D.A.S.H. Information

D.A.S.H. (Inclusive play care for children) provides several inclusive play care schemes throughout the school holidays. These include:

• “Honey Bears” playcare scheme for children aged 3 - 7 years old.

• “Busy Bugs” playcare scheme for children aged 8 - 10 years old.

• “The Buzz” playcare scheme for children aged 11 - 15 years old.

Each child is placed on a scheme depending on their age and their needs.

Support and Supervision for your child

DASH recruits qualified/experienced staff to support and supervise your child whilst on the scheme.

Each child is supported by trained volunteers and/or staff on a one to one basis or a one to two depending on the child's needs.

DASH aims to ensure each child's needs are met in a safe and dignified way. To help us do this we ask parents to complete a child information form and to give as much information as possible. This information is used on a daily basis while your child is on scheme to match your child with a volunteer. If having read this information we feel that we need to produce more in depth information for the playscheme staff we may do one of the following:

Day Plan - We may produce and implement a day plan, which looks at your child's needs throughout the day. Day plans are produced for children who have health care needs, or complex needs, which include communication impairments. This ensures such children have all the support necessary throughout the day. Day plans are available for all staff and volunteers involved in caring for your child, however personal details such as address and phone number are not entered onto the plan.

Behaviour Strategy - We may produce an individual behaviour strategy. This document is produced for children who have challenging behaviour who may be a risk to themselves or that of other children. The strategy looks at what causes the behaviour and how to avoid it and what to do in specific situations and which DASH staff should be involved in the implementation of the strategy. The information on the document is only made available to key members of staff involved with the child.

Lifting and Transferring Risk Assessments - The document would be produced for any child where it is necessary for staff and volunteers to lift and transfer; this document is required by law under health and safety legislation. The assessment would identify the best method to lift or transfer the child and how many people are required to lift a child safely. Where a child also requires a day plan this information would be entered onto it. The assessment would be accessed by key staff involved with the child.

DASH recognises that parents and carers are the “real experts” in how to best care for their child. For this reason if we feel we do not have enough information about a child we may seek the parent's guidance and advice to complete the above documents. We therefore urge parents and carers to give as much information as possible to help us give all of the support your child needs in the best way possible.

Medication

If your child needs to be given medication on the playscheme please send only the exact dosage required if necessary in a sealed envelope for each medication needed to be given and where possible in the original containers. On the front of each individual bottle or packet, your child's name should be printed in full with the following;

• Name of the drug

• Time it needs to be taken

• How it needs to be taken

• Any other information we need to know

The information written on the front of the bottle or packet should match the information given on the medication consent form. All drugs should be handed to the co-ordinator or play leader who is your child's named key worker on the scheme.

Activities

A range of fun and stimulating activities are organised for your child whilst on the scheme. These will include the following:

• Trips to the beach

• Multi-sensory activities

• Soft play

• Swimming

• Bowling

• Visits to parks, museums and leisure centres etc

• Play sessions (premises based) this will include both structured and free play activities

• Fun days, Entertainers, discos etc

All activities are arranged with your child's needs in mind. A wide range of activities are available and where possible activities are made as inclusive and accessible as possible.

Transport

Transport is hired from a local bus company. All buses have seat belts and/or harnesses. Where needed, transport has a tail lift or a ramp, which makes transport accessible to children who use a wheelchair or have mobility impairments. Children living outside of Darlington can be picked up in Newton Aycliffe Town Centre. The pick up/drop off point is Newton Aycliffe Youth Centre Car Park, Burn Lane, Newton Aycliffe. You will find the Youth Centre opposite the TESCO Extra supermarket entrance.

Lunch & Refreshments

A packed lunch will be needed for your child's lunch. Please take care when choosing what to include. For example: Do not pack foods that would need refrigerated storage.

Personal Property

We do ask that all parents and carers label child's property clearly, especially shoes, socks, coats, jumpers, bags and any other outer garments. Although we will take every care to ensure that your child does not loose property, we cannot take responsibility for any lost property and cannot reimburse any loss . We do however keep a lost property box with garments that have been found. We will keep any lost property in the DASH office for up to 12 months. These items will then be passed onto a charity shop.

Dropping off and picking up your child

You will be informed of the opening and closing times for each scheme. The sessions usually start at 10am and finish around 4pm each day.

DASH insists that all children are dropped off and picked up by a responsible adult, over the age of 16 years old, which is either named on the child information form or somebody who we have been informed of in advance.

We have introduced a password system for children being picked up from schemes. This is to ensure that in the event of the named person being unable to collect your child, a password that is familiar uniquely to yourself and that is easy to remember. The password should be easy to remember for example your child's favourite food, cartoon character, toy, pet or place.

As the playscheme caters for those children and young people who cannot access mainstream play care, we feel it is reasonable that we ask that children be accompanied to and from the scheme.

Security

All staff and volunteers are police checked and carefully screened through D.A.D., Ofsted, Criminal Records Bureau and past employment history and references are carried out.

Who to contact if you have further queries or concerns

Before the scheme starts please talk to Garry West (Project Co-ordinator) who will be happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have. Telephone 01325 360524 or email garry@darlingtondisability.org . Messages and emails are checked at least twice a day during each playscheme session.

Once the scheme has started any member of staff will be happy to help. Each scheme has a scheme co-ordinator to ensure your child enjoys their time on the playscheme.

Complaints, Compliments and Comments

If you have a complaint, compliment or comments please discuss this with the scheme co-ordinator in the first instance. However if a complaint of a more serious nature please contact Garry West, Project Co-ordinator in confidence and he will ensure that you understand the complaints procedure and also make every effort to resolve your concerns speedily.

If you feel the complaint needs to be made to OFSTED you can contact them on 0845 601 4772 or email yne.rc@ofsted.gov.uk

Parental Charges and Concessions for Families

The daily parental charge is £13.00 per day when the playscheme has a premises based play session planned. The daily charge for visits and planned outing is £18.00 per day . These charges may vary depending on our current funding situation. Other days out at local parks, soft play etc will not incur additional charges unless you are informed of this in advance (usually before the start of the holiday playscheme).

There are concessions during the summer playscheme for families with more than one child who use DASH playschemes. We recognise the financial barriers some parents face paying playscheme fees during the summer; we have introduced an easy payment scheme where smaller amounts of money can be paid regularly spreading the cost over a longer period of time.

The discounts will be as follows;

2 children - 25% reduction

3 children - 40% reduction

4 children or more - 45% reduction

N.B. These reductions apply to Summer and Easter holidays only.

All parents can begin to make payments in advance of the summer playscheme in a number of ways.

Payments can be made at the DAD office in Horsemarket using an easy payment system. Instalments can be made in advance over a number of weeks, and these are recorded in a payments book held at the DAD office. These instalments can be paid from May 1st 2007.

Full payment can be made by sending a cheque made payable to DAD. This should be sent to Garry West, DASH Project Co-ordinator, Enterprise House, Valley Street North , Darlington DL1 1GY.

Please ensure that you ask for a receipt of payment if you are not given one. Payments can not be accepted on the playschemes by members of staff or volunteers. This is to ensure that payments can be recorded and monitored appropriately.

If you are using a Direct Payment account to pay for this, please ensure that you are entitled to do so through your assessment.

Policies and Procedures

DASH adheres to a range of organisational policies and procedures, which are available for your information from Darlington Association on Disability. These are:

• Management of Challenging Behaviour

• Medication Policy

• Child Protection Policy

• Admissions Policy

• Equal Opportunities Policy

• Sick Children Policy

• Child Not Collected Policy

• Equal Opportunities Policy

• Moving and Transferring Policy

• Health & Safety Policy

• Bullying Policy

What you need to do now!

If you have not already done so please complete the child information form. This information will be stored on a database so that we can send you details of any playschemes or other projects we organise, automatically. From time to time we may also send you information which may be useful to you.

Contact Details

Garry West
Children and young People Service (ChYPS)
Inclusive Play and Leisure Co-ordinator
Enterprise House (South Entrance)
Valley Street North
Darlington
County Durham
DL1 1GY
Tel: 01325 360524
Fax: 01325 267338
Email: garry@darlingtondisability.org
Website: www.darlingtondisability.org

Useful Telephone Numbers

Darlington Association on Disability
20-22 Horsemarket, Darlington, County Durham . DL1 5PT
Tel: 01325 489999
Email: mail@darlingtondisability.org

Garry West
DASH Playscheme Co-ordinator and Bridges Play & Leisure Co-ordinator
Tel: 01325 489999
Email: garry@darlingtondisability.org

Chris Thwaites
Parents Forum Co-ordinator
Tel: 01325 489999
Email: chris@darlingtondisability.org

Jacki Hiles
ChYPS Development Manager
Tel: 01325 489999
Email: jacki@darlingtondisability.org

OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education)
For complaints or concerns you may have you can contact Ofsted directly on:
Tel: 0845 601 4772
Email: yne.rc@ofsted.gov.uk