What Will Your Child Be Doing At Pre-school?:
At pre-school there is always a wide range of activities for the children to do. These are carefully planned and rotated. Each month there is a different theme around which many of these activities are organised. Children are encouraged to bring in relevant items to display on the “Topic Table” or “Show and Tell”. Details of these sessions will appear on the main notice board. This provides a great source of discussion during sessions either at drinks time or story time. Children are gently encouraged but never forced to participate in the activities available. They may choose to do a lot or very little on paper. Most activities are practical in nature.
Activities available include:
- Craft activity / cooking
- Play dough / cornflour / clay
- Painting
- Book Corner
- Topic Table
- Puzzles
- Drawing / writing / “mark making”
- Comparing / sorting / matching / sequencing activities
- Cutting and sticking / threading / tracing
- Creative role play / dressing up
- Construction toys
- Sand & water play
- Large apparatus / games
- Bicycles and other wheeled toys to ride on.
- Outdoor games
At snack time the group usually discuss counting, colours of plates/ cups as well as the sharing out of snacks. They use this time to talk about any news the children may have to share incorporating the days of the week, alphabet and number recognition. Each session usually ends with a group activity such as a story, singing or music and movement.
Snack Time
Half way through the morning the children sit together around a table and have a drink of milk or water and a healthy snack. Should your child have any allergies or special dietary needs please fill these in on your child registration form and also discuss them with the staff and arrange to provide a suitable alternative. If your child has a birthday and would like to bring in cakes/biscuits, they are most welcome to do so and these will be offered after their healthy snack.
Dropping Off and Collection:
When coming into school at 9.15am you are welcomed into the entrance hall.
Whilst you are in the entrance hall hanging up coats and taking your children to the toilet they remain in your care and under your supervision.
Once you bring your child into the pre-school (main hall or class room) and your child has been marked into the register we are then responsible for their care and safety.
A member of staff is at this door to prevent children following parents out.
At 9.30am the external door will be locked as will all the internal doors.
Any one arriving late will need to ring the bell for a member of staff to let them in via the same procedure.
On Thursday, as the “classroom” is used by the church the external door is left unlocked for access by the members of the church to that room. The pre-school door is, however, is locked as usual.
When collecting your children you will be welcomed back into the entrance hall .
The internal door of the children’s room will then be opened. At this point please watch for your child as you will need to step forwardto collect your child from the staff member. Your child will not be sent to you across the room.
From a child’s eye level seeing lots of people can be frightening and their view of you can become obscured.
At this point the children are now safely returned to your care and are back to being under your parental supervision.
When leaving the premises can we please just remind all parents and carers to hold on to their little ones to keep them safe from the outside steps/road.
Collecting Your Child:
If a parent/carer fails to collect a child, the supervisor will firstly telephone the parent/carer. If she cannot contact them she will telephone the emergency contact number which was given on the registration form. Staff will then wait 30-45 minutes on the premises after the end of the session. If the child has not been collected by then, Social Services will be called.
Parents/carers are requested to inform the supervisor if another person is collecting their child and this must involve the use of a password system where the person collecting knows the word and this is told to staff before the child is allowed to leave. This word must not be told or shared with any other outside people and changes daily. Please inform the person to make themselves known to staff when they arrive. If a child is sick or very distressed, we will contact the parent/carer and ask them to collect their child which may occur during a session. |
