South Hill Park Preschool

Facilities

What we have to offer....

South Hill Park Pre-school is very proud of its purpose built premises. It has been constructed with the children's needs and requirements taken fully into account. We own our own building and do not share it with anyone. The details below show how the dedicated building is divided into a number of key areas, each of which is described together with a photograph, where appropriate.

You enter our building through a door on the left hand side at the top of a ramp. The door gives an audible signal each time it is opened, for security. Inside the door is our lobby area which is a comfortable size and has the children's own named coat pegs at their level. It's here that all of our notices are posted for parents to see all the latest news, information and rotas etc. The lobby has a secure door which is locked at all times - this is opened by staff only, using a keypad code. From this door you enter the first main area of the Pre-school.

Home Corner

The main area has a home corner which is always very popular, a book and puzzle area with comfortable chairs, a shop, and a computer. There is also a 'writing table' next to a huge blackboard so the children have ample opportunities to experiment with mark-making and creativity. The resources for this are in a moveable trolley containing trays of paper, writing media, stencils, stamps and much more. There are also other activities such as dressing up and around the room are units containing boxes with various different resources such as lego, bricks, cars, playmobil etc. The boxes are labelled with a photograph of their contents so that children can choose to include particular items for their activities that day.

Role-play Cafe

There are also weekly activities which help to make up a wide range of possibilities for the children such as road and rail sets, or we set up a themed area for them - the photograph shows that a role-play cafe was set up to tie in with our theme that week of "The Tiger who came to tea" (one of our popular books).

Writing Table and Blackboard

The next main area is for 'wet' play. Exploration with sand, water or other tactile materials is always on offer. The children get to experiment with a wide variety of painting methods, for example, painting with brushes at the easels, 'marble' painting, paint mixing and much more. The photo shows that on this occasion the children were painting onto large sheets of paper on the floor using rollers and mops. We encourage the children to explore their creativity with cutting, glueing, junk-modelling, collages. We have a low-level shelf unit containing boxes of different resources that the children can help themselves to, for example, sequins, fabrics, paper, paper plates, straws, bottle tops etc.

Painting Area

The kitchen area is strictly out of bounds to the children at all times, controlled only by staff with a safety gate. A cooker makes it possible for the children to create their own delicacies to take home. We do cooking with the children every week, whatever their age.

Cooking Table

To the children's surprise their toilets and hand basins are specially sized. However, we also have an adult/disabled toilet with baby changing facilities.

The quiet room is used for registration, stories and singing sessions. We find that the room offers an ability for the children to concentrate on the chosen activities without being distracted by all of the wonderfully tempting play things.

Our office allows privacy for parents when discussing any queries or concerns they may have.

Outside Play Area

Outside we have a wooden gazebo that is used during the summer to shade the children from the sun and a safe play area with a wooden slide and a large play-house. The tarmaced area allows the children to have supervised play with toys such as tricycles and push-alongs, as well as balls and hoops etc.

The soft landscaped area looks very attractive and the plants have been specially chosen to ensure they are non-toxic and safe for the children to play around. There is an area put aside for the children to plant their own seeds such as sunflowers.

We are a Pre-School Learning Alliance Accredited School

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