Session Routine

When you arrive at Pre-School, you are asked to wait outside the entrance until 9.00am or 12.30pm, when the main session starts.  Although these are our opening times, and we prefer all children to arrive on time, we recognize and accept that this is not always possible.  Should you arrive after ‘show and tell’ has started you will be asked to say goodbye to your child in the lobby and not enter the main area, so as to keep disruption to main group to a minimum.

There are named coat pegs inside for your child’s outside clothing.  This can be a very congested time and we would ask you at these times to move fully into the area, where you can remove your child’s coat, please do not block the entrance way.  To assist your child accessing and replacing their own coats, we would ask you to ensure that their bags are placed on the floor below their coats and NOT hung on their pegs, as they find it very very difficult to hang coats on their pegs when their bags are there

Due to health and safety requirements, all buggies must remain outside.  Please park these adjacent the stairs, not on the entrance door landing, as this and the ramp is for disabled access and emergency exit and should remain clear at all times.  A member of staff stands outside at main session opening and closing times and remains there until parents return to any unattended babies in buggies.

9.00 am or 12.30 pm: The Pre-School is set up with various activities, i.e. jigsaws, play dough, small world, animals, home corner, construction toys, sand/water, etc. and we also make use of our outside area for activities (weather permitting).  From the beginning, children are encouraged to make free choices with regard to their activities, with only minimal intervention from the staff - if required.  During this time the children also self register themselves, by placing their name on the kitchen door.

9.05 am or 12.35 pm: We then break for a 10 minute show and tell time, where date, weather, letter and number of the week and weekly theme are all discussed. We also look at the items the children have brought in from home, relating to the theme, which they have placed in our ‘Chatter Box’

9.15 am or 12.45 pm: The children then return to free play, accessing both indoor and outdoor play areas.  This lasts for approximately another 1½ hours.

During this time, the children’s snack bar is open.  The children are free to come and have their drink (milk or water) and their snack, which, in line with our Under 5’s Healthy Eating Award, is a Healthy Option, with varied fruits and vegetables, breads, cheeses, etc that is accessed when they wish (under adult supervision). 

10.50 am or 2.20 pm: The children help clear away and then sit with three members of staff in a large group for song time.

11.05 am or 2.35 pm: Group activity. 

At the end of the session, the Pre-school song is sung.  You may wish to teach it to your child, so they are familiar with it when they start Pre-School.

Thank you for our place to play
Bricks and sand and paint and clay
Picture books and songs to sing
Thank you all for everything

11.30 am or 3pm, parents are let in to collect children.

Any work the children have done or information for parents is left out on the tables to be taken home.

11.30 am. Children staying for lunch will toilet and wash their hands before commencing lunch. 

11.35 am.  If your child is arriving for lunch, we ask you to wait at the bottom of the stairs until all the leavers have left, you will then be invited into the setting to sign your child into lunch.

12.20 pm Last collection for children leaving after lunch.

All times are approximate and liable to change, due to unforeseen opportunities, e.g. snow, frost, etc.

Examples of activities

Painting and craft: using different techniques and learning about colour, texture and patterns.  The children enjoy experimenting, and it is important that they are allowed to do as much as possible on their own.

Water, sand, clay, soil, shredded paper, pasta and rice, develops fine motor skills and sensory knowledge.

Physical: it is important that children use energy in a positive way.  As well as having an extensive outside play area, including a large sand pit, digging area and built in slide, we also have a variety of large physical equipment e.g. climbing frame, tunnel, trikes, balancing beam, slide, trampoline etc.  With our canopy, the Children can play outside (supervised), even when it’s wet underfoot or raining.

Play dough: develops a sense of touch and children love making different shapes and learn co-ordination through rolling the dough.

Singing and musical instruments: an opportunity to experiment with sound and rhythm.

Home corner: pretend play with home, kitchen, shops, garages, restaurants, schools, doctors, dressing up, dolls and pushchairs, etc.

Books: we have a wide range of books available to the children, and stories are read daily on an informal basis during free play and again towards the end of the session in a structured way.  The books are changed regularly at the library by the Pre-School Staff.

Mark Making: Children have free access to a wide variety of mark making tools, to encourage their Communication, Language and Literacy skills.

Construction, jigsaws, threading, etc. all develop the children’s hand and eye co-ordination.

Other toys: A selection of other toys is put out for each session, e.g. garage and cars, train set, farm animals and mats, etc.

We ensure we offer many non-failure activities, such as playdough, pencils, painting, as young children in particular can often become disheartened and frustrated when they ‘can’t do it!’

With the play being child led, activities are regularly changed, or enhanced by requests from the children for additional resources, different activities etc.

Pre-School Activities

We aim to give children a stimulating and safe environment in which to Learn through Play.  Children are encouraged to learn at their own rate and in their own time.  They also learn to play together and gain social skills, such as sharing.  The week plan, showing the activities is always on display, and staff are happy to explain/discuss this at any time.  Pre school aims for the majority of its activities to be child led, reflecting their current interests and learning and development needs.

We encourage free flow from inside to out and many of the activities are available outside also, the outside area is an extension to the leaning environment and not just a playground.  Children are encouraged to use their imagination and are free to utilise the materials and equipment to facilitate this.  E.g. The sand ends up in the saucepans or creative constructions get painted.

Throughout the year we regularly celebrate festivals from a wide variety of cultures and religions, should you have a specific request with regard to your child not celebrating any event, please inform the Leader at your visit.

Literacy Skills (Reading and Writing)

Children need to have a firm grasp of the basic skills before they can advance onto the complex skills of reading and writing. 

“3 year olds are refining their listening skills to hear the sounds in words with clarity and use games and rhymes to do this.  This is all that is needed at this stage and there is no need to begin on their letter sounds.  4 year olds are beginning to understand the marks on the page that make up print and that these marks have meaning. Some 4 year olds are keen to read their own names and are becoming interested in what some words say.  When ready they will move on to the next stages.   Readiness is important as confusing a child who does not yet understand will just put them off and worry them, waiting a few more weeks will not hold a child back but ensure they are establishing a firm footing on the road to reading.”  Stephanie Mathivet  PLA Under 5’s October 2010

Therefore, as your child is only 3 or 4 the pre-school will ensure they are exposed to an environment, rich and diverse in language, stories and sounds.  They will be given many opportunities to refine motor skills by using spades, bats, chalks and pens.

Children learn to write initially by making random marks and pass through several stages to become prolific writers.  Children need the opportunity to acquire and refine initially gross then fine motor skills to control this mark making.

Generally, reading and writing should not be expected until your child has started lower school.

Themes

Each week has a theme in which the children make things and have stories pertaining to that particular theme.  Their work may be displayed on the walls.  The title themes for the present and following week are displayed on the outside notice board, and are featured in the newsletter.  We welcome any ideas, and if you, or a relative has an interesting job, talent, pet, etc., that you feel would be of interest to any of the themes, then please approach a member of the staff.  Children love to bring in items to show, but please try and make them relevant to the theme.

Please remember that, although the children know they are not permitted to play with the items brought from home, some may still do so, so please don’t send in anything breakable/valuable or anything that could pose a health and safety risk, e.g. broaches with pins.

Extracurricular Activities

We try to vary the children’s extracurricular activities each year according to the ideas that the committee, staff and parents have.  Our regular activities are:

• December – Christmas Party.
• Easter – End-of-Term Leavers’ Party
• June/July – Summer Trip, Sports Day, End-of-Term Leavers’ Party

We also have visits from our local policeman, firemen, school crossing person (lollipop lady/man) and, subject to parental support walks within the local environment.