Our Pre-school

These are just a few snap shots of our Pre-school.  We recommend that you come and visit us to see it all for yourself and bring your child so they can have a play.

These are two of our 'communication friendly spaces' (indoors and out).  Children can choose to spend time here on their own, with a friend or with a supporting adult.  We find that areas like this have a positive impact on speaking and listening skills and emotional well-being.  They are especially helpful for less confident learners or those with English as an additional language.  We regularly rotate our books so there is a range of fiction and non-fiction which will appeal to children of all ages and stages of development.We have plenty of opportunities for the children to engage in 

imaginative play.  Here you can see our 'village shop' which encourages children's communication, mathematical concepts, understanding of the world and creative development.  We also have our 'home corner' which can double up as a hospital, vets, restaurant, optician and lots more!We have sand and water play inside and out.  Sand and water are always good fun for all ages.  Children can play collaboratively or on their own.  Whilst  having fun they do not realise that they are learning about volume, prediction, cause and effect; they are using mathematical language and practicing their physical skills.  We also know that playing with sand is a wonderful tactile experience and experiences like this are great for a child to develop their emotional well being and ability to regulate their own feeling states.

We offer lots of opportunities for children to make marks.  Making marks on paper, in sand, on concrete or on a board are the first steps towards writing.  We encourage and praise all efforts because this is how children are inspired to try more.  Children may make marks to communicate something to us and to tell us a story and this is the first stages of them recognising that marks carry a meaning and can tell us something.Our creative areas offers lots of inspiration for children to come and explore and create in whatever way they wish.  Sometimes children have no interest in an end product at all; the physical activity is an end in itself and an opportunity for them to experiment and explore with their senses.  With this in mind we encourage the children to enjoy their creating and to have access to lots of different types of materials.This is one area of our Pre-school garden - apparatus for large physical movement.  The children have safe access to the outdoor area during every session - rain or shine!  We have a large canopy which offers protection from rain and sun.  We also have play houses, areas for riding bikes and scooters, a large sand pit, grassed areas, mark-making tables, music frames and lots more.

The past few years have been very exciting for the Pre-school.  We achieved a major refurbishment through our own fundraising and we have replaced flooring and lighting indoors.  Outdoors we completed our new outdoor provision project for our children as we believe all children have the right to experience and enjoy the essential and special nature of being outdoors.  This included artificial grass, new climbing apparatus and a new two-story wooden play house.

We offer opportunities for mathematical learning throughout the provision but we also have a dedicated 'maths area' for counting, sorting, measuring and comparing shapes and sizes.