What are your opening hours?
West Wycombe Pre School Opening Times
We are open Monday – Friday 9:00am – 3:00pm with lunch clubs everyday. We offer morning sessions from 09:00- 12:00, afternoon sessions from 12:00-3:00 or full days from 09:00-3:00. The pre-school is open term time and sets its dates from Bucks County Council. We will have a maximum of 5 INSET days for staff training. Wherever possible these will be tagged onto the beginning or end of a half term holiday.
Please note any parents who pay fees on an INSET day will be reimbursed or offered an additional day.
How much does a session cost?
Each 3 hour session costs £21 and a full 6 hour day cost £42. Sessions must be a set 3 hours 9am-12pm or 12pm-3pm. Full days must be 9am-3pm. We do not offer top up or 1 hour sessions.
How do I set up the government funding?
We set this up for you. There is a quick form to complete and sign and then you will need to show the Pre-school Manager your child’s birth certificate or passport as ID. Parent’s N.I number must be recorded along with the eligibility code in order for us to process 30 hours.
The hours used for government funding do not need to be each day. The pre-school is open for a total of 30 hours and you use the hours you would like.
For example Monday 9:00-12:00, Tuesday 9:00-12:00 and Thursday 9:00-12:00 = 9 hours with us. This would leave you 21 hours to use elsewhere if needed such as another pre-school/nursery/childminder.
Please note we cannot offer part mornings i.e. 9:00am – 11:00am
Do you take non-funded children?
Yes we do take non funded children from 2 – 4 years old.
When are fees charged and how do I pay them?
Fees are invoiced half termly and can be paid either via bank transfer or childcare vouchers. We are happy for fees to be paid in instalments but the pre-school manager must be notified when payments are made and all fees must be paid by the following term.
We accept all childcare vouchers and these will need to be set up by your employer.
Where do I park for the Pre-school?
Parking is strictly at the Garden Centre car park or on the High Street. Pre-school is then a short walk across the hill or along the path up to Church Lane.
There must not be any parking on Church Lane where the pre-school is based as this parking is all private for residents and businesses of West Wycombe. There are no exceptions to this rule at any time and pre-school places will be terminated if parents do not adhere to parking rules.
What’s your routine for the morning and afternoon?
The children come in at 9:00am and find their own name on the registration board. They can then choose an activity to play with and parents leave. Once all children have arrived and parents have left we sit for a circle time. During this time we do a quick registration with our mascot Daisy Pre-school and sing our Hello song. The children then go and play with a range of activities set out by the staff from our weekly planning sheet. There is a mix of free choice play and focus activities set up for the children each day. Our garden is open all morning for the children to access and we regularly go for walks in small groups around the village. We pack up all together at 11:50am and then have a 10 minute mat time. We then enjoy circle games before singing our goodbye song and going home.
Children attending afternoon session will play upstairs or in the garden whilst their friends go home. At 12:30pm we wash hands and sit down to eat our packed lunches in the two upstairs rooms or the kitchen.
After lunch we enjoy a range of activities including structured adult led activities and free play. We access the garden as we would in the morning and enjoy walks around the village. Some of our friends need to leave early to collect siblings from school so we have this group get ready for home time and sing our goodbye song at 2:40pm and then repeat at 2:50pm for children who will be going home at 3:00pm
How many adults are there looking after the children?
We have 6 staff members in each day with 30 children. We prefer to keep our ratios as low as possible so we can have more quality time with the children.
What are your staff's qualifications?
All staff are qualified to a minimum of a level 3 NVQ or equivalent in Childcare and Education. The Pre-school Manager has a Early Years Professional Status. All staff attend first aid and safeguarding training a minimum of every 3 years along with any additional training required to ensure they have the most up to date knowledge of child development.
Do you take the children out of the pre-school?
Yes. We believe that fresh air and regular exercise is important for children’s health and development and encourage the children to access the outside environment as much as possible. We have an allotment area at the local church where we grow vegetables and regularly go into West Wycombe Park to run around the woodland and open fields.
Note: Children are put onto a much lower ratio when going out of the setting and we follow a strict Outings Policy to ensure everyone’s safety.
How do you help my child get ready for school?
We understand a parents concern when getting children ready for school. However to make the experience less daunting for the children we choose to focus on this for the Summer Term before they go to school. We have sessions where we ask the children to bring in their school uniform and invite all teachers from the children’s schools in for a play session. We liaise very closely with all neighbouring Primary Schools including ones from the surrounding villages. We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage and Early Learning Goals but in addition to this we ask the teachers which skills are important for the children to focus on. All children will leave us with an end of year report which is sent to their Primary School and we devise with parents next steps to work on at home. We work hard to ensure children learn constantly through their play and feel confident about their skills and knowledge when they go to school.
Will you teach my child to read and write?
Only ever if they are developmentally ready and show an interest in this themselves. Even then we are simply showing the children the basics of letter sounds before school. We believe it is important for the children to learn about letters through fun games and songs and we then go on to nurture any further interest they have. We follow Jolly Phonics and sing the songs with the children regularly and teach them the actions to each sound. We then teach the children the initial phonic sound in their own name and names of interest to them such as M for Mummy. Many children leave us knowing the phonic sounds in their own name and are beginning to form some simple letter shapes. However there is no pressure put on them and the key is to ensure the children enjoy their learning and have lots of fun with it.
What snacks do you offer?
We offer healthy snacks to ensure good oral health. We provide seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables including apples, pears, bananas, cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, plums, grapes, melon, blueberries, strawberries, sugar snap peas and peppers. We also offer wholegrain cereals, whole-wheat toast, breadsticks, cheese, crispbreads, pitta breads and rice cakes. We use our café as an opportunity for children to explore new foods such as Chinese noodles, Humous and Jamaican Banana Loaf. The children are offered milk or water to drink. We keep a list of which children have accessed café during the morning and always encourage children to have a drink throughout the session.
My child’s in nappies, can they still come to pre-school?
Yes. We have nappy changing facilities at Pre-school and changing nappies or potty training is not a problem. To provide continuity of care your child will be changed by their keyperson each time. When you are ready to begin potty training we follow the same routine/ care practice that you do at home. Children will need to bring with them a couple of nappies, wipes and nappy sacks or lots of spare clothes and shoes, wipes and nappy sacks if potty training.
How do you help my child with toilet training?
Potty training at pre-school has its challenges. The children are having so much fun they may not want to leave their play to go to the toilet/potty. Their keyperson will regularly encourage them to go on the toilet and will look for natural pauses within their play to remind them. We are always happy to use the same methods as you i.e. reward charts or stickers.
My child has allergies, can they still come to pre-school?
Yes. We are more than happy for children to come to pre-school and will find a way to ensure that allergies are managed in an effective and nonintrusive way to your child. If medication is required we can keep this safely at pre-school and all staff are fully trained to administer medication such as epi-pens.
How would you help my child settle in?
There is no one way to settle a child and we always take our lead from the children as individuals. We start by offering a one hour settling in session with parents. If your child is happy and engaged we recommend stepping out for 10 minutes to see how things go. If your child is happy we can then book a date to start. If they are particularly distressed then we can book in more settling in sessions. We can offer as many as you think your child may need and there is no rush. We also offer a home visit which is free and a great opportunity for your child to build a relationship with their key person. The home visit lasts for 30-45 minutes and is at a time that is convenient to you. We believe in the importance of ensuring a smooth transition into pre-school and getting the settling in period right for the individual child.
What will my child need to bring with them?
Your child will need a named bag with changes of clothes, spare shoes and weather appropriate outdoor clothing i.e. wellington boots, coat, hat and gloves or a sun hat and sun cream. We encourage all children to keep & wear indoor shoes at pre-school. If in nappies they will need at least 2 nappies, a pack of wipes and nappy sacks.
What activities do you provide for my child?
As many as possible. We set the pre-school up differently every week and have a huge amount of resources at our disposal. From painting, gluing and cutting to playdough, sand and water. We have climbing frames, see saws, bikes and scooters, a home corner, hair salon, green grocers and hundreds of dressing up costumes. There are books, puzzles, games, dolls, pirates, dinosaurs and spacemen to name just a few of the many fun activities we offer the children. We ensure the children have as much fun as possible and they don’t ever realise how much learning they are doing. The list of activities really is endless.
Can I be part of the Committee?
Definitely. Our pre-school is committee run and cannot survive without the dedicated parents who help to shape our setting. The preschool is run by the manager but overseen by a committee of parents. Some committee members have roles such as secretary or treasurer whilst others get involved with all of our fundraising events to ensure they are as successful as possible. All funds raised by the committee go straight back to the pre-school and go a long way to continually improving the opportunities we are able to provide for the children. Please do come along and get involved.