Dingley’s Promise in Gloucester

Dingley’s Promise Early Years centre in Gloucestershire provides a nurturing, engaging environment that offers a range of positive learning opportunities for all children with special needs. Our committed team of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) professionals and volunteers has created a safe space where everybody is welcomed and their individual needs considered. Each child is encouraged to explore, express and learn their own interests through play.

We work with daycare and nurseries not only focus on the children but also extend our support to teachers and parents. Our dedicated team works closely with the child, their parents and other professionals to set targets and ensure a holistic approach is followed. During the child’s session, our team of support workers ensures they are working on each individual target to further enhance their development .

We have a bright playroom that can be either open as one large room or divided into two, depending on the needs, levels and number of children we have in each session. In addition to our play-based approach, we offer specialised special needs programs to address specific learning requirements and challenges. The centre also benefits from having a calm, relaxing sensory room that provides children with SEND with a safe space to self-regulate their feelings and emotions. 

This area also features a lovely garden space, offering children a covered tarmac area to enjoy in all weathers and a grass plot for them to learn about the environment, nature, growth and change. Our garden is a favourite spot for children to engage in free play, while offering stacks of fun, with a slide, tricycles, scooters, and plenty of opportunities for hands-on activities in the construction area, sandpit, and water table. The garden area is used effectively as an outdoor classroom, ensuring learning opportunities are available across the whole Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. 

Our Gloucestershire Centre 

We work with daycares and SEN nurseries, as wells as operating as a disability living centre, we strive to provide comprehensive support for children with SEND. Our focus is on breaking barriers and overcoming challenges that children with disabilities may face.

Our Gloucestershire Centre Provides:

• Access to speech and language, physiotherapists and occupational therapies. We do not offer these directly but host these professions and continue with their strategies on a regular basis.
• A family support worker, who is key to maintaining contact and supporting both in the centres and with outreach support.
• We understand the importance of collaboration between parents, teachers, and our staff, and we actively engage in stay-and-play sessions, family coffee mornings and holiday play schemes. 
• Our goal is to create an inclusive environment for our children with fun and diverse learning activities which engage and inspire them.

Centre Manager : Megan Harper

Megan has worked in early years education for 15 years in a variety of roles, managing mainstream settings but with a passion for supporting children and families with special educational needs and ensuring every setting meets the needs of these children. She is a qualified early years teacher with a master’s in education. Megan firmly believes every child deserves the best possible start to life and is passionate about providing authentic experiences, natural resources and nature-based practices to support the learning and development of children from 0-5 years. She takes a holistic approach to supporting children and families and thrives in building a community where they feel supported and cared for.

Deputy Manager : Emily Iliffe

Emily has worked in early years for the last 6 years. The last 4 years she has worked within a mixed ability nursery attached to a special needs school. This has given her the opportunity to have a range of experience within the special needs sector. She is passionate about supporting those with special needs and disabilities as well as their families. Emily is always keen to further her learning in order to support the children, families and her colleagues. Emily thrives to create a caring, nurturing, and welcoming environment where all children and families feel safe.

Family Support Worker : Natasha Stewart

Natasha has over 18 years experience in various childcare and family support roles within a variety of settings. She has experience in caring for children with additional needs, family support and contact centres. Natasha finds working with families in many capacities very fulfilling and while the work can be difficult at times, it makes the achievements all the more rewarding. She loves seeing families progress on the their individual journeys as a result of the support put in place for them.