can now support Dingley online, using the Justgiving website.

Justgiving allows you to make a single donation using credit card or Paypal. If you want to raise money for Dingley through event sponsorship, you can create a Justgiving page and email the link to your friends.

Make a single donation here.

Raise money for Dingley here.

Remember if you're a UK taxpayer, you can support us even more if you Gift Aid your donation!

Fun With Puppets

noreply@blogger.com (Pam) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:33:00 +0000

The West Berkshire Centre recently hosted a very successful puppet workshop organised by the Wokingham based charity Parenting Matters. The role play workshop involved a colourful puppet show staged by Jo Bryant of Pottytree Puppets using puppets to explore aspects of behaviour. The children, parents and staff all participated enthusiastically in the story about a princess in trouble with a dragon and, through their puppets, each child took on a role in the story. Afterwards the children had the opportunity to make their own puppet to take home.
Parenting Matters supports children's parents and carers by running workshops to address common challenges of parenting, such as sleep issues, discipline and play, often with topics suggested by the parents and carers. A further three workshops are to be held at the West Berkshire Centre in the coming months.

Provisional dates for these Thursday morning workshops are: May 7th, June 18th and July 9th from 10am to 11.30am.

Parent Representative for Reading

noreply@blogger.com (Leah - Reading) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:07:00 +0000

Reading is pleased to introduce Andrea Wheeler as their new Parent Represetative. Andrea hopes to be 'the voice' of all families accessing services at Reading's centre where matters of development are concerned.

We will welcome new ideas/concepts for everyone's benefit, feedback on what families like/enjoy and on what they think might be improved.

Andrea is available for general chit-chat too, she's a lot of fun to be around and will most definately put a smile on your face! (See her lovely smiley face?)

Thanks for supporting us in this way Andrea!

Leah.

Reading's Shiny New Premises!

noreply@blogger.com (Leah - Reading) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 21:09:00 +0000

After some months of negotiation and planning and after some weeks of strenuous physical labour, Reading have finally re-located and are settling in to their new building located on Kenavon Drive.
The major players in securing manual labour and materials that have contributed to the completion of the building and restoring it to its former glory, have been contacts made through Connect Reading and direct contact made with Zurich International Solutions Ltd.

From memory, individuals involved have been employed professionals from:
RISC, Morgan Cole Solicitors and Zurich International Solutions Ltd. Other agencies have also been involved for which we are extremely grateful.

Major contributors of furnishings have been:
CBP (Ascot) and again, Zurich International Solutions Ltd.

Staff, Committee Members, family members and friends of Dingley Family & Specialist Early Years Centres in West Berks, Wokingham and Reading have also contributed (thank you specifically to Mick, Arti, Louise, Vicky, Megan, Carol, Keren, Dan, Ciara and Oscar) and finally thank you to Reading Borough Council who have contributed to the extensive work that was required on the building before it was occupied. If I have neglected to mention anyone, I apologise.

Dingley in Reading are now registered to care for 40 children per session. At this time we have no intention of filling all that space but should we be in a position to do so in the future, its great knowing we have the capacity to do so. It’s also great news for the holiday play clubs we hope to operate across the Easter and Summer School breaks this year. (The first one will operate between the 13th and 21st April inclusive, give us a ring for more details or to book!)

The continuity of early intervention for children with complex needs is really important to me and increasing the number of children and families directly affected by special educational needs and disabilities whom we can reach out to has been at the top of my agenda for some time. This ‘leap’ we have taken together is only the beginning of my longer term commitment to Dingley, it’s children, families, staff and professional associations.

We hope to post details of the launch as soon as the committee have agreed a mutually agreeable date and time.
In the meantime please note our new contact details:

Dingley Family & Specialist Early Years Centres,
Kennet Walk Community Building,
Kenavon Drive,
Reading,
RG1 3DG.

Telephone: 0118 327 7424

Email: admin.reading@dingley.org.uk

Thanks again all.
P.S Pictures coming soon!

A new name for Dingley

noreply@blogger.com (dan) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:09:00 +0000

Firstly, a Happy New Year for 2009 to all our supporters and families. As part of our drive to take Dingley forward over the next few years, the management committee have been hard at work implementing updated policies and securing funding to help us continue to support our families in the best way.

One major change you'll notice from the website is our change of name. Dingley's full title is now Dingley Family and Specialist Early Centres. The name change was proposed at our AGM last year to better reflect our service and goals, and the Charity Commission approved the change just before Christmas.

We're also the process of a big change for the Reading centre, so watch this space for more news soon.

£2,500 raised for West Berkshire Centre

noreply@blogger.com (dan) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:33:00 +0000

Visitors to Newbury Racecourse's Lady's Day and Party in the Paddock on the 16th August raised just under £2,500 for the West Berkshire Centre.

After enjoying a day's racing and a live concert by Boyzone, visitors gave generously to our team of staff and volunteers armed with collecting buckets at the exit gates.

Many thanks to the management of Newbury Racecourse for their continuing support.

The Great British Duck Race - Adopt a Dingley Duck!I

noreply@blogger.com (dan) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:30:00 +0000

Dingley is taking part in the 2008 Great British Duck Race, which takes place on Saturday 31st August on the River Thames near Hampton Court.

In 2007, the race hosted 165,000 plastic ducks and raised over £100,000 for UK charities. This year, the aim is to race over a quarter of a million ducks.

When you adopt a Dingley Duck, you have the chance to win a top prize of £10,000.

Visit the official website to adopt a duck.

Waitrose Community Awards

noreply@blogger.com (dan) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:07:00 +0000

The West Berkshire Centre has been awarded £220 from the Waitrose Community Awards
We would like to thank all Waitrose customers who voted for us.

Summer Play Scheme

noreply@blogger.com (Leah - Reading) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:53:00 +0000

Due to popular demand for this service, Dingley Family & Play Therapy Group in Reading are extending the availability for this scheme.
We will now operate from 22nd July until the 3rd September.
Book now to secure your place - we're almost full for the first two weeks!
Charges are £3 per hour for the first child and £2 per hour for every other child in the family. Fees are negotiable.
0118 322 6712
reading@dingleyplaytherapy.org.uk

AGM - 14th July 2008

noreply@blogger.com (dan) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:47:00 +0000

We'd like to inform you that the Dingley Family and Play Therapy AGM shall be held at our Reading centre - 3-5 Craven Road, READING - on Monday 14th July 2008 at 7:30pm.

If you would like to attend, please use the contact form to let us know.

Tesco Computer for Schools and Sainsbury's Active Kids

noreply@blogger.com (dan) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:40:00 +0000

Dingley Family & Play Therapy Group in Reading are collecting now!

We're a little late registering this year so we're appealing to you for help, we're not doing too badly so far but we can't bank AK08 Vouchers (Sainsbury's) in the same way we can with Tesco's.

If you have any vouchers and need somewhere to donate them to, we'd be very grateful.

We're hoping to collect enough Tesco vouchers to "purchase" a new PC for the Pre-School. This is with a view to supporting Parents/Carer's with their preparation to return to work following the transition that their children will make from Pre-School to Full Time School.

We would like to support with building CV's and general PC skills, making applications online, etc.

Thanks for your support!

Online resources for Dingley families

noreply@blogger.com (dan) — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 22:04:00 +0000

One of Dingley's core roles is to provide information and 'signposting' for the families who attend. Much of the information that can assist with everyday issues experienced by families with children with additional needs is online.

We're now maintaining a list of web bookmarks, many provided by our parents, on the social bookmarking site 'Del.icio.us'. Please take a look and let us know if you know of any more...

http://del.icio.us/dingleyplaytherapy/