Learning in Pre-School happens mainly through:

• Well-structured play – both indoors and out.
• Adults extending child-initiated activities.
• A range of focused individual and small group tasks.

Children will be encouraged to join in activities that are suitable for their age, stage and ability.

Age-Based Spaces

Our pupils spend much of the day in their age-based group.

Each group has a designated key worker who plans and oversees activities.

The age-based groups are as follows:

• Little Stars – 2-year-olds
• Shining Stars – 3-year-olds
• Super Stars – The pupils who are rising 5 in the next academic year (and will therefore enter Reception in September)

The pupils also have many opportunities to mix between groups. Our shared Pre-School learning  spaces include:

The Creative Room

This area encourages children to use skills in control when using equipment. They develop imagination and self-expression and have the opportunity to be involved in activities that develop their sensory perception.

The Creative Room includes Water Play, Sand activities, Texture Table and Malleable.

Water Play

Water Play gives children the opportunity to investigate the properties of water. This activity encourages children to develop early scientific skills, e.g. observing, experimenting, estimating and drawing conclusions.

Children can explore early concepts of volume and capacity, floating and sinking. Imaginative water play also helps to develop a child’s language skills.

Sand (Wet & Dry)

Sand activities encourage children to develop their imagination and fantasy play, whilst providing them with sensory experiences enabling their exploration of pattern, shape and size.

Children use the sand equipment as a means by which to tell stories and thereby develop their language skills. Children develop early scientific concepts such as the difference between wet and dry, balance, weight, volume, and capacity.

Texture Table

Allows children to develop an understanding of the properties of different materials. Children learn how to design, make and combine models which encourages the development of new language skills, vocabulary and mathematical concepts.

Malleable

Children are given the opportunity to explore the properties of play dough, clay, gloop, slime, etc. This encourages children to observe, compare, make patterns and imprint.

The Explorers Room

Children work on numeracy and literacy in small groups with a ‘key worker’ (a ‘key worker is allocated to each child to help with their personal and social activities, observe and record the child’s development and give them the security and support to help them settle into their new environment).

Our Explorers Room has a graphics area and an interactive white board, enabling children to enjoy experimenting with written communication and mark-making.

Children use a variety of media to understand the connections and differences between print and pictures and learn to communicate by using symbols, pictures and words. Children are encouraged to recognise, count, sort and sequence