Pre-school Prospectus

Kingsley Community Pre-School

Prospectus

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Kingsley Community Pre-‐‑School

Welcome Our Pre-‐‑School was set up in 2012 to cater for the needs of two-‐‑year-‐‑old children. We pride ourselves on the range of opportunities and experiences, which we offer the children. Our mission is to give your child the opportunity to settle and develop in a supportive environment, preparing him/her for the next stage of their educational journey. To achieve this, we follow our school principles:

• We are a team: Together Everyone Achieves More.

• If it works, we do more of it; if it doesn’t work, we fix it or bin it.

• The problem is the problem not the person. • We constantly review what we do and seek

feedback. • Our communication is effective so that

everyone knows what is happening. • If we make a change, we make sure it is:

Simple, Measurable, Achievable and Realistic with a Timescale.

Our school is proud of our reputation for being a caring and friendly school with a high academic record of achievement. As a pre-‐‑school connected with the school, we will do our best to ensure that your child’s time with us is a happy one, where his or her individuality is nurtured so that he or she can flourish and achieve their full potential. This prospectus is designed to help you to find out some information about our Pre-‐‑School and to give you an insight into life here in Kingsley. I hope that you will not hesitate to contact me to discuss any aspect of your child’s progress, concerns or share things that should be celebrated. Fiona Rimmer

A message from our

Headteacher

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Kingsley Community Pre-‐‑School Our Staff

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Sessions

Children attending the Pre-‐‑School can choose to attend for a variety of sessions: morning, afternoon or full day sessions. The Pre-‐‑school is open during term time only, 38 weeks/year.

Session times are as follows:

Morning session: 9am – 12noon. Extended morning session including lunch: 9am – 1pm. Afternoon session: 1pm – 3.15pm. Full day session: 9am – 3.15pm. Session charges are as follows: Morning session: £11.55 Extended morning session: £13.55 Afternoon session: £8.66 Full day session: £22.21

Mrs Kelly Mrs Burrow Mrs McCreadie Teacher Teaching Assistant Teaching Assistant

Other Staff your child may come in contact with:

Mrs Rimmer Miss Smith Mrs Astley Headteacher Reception Teacher Teaching Assistant

Mrs Holding Mrs Davies Mrs Dolan Teaching Assistant Teaching Assistant/MDA Teaching Assistant

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‘Children have a right… to provision which

enables them to develop their personalities, talents

and abilities…’

Early Education

Learning & Development

The Pre-‐‑School is part of the Foundation Stage and caters for children aged 2-‐‑3 years. When the children reach the age of 3 years, they will transfer to the Nursery, which is part of the school. Learning and Development in the foundation stage is divided into seven areas: Prime areas:

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development (Making relationships, self-‐‑confidence and self-‐‑awareness, Managing feelings and behaviour).

• Physical Development (Moving and handling, Health and self care).

• Communication and Language (Listening and attention, Understanding, Speaking).

Specific areas:

• Literacy (Reading and Writing) • Mathematics (Numbers, Shape, Space

and measure). • Understanding the World (People and

communities, The world, Technology).

• Expressive Arts and Design (Exploring and using media and materials, Being imaginative).

In the pre-‐‑school, the staff will concentrate mainly on the three prime areas which are the basis to successful learning in the other four specific areas. The three prime areas reflect the key skills all children need to develop and learn effectively and become ready for school.

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Settling in time The children come in through the foundation stage entrance with their parents, hang up their coats and settle into the main Nursery room with their key worker.

Focused Task The children then take part in a focused task in the 2 year old room with their key worker or the teacher. This task lasts for about 20 minutes.

Continuous Provision and Snack The children move back to the Nursery room or the outdoor area for 30 mins to choose the activities that they would like to take part in. This is followed by a snack in the Nursery with the rest of the Foundation stage children (Nursery and Reception).

Focused activity Snack time is followed by another focused activity in the 2 year old room with the children’s key worker for about 20 minutes.

Continuous Provision The session ends with another 30 mins of continuous provision as before followed by story/songs in the Nursery and lunch or hometime.

Outline of the session/day

What is a focused activity? A focused activity is one which helps your child develop in one of the core areas and is based on on-‐‑going observational assessments. They include activities such as: painting to develop fine motor control and hand eye co-‐‑ordination, listening to stories and discussing them, playing in the sand tray, digging lifting and pouring, sharing and taking turns and playing games. What is continuous provision? This is where the children interact with the indoor and outdoor environment that has been set up to enable development e.g. if the staff have observed the children enjoying playing with a fire engine, they will set up a range of activities involving fire engines to help them to develop their skills.

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Snack time and lunchtime In the pre-‐‑school the children are provided with a snack for 25p each day. In addition, fruit and milk is available throughout the session/day (free of charge). Children who stay for an extended session or a full day can choose to have a school dinner (£2.10 per day) or bring a packed lunch. This is eaten in the canteen with the rest of the foundation stage children.

Assessment Assessment of the children’s progress is based on on-‐‑going observations and focused tasks. The staff will compile a learning journey that charts your child’s progress through a range of activities. You will be asked to contribute to this by sharing your child’s achievements at home through a ‘magic moments’ book. During the term in which your child is three, the staff will complete a 2-‐‑year-‐‑old progress check with you. The report will identify what your child likes to do, your child’s current progress, what they have recently achieved and targets that they are currently working on. If there are areas for concern, these will also be shared and a plan will be put in place to enable your child to develop further. There are also opportunities to attend parents’ evenings and a written report will be provided at the end of the year.

Important Information Toilet time The foundation stage unit benefits from a purpose built light and airy toilet area with toilets that are the right size and height for our youngest children. The sinks have also been fitted at the children’s height to encourage their independence. Our two year olds are encouraged to use the toilet between each activity ie. every 30 – 45 minutes which helps them to get into a routine. There is a separate toilet with a changing area for children who are still in nappies.

Nappies We expect parents to supply their own nappies if their child still uses these. However, if a child has an accident and parents have not provided enough nappies, we will provide one so that the child is clean and comfortable. There is clearly a cost to this, so parents will be charged for any school nappies that need to be used in an emergency.

Toilet training We will help and support parents with whatever stage their child is at in regards to toilet training and will not put pressure on a child to be dry before they are ready.

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Communication The school will email relevant letters to you on a regular basis so that you are aware of what is happening. In addition you may receive reminder texts from time to time. Please make sure that we have current contact details. If you have any concerns about your child or his/her progress, please do not hesitate to speak to us (the end of the session/day is usually best). We are very happy to help and believe that a partnership between home and school works best for the children. When you collect your child at the end of the session/day, we will often pass on verbal information about what your child has been doing so that you can talk about it and will know how he/she is getting on.

Important Information Clothes Children are encouraged to wear practical clothes to pre-‐‑school that they can play in comfortably. At times, the children will be painting and drawing with felt tips (washable) and these are likely to get on their clothes. The children really enjoy playing in the outdoor area and we have a selection of wellingtons that can be worn on damp days or after the rain. To enable them to use these, the children will need to wear shoes that they can easily take on and off. Please ensure that your child comes with a coat (except for the hottest days) as this will help to keep him/her warm when they are playing in the outdoor area.

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School events: Because the pre-‐‑school is linked to the school, the children have the opportunity to take part in a wide range of activities as part of the school community. These include events such as the pantomime, the whole school cross-‐‑country event in the school grounds, fairtrade fun day, the Carol concert and the Easter service. The children perform in the Foundation stage Christmas nativity performances and run in the Nursery events at sports day. Taking part in these events enables the children to get to know the children and the rest of the school community in a safe environment. We have found that this makes transition into the Nursery and school much smoother.

Educational Visits Children in the pre-‐‑school accompany the Nursery children on a visit once / term. The visits include walks around the local environment and a visit to Reaseheath to see the newborn animals. Parents are encouraged to participate in the visits with their child.

