Learning & fun
When a place is offered to a family, a home visit is suggested before the child starts at pre-school. These informal visits, over a cup of tea offer an opportunity for the child to meet with their key worker at home where they feel safe & secure & begin to build a bond. This is also the perfect opportunity to talk through your child’s likes & dislikes, share any concerns you have & start to create a picture of how to build on your child’s knowledge.
Our settling in process is flexible, some children needing little support, others needing a more gentle approach over a two week period. Once settled, we will work out next steps for your child to extend their knowledge & expand their interests. These will be shared with parents & can be worked on at home too. They will be totally tailored to your child & may consist of things such as: toilet training, listening to a 2 part instruction, recognising a range of shapes, counting beyond 10 & further, using scissors with 1 hand, forming letters. The list is endless. Our experienced team will pull on their years of knowledge to give your child the best start at preschool.
We follow the EYFS curriculum & this covers 7 areas of learning which ensure the care & teaching we deliver reaches the child as a whole, including their personal & emotional development. We look at the characteristics that help to build an inquisitive child who is interested to find out & not afraid to have a go at a challenge.
The children are offered free flow around the setting, supervised when using the stairs & always accompanied outside. We provide puddle suits for wet weather & continue the curriculum outside too.
Expert teaching:
Managed by Jo, who holds a BA Hons degree, the team are experts in this field. They recognise each child as an individual & respect family beliefs, celebrate the differences & encourage the attitude of having a go, whether that be opening a packet in their lunch box, holding scissors for the first time or climbing on a frame in the garden. The teams love of children drives them forward, extending their own knowledge, keeping on top of new initiatives & delivering the best care & education for the children
Each child is encouraged to reach their full potential, some move on to school being able to read four letter words & sound out & write legible words, others are achieving their goals of holding a pencil & climbing the stairs unaided. No goal is too small & each achievement is celebrated. The staff team hold all hold mandatory training but also access further training to support their own personal development. These are cascaded to the team in regular staff meetings to ensure the team are as strong as possible. We are involved in initiatives from Bucks County Council & work closely with a range of outside agencies ranging from children’s centres, speech & language therapists, educational psychologists & other local childcare providers & schools that our children move to.
When new guidance is published from government, Ofsted or Bucks County Council, these are fed into our robust policies & form part of our everyday practice.