Welcome to Abbotsham and Alwington Pre-school
As a member of Abbotsham and Alwington Pre-school, your child:
- is in a safe and stimulating environment;
- is given generous care and attention, because of our high ratio of adults to children;
- has the chance to join with other children and adults to live, play, work and learn together;
- is helped to take forward her/his learning and development by being helped to build on what she/he already knows and can do;
- has a personal key person who makes sure your child makes satisfying progress;
- is in a pre-school which sees you as a partner in helping your child to learn and develop; and
- is in a pre-school in which parents help to shape the service it offers.
Working together for your children
Pre-school has a high ratio of adults to children in thesetting. This helps us to:
- give time and attention to each child;
- talk with the children about their interests and activities;
- help children to experience and benefit from the activities we provide; and
- allow the children to explore and be adventurous in safety.
The staff who work at Abbotsham and Alwington Pre-school are:
| Staff name | Position | Qualifications |
| Janine Shambrook | Pre-school Leader SENCO | NVQ 3, Portage, Sign Language, PECS, First Aid, Child Protection |
| Linda Mckenzie | Deputy | Diploma in Pre-school Practice, Portage, First Aid |
| Karen Cadogan | Pre-school assistant | NVQ 3, First Aid |
| Shirley Sparey | Pre-school assistant | NVQ 2, First Aid |
| Corrina White | Pre-school assistant | NVQ 3 |
| Angela Colley | Pre-school assistant | NVQ 2 |
Session times We run on - Mondays, Tuesdays AM and PM,Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays From - 9.00 – 12.00 Tuesday and Friday afternoons – 12.25 – 15.25 We provide Care and Education for children between the ages of 3and 5, term time only. The Pre-school's timetable and routines Abbotsham and Alwington Pre-school believes that care and education are equally important in the experience which we offer children. The routines and activities that make up the pre-school's session/day areprovided in ways that:
- help each child to feel that she/he is a valued member of the pre-school;
- ensure the safety of each child;
- help children to gain from the social experience of being part of a group; and
- provide children with opportunities to learn and help them to value learning.
The session
The pre-school organises its sessions so that the children can choose from - and work at - a range of activities and, in doing so, build up their ability to select and work through a task to itscompletion. The children are also helped and encouraged to take part in adult-led small and large group activities which introduce them to new experiences and help them to gain new skills, as well as helping themto learn to work with others. Outdoor activities contribute to children's health, their physical development and their knowledge of the world around them. The children have the opportunity - and are encouraged - to take part in outdoor child-chosen and adult-led activities, as well as those provided in the indoor playroom. Starting at Abbotsham and Alwington Pre-school Children may start Pre-school from the age of three, funding will be available from the term after they are three. Fees - £5.50 per session.
The first days
We want your child to feel happy and safe at the pre-school.To make sure that this is the case, the staff will work with you todecide on how to help your child to settle into the pre-school. Thepre-school has a policy about helping children to settle into the pre-school. (See Settling in Policy)
Clothing
The pre-school provides protective clothing for the children when theyplay with messy activities. The pre-school encourages children to gainthe skills which help them to be independent and look after themselves.These include taking themselves to the toilet and taking off - andputting on - outdoor clothes. Clothing which is easy for them to managewill help them to do this.
The curriculum provided by Abbotsham and Alwington Pre-school
Children start to learn about the world around them from the momentthey are born. The care and education offered by Abbotsham andAlwington Pre-school helps children to continue to do this by providingall of the children with interesting activities that are right fortheir age and stage of development. For children between the ages of 3and 5 years, the pre-school provides a curriculum for the foundationstage of education. This curriculum is set out in a document, publishedby the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the Department forEducation and Skills, and called Curriculum guidance for the foundationstage. Pre-school follows this guidance. The guidance divideschildren's learning and development into six areas:
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development;
- Communication, Language and Literacy Development;
- Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy;
- Knowledge and Understanding of the World;
- Physical Development; and
- Creative Development.
For each area, the guidance sets out early learning goals. These goalsstate what it is expected that children will know and be able to do bythe end of the reception year of their education. Personal, Social andEmotional Development: This area of children's development covers:
- having a positive approach to learning and finding out about the world around them;
- having confidence in themselves and their ability to do things, and valuing their own achievements;
- being able to get on, work and make friendships with other people, both children and adults;
- becoming aware of - and being able to keep to - the ruleswhich we all need to help us to look after ourselves, other people and our environment;
- being able to dress and undress themselves, and look after their personal hygiene needs; and
- being able to expect to have their ways of doing things respected and to respect other people's ways of doing things.
Communication, Language and Literacy: This area of children'sdevelopment covers:
- being able to use conversation with one other person, in small groups and in large groups to talk with and listen to others;
- adding to their vocabulary by learning the meaning of - and being able to use - new words;
- being able to use words to describe their experiences;
- getting to know the sounds and letters which make up the words we use;
- listening to - and talking about - stories;
- knowing how to handle books and that they can be a source of stories and information;
- knowing the purposes for which we use writing; and
- making their own attempts at writing.
Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy This area of children'sdevelopment covers:
- building up ideas about how many, how much, how far and how big;
- building up ideas about patterns, the shape of objects and parts of objects, and the amount of space taken up by objects;
- starting to understand that numbers help us to answer questions about how many, how much, how far and how big;
- building up ideas about how to use counting to find out how many; and
- being introduced to finding the result of adding more or taking away from the amount we already have.
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
This area of children's development covers:
- finding out about the natural world and how it works;
- finding out about the made world and how it works;
- learning how to choose - and use - the right tool for a task;
- learning about computers, how to use them and what they can help us to do;
- starting to put together ideas about past and present and the links between them;
- beginning to learn about their locality and its special features; and
- learning about their own and other cultures.
Physical Development
This area of children's development covers:
- gaining control over the large movements which we can makewith our arms, legs and bodies, so that they can run, jump, hop, skip, roll, climb, balance and lift;
- gaining control over the small movements we can make withour arms, wrists and hands, so that they can pick up and use objects, tools and materials; and
- learning about the importance of - and how to look after - their bodies.
Creative Development This area of children's development covers:
- using paint, materials, music, dance, words, stories and role-play to express their ideas and feelings; and
- becoming interested in the way that paint, materials,music, dance, words, stories and role-play can be used to express ideas and feelings.
Snacks
The pre-school make snacks a social time at which children eattogether. We provide a drink of milk or water, 3 types of fruit/Veg andbread sticks or crackers. Do tell us about your child's dietary needsand we will make sure that these are met. How parents take part in thepre-school As a member of TRIO, Abbotsham and Alwington Pre-schoolrecognises parents as the first and most important educators of theirchildren. All of the staff see themselves as co-workers with you inproviding care and education for your child. There are many ways inwhich parents take part in making the pre-school a welcoming andstimulating place for children and parents, such as:
- exchanging knowledge about their children's needs, activities, interests and progress with the staff;
- helping at sessions of the pre-school;
- sharing their own special interests with the children;
- helping to provide, make and look after the equipment and materials used in the children's play activities;
- being part of the management of the pre-school;
- taking part in events and informal discussions about the activities and curriculum provided by the pre-school;
- joining in community activities in which the pre-school takes part; and
- building friendships with other parents in the pre-school.
The parents rota
Helping at the session enables you to see what the day-to-day life ofthe pre-school is like and to join in helping the children to get thebest out of their activities. It is also a good opportunity to talk toyour Child’s key person. Parent rota help starts at 9.30am.
Key persons
The pre-school has a key worker system. This means that each member ofstaff has a group of children for whom she/he is particularlyresponsible. Your child's key worker will be the person who works withyou to make sure that what the pre-school provides is right for yourchild's particular needs and interests. When your child first starts atthe pre-school, she/he will help your child to settle and throughoutyour child's time at the pre-school, she/he will help your child tobenefit from the pre-school's activities.
Records of achievement
The pre-school keeps a record of achievement for each child. Staff andparents working together on their children's records of achievement isone of the ways in which Pre-school and parents work in partnership.Your child's record of achievement helps us to celebrate togetherher/his achievements and to work together to provide what your childneeds for her/his well-being and to make progress. Your child's keyworker will work with you to keep this record. To do this you andshe/he will collect information about your child's needs, activities,interests and achievements. This information will enable the key personto identify your child's stage of progress.
The management of Pre-school
A parent management committee - whose members are elected by theparents of the children who attend the pre-school - manages thepre-school. The elections take place at the pre-school's Annual GeneralMeeting which is held each year. The committee is responsible for:
- managing the pre-school's finances;
- employing and managing the staff;
- making sure that the pre-school has - and works to - policies which help it to provide a high quality service; and
- making sure that the pre-school works in partnership with the children's parents.
Annual General Meeting (AGM) The Annual General Meeting is open to theparents of all of the children who attend the pre-school. It is theirforum for looking back over the previous year's activities and shapingthe coming year's activities. The AGM is normally held in October.
Special needs
As part of the pre-school's policy to make sure that its provisionmeets the needs of each individual child, we take account of anyspecial needs which a child may have. The pre-school works to therequirements of the 1993 Education Act and The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice (2000). The pre-school's Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator is Janine Shambrook.
Policies
Copies of the pre-school's policies are available upon request. Thereis also a copy of the Policies and all our planning which is displayedon the wall in the hall. The pre-school's policies help us to make surethat the service provided by the pre-school is a high quality one andthat being a member of the pre-school is an enjoyable and beneficial experience for each child and her/his parents. The staff and parents ofthe pre-school work together to adopt the policies and they all havethe opportunity to take part in the annual review of the policies. This review helps us to make sure that the policies are enabling thepre-school to provide a quality service for its members and the localcommunity. Abbotsham and Alwington Pre-school hopes that you and yourchild enjoy being members of the Pre-school and that you both find taking part in our activities interesting and stimulating. The staff are always ready and willing to talk with you about your ideas, viewsor questions. (The word parents is used to refer to mothers, fathers,legal guardians and primary carers of the children within our care.)