Visitors Parents and other adults who have any special interests are encouraged to come in and share these with the children.

Outdoor area The children regularly play in the foundation stage outdoor area where activities relating to the 7 areas of learning can be found. They are able to feed the chickens and learn how to look after living creatures.

Term Dates 2012-‐‑2013 Autumn term: 4th September – 19th October 30th October -‐‑ 21st December Spring term: 8th January – 15th February 25th February – 28th March Summer term: 15th April – 23rd May 4th June – 23rd July

Enhancements

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Personal, Social and Emotional Development • Making friends. • Interested in others’ play and starting to join in. • Expresses own preferences, interests and feelings. • Shows understanding and co-‐‑operates with some boundaries and

routines. • Making relationships with adults. • Aware that some actions can hurt or harm others.

How can you help? • You can help by encouraging your child to talk about his/her likes and

dislikes. • Playing games that encourage sharing and turn taking will help your

child to build their social skills. • Establish simple routines. • Encourage your child to talk and play with other children.

Physical Development • Fine motor and gross motor control. • Moves safely around the environment • Climbs confidently and walks up and downstairs. • Kicks a ball. • Can feed him/herself. • Beginning to be independent in self-‐‑care, but still often needs adult

support. • Helps with clothing, e.g. puts on hat, unzips zipper on jacket, and

takes off unbuttoned shirt.

How can you help? • Give children time to run, jump, climb and play outdoors • Encourage children in activities such as building, drawing, threading

beads, or filling and emptying containers in the water – all of which develop manipulative skills.

• Encourage your child to feed and dress him/herself.

Curriculum Outline – core areas

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Communication and Language • Can understand and follow instructions. • Can join in conversations. • Listens and respond to stories, song and rhymes. • Responds to familiar sounds, e.g. a knock at the door • Understands simple questions. • Uses simple sentences and gestures to communicate meaning.

How can you help? • By taking the time to listen to your child talking about things they’ve

done and answering their questions. • By modelling more detailed sentences during conversation.

Literacy • Have favourite songs and nursery rhymes. • Repeats part of familiar stories. • Gives reasons for the marks they make.

How can you help?

• Allow your child to have access to pens, pencils, crayons, paints and paper.

• Read favourite stories and leave spaces for your child to fill in the repeated refrain.

• Listen to favourite songs and nursery rhymes.

Mathematics • Counting • Recognises numbers and what they mean. • Notices simple shapes and patterns. • Compares quantities. • Understands time-‐‑based events such as bedtime.

Curriculum Outline – core areas

Curriculum Outline – prime areas

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Mathematics – How can you help? • Talk about the shapes you can see in the environment. • Point out numbers all around. • Sing counting songs and rhymes. • Count, add and subtract anything and everything: socks, cars, shopping,

cutlery, fingers and toes! • Talk about the sequence of events.

Expressive Arts and Design • Painting • Drawing and printing • Create music • Singing • Beginning to make believe by pretending.

How can you help? • Talk with your child about their imaginative play and join in if possible! • Encourage him/her to be flexible in his/her thinking and use of materials

and praise them for their efforts or ideas as well as the end product. • Sing songs and listen to Cds.

Understand the World • Learning about their own and other cultures, places, things that

happened in the past and living things. • Operates some ICT equipment. • Is aware of changes in the environment. • Playing with small-‐‑world figures such as the farm, a garage or dolls

house.

How can you help? • Talk with your child about the places they go and the things they see in

the world around them. • Answering and asking questions – what if…? Why do you think…?

How did you…? • Let your child join in with everyday activities: washing up, cooking,

shopping, helping in the garden… • If possible let your child have access to: a computer, mobile phone, Cd

player, digital camera…

Curriculum Outline – prime areas


Where the needs of the children come first.

Kingsley Community Pre-School Middle Lane Kingsley, Frodsham WA6 6TZ

Tel: 01244 981300

www.kingsleycp.cheshire.sch.uk

Documents

Pre-school Prospectus