All you need to know about Pre-school

Little Bo Peep Pre-school is situated within the village hall setting in Inkberrow.

We pride ourselves on providing a warm and welcoming atmosphere to our pre-school children. We consider our pre-school setting to be an ideal environment for children to learn and develop for the start of their school careers.

Our aim at Little Bo Peep Pre-school is to prepare the children with the skills that they will need to enter school and have the best start that they can.

Our pre-school is staffed by three qualified members of staff Hannah, Claire and Sarah, who also runs our Fun Club with Julie and Clare.

Hannah is the manager and has an Early Years Foundation Degree, Claire, Deputy, has an NNEB diploma in nursery nursing and Sarah has a Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood. The children enjoy learning phonics sounds and joining in with number rhymes and games along with lots of other fun, learning activities which prepare the children for school.

We have excellent facilities at the village hall which include a fantastic outside play area. The children enjoy watching and exploring as the seasons change throughout the year.

Opening Times – Our pre-school is open on a term time only basis which coincides with the local schools, during the holidays we operate a play scheme which can be booked separately via a booking form which arrives via email approx. 3 weeks before the end of each term.

All pre-school children are welcome to attend our fun club play scheme and do not have to stick to their usual days.

  • Term time opening hours: 7.30am – 6.00pm
  • Fun Club Play Scheme opening hours 8.00am – 6.00pm

Funding – All children in England aged 3-4 are entitled to 15 hours of free childcare per week. However, in September 2017 the Government introduced a further entitlement to 30 hours per week, providing certain criteria is met. To see if you are eligible please go to the Government website. You can utilise your hours, term time only, between the hours of 7:30am & 6:00pm. Your child will receive their funding the school term after their 3rd birthday. If you require additional hours over your Government funding, this will be at an hourly rate.

If your child is coming up from Little Bo Peep Nursery then we understand that you may wish to change your session times to fit in with the Government funding. Please see form attached to confirm your hours.

Transition and settling in

It is our aim to ensure that the transition into pre-school is a smooth and happy one for both children and parents. It is our aim to ensure all children receive an induction plan appropriate to their individual needs and requirements.

Induction periods will usually take place a week before starting pre-school. As this will vary depending on each individual child the following is a guide only.

Key workers

We operate a very successful key worker system. Our pre-school children are divided between Hannah, Claire and Sarah into key groups. Each key worker is responsible for working day to day with their children and is responsible for updating and recording the children’s progress in their profiles.

Profiles

The children’s profiles are made on an iPad programme called Tapestry. Their activities throughout each week are recorded on the programme which is available online for parents to log in to see their child’s progress at pre-school.

Parent meetings

We truly believe that good communication between pre-school staff and parents/carers is key to having happy and settled children at pre-school. We organise parent meetings towards the end of each term at pre-school. These are normally organised during pre-school hours of the last week of each half term.

Hannah, Claire and Sarah are always available to discuss with parents anything that happens between these times.

School Visits

 We have good links with our feeder school, Inkberrow First School. During the last term at pre-school, we liaise with Inkberrow First School to organise opportunities for our pre-school children to go up to school to meet their new teacher and get to know the school environment.

We organise in-depth handovers with all of the schools our children attend and meet with the reception teachers before the children leave us. During these meeting we will discuss not only your child’s progress and starting points for school but all more personal information for each child which will help the teacher to settle the children into school in September.

Outside Area

We have a wonderful outside area at pre-school which the children are given access to on a daily basis throughout the year. We therefore request that children have their outdoor kit on their pegs for use every day.

The children are given the opportunity to explore and investigate the outside area.The children are given the opportunity to build, climb, dig, collect, paddle and splash when the opportunity arises. The Welly Wednesday experience is one that is spontaneous as the weather can present such wonderful challenges for the children. The need for waterproofs is a must in any weather as we will often come across an opportunity for getting muddy!!!

Pre-School Routine

7:30 – 9:00 – Welcome children into Pre-school

9.30 – Carpet time and register

9.45 – Dough Disco

10-10:30 – Snack time

10:30-11:00 – Outside play

11:00 – 11:45 – Focused activities (see planning)

11:44 – Toys Away!

11:45 – Storytime / Phonics / Music & Songs

12:00 – 1:00 – Lunch time some children go home

1:00 – 3:00  – Free flow outside and continued focused activities)

3:00 – Tidy up

3:30 – Story time

4:00 – Snack time

4:30 – 6:00 – Free play and home time!

(Routine may differ slightly due to planned activities, children’s interests or weather.)

Days of the week

Messy Monday

Tuneful Tuesday

Welly Wednesday

Thinking Thursday

Fitness Friday

Mealtimes

Breakfast (7:30-8:30)

We supply a range of cereals and porridge the children choose every morning.

Morning Snack (10am)

A fruit snack to be bought in from home.

Lunchtime (12noon)

Homemade hot lunches are made at nursery and hot boxed to pre-school.   The cost of a hot lunch and a pudding is currently £2.50 per meal. There is also the option for children to bring their own packed lunch from home. We do ask that packed lunches are healthy and that they are bought in an insulated lunch box with an ice pack inside.

Tea (4pm)

A healthy Packed tea bought in from home. We do not reheat.

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