Winford Village Pre-school

1. Winford Village Pre-school Welcome to

2. Thank you for joining us! By the end of tonight we aim for you too be clear on our routines and have a better understanding of learning and development in our preschool. To know who your child’s key person is and to know what you need to do before your child starts Preschool. Please feel free to ask any questions.

3. The Preschool Team! • Maria – Manager • Nat – Deputy Manager • Colette, Dawn, Shelly , Hannah, Terri – Key people • Gail – early years practitioner We are a committee run Preschool, each year we need 5 parents to form the committee in order to stay open. The current committee will talk to you about this later!

4. Settling in Sessions • Settling in sessions have been arranged for……….. • Monday 24th June, Tuesday 25thJune, Monday 1st July, Tuesday 2nd July from 9.30-11.00 • Please can you bring completed forms. • Identification for yourself, (if you are new to the Preschool) and for your child. • Your child will get a chance to play in the setting and you will have a chance to chat to their key person.

5. Consumable Fee • The government provide funded childcare but this does not cover the cost of everything a childcare setting provides • We receive £3.86/hr from the local authority for funded places compared to £5/hr we charge for non funded places. • We have tried not to pass this loss onto parents but this year the committee have agreed that we need to charge £1 per session for funded places to cover the cost of consumables. • Consumables include, fruit, crackers, cooking ingredients, hand towels, play dough resources, and much more. • You will be invoiced for this on a termly basis.

6. To see what funding you are entitled to visit this site.

7. Start of Preschool session. • Please bring your child into preschool to help them settle into the session. • A member of staff will be at the door to say good morning and ask you to sign your child in. • Encourage your child to hang their coat on their peg, put away their lunch bag and bottle. • Your child will be given a yellow bookbag that will contain a home preschool book for any messages and any library book they have chosen for the week. There will be a box available to put these in. • This is a good opportunity to give staff any messages, for example that someone else may be picking up your child. Preschool starts at 8.45am

8. End of the preschool day. • Session ends at 2.45pm . • For your child’s safety, please inform a member of staff if your child is being collected by somebody different and insure they have the password. • A member of staff will greet you at the gate and will ask you to sign your child out. • Your child will be waiting for you with their belongings.

9. Routine of the day. • 9.00am Morning group time, followed by fruit and drink. • 9.20am Free play. • 11.10am Tidy up time. • 11.30am Small group time, followed by singing and a story. • 12.00pm Lunch. • 12.30pm Bikes followed by free play. • 14.10pm Tidy up time. • 14.30pm Story. • 14.45pm Home time.

10. Snack Time. • We will provide a piece of fruit for your child to have at snack time. • Please provide a labelled water bottle which can be accessed throughout the day (squash or water is fine) • . We will provide milk at snack time which the children can practice their pouring skills!! • Please inform us of any allergies your child may have.

11. Lunch time Please can you bring a packed lunch for your child, this could include, sandwiches, yogurts, pitta breads, wraps, fruit and vegetables. We try and encourage healthy eating so would be really grateful if you could not add chocolate to their lunch box (as yummy as it is)! In very hot weather an ice pack would be needed.

12. Before Starting Preschool! Please label all your child’s Preschool clothes! Encourage independence, eg, pulling trousers down to go to the toilet, putting coats on. Each day you will need to bring…… Coat Lunchbox and water bottle Bookbag Change of clothes Sunhat and sun cream during the summer months

13. What is the Early Years Foundation Stage? This is how the government and early years professionals describe the educational time in your child’s life between birth and the age of 5. This is a very important stage as it helps your child prepare them for their future learning. Their early years experience should be happy, active, exciting, fun and secure; as well as support their development, care and learning needs.

14. How will my child learn?Your child will be learning skills and acquiring new knowledge through seven areas of learning and development Prime Areas These three areas are the most essential for your child’s development and future learning. Communication and language Physical development Personal, social and emotional development

15. As your child grows, the previous prime areas will help them develop skills in four specific areas: Literacy Mathematics Understanding the world Expressive arts and design

16. These areas of learning are enabled and developed through play, our skilled Early Years Practitioners create opportunities to encourage and support children’s development.

17. Child initiated play…with a bit of adult led thrown in sometimes! We believe children learn best when they follow their own interests. Observations are used to plan for future activities as well as to help them reach the next steps of their development. We support children in their free play by helping them extend their ideas and facilitate bringing these ideas to life. Our group times are often led by grown ups but have been thought about carefully, taking into consideration the childrens’s ideas, interests and play. Some of this great play can be seen in your childrens electronic learning journal…

18. Tapestry:Your individual electronic learning journal. We will send you an private, secure activation link to set up your child’s tapestry account, you will then be able to see photos and observations of your child from your tablet, phone or laptop. This will be password protected so only you will have access You will be able to comment and even add photos or videos to the journal. At the end of your child’s time at Winford Village Preschool you will be able to download the journal and have it as a keepsake of your child’s time here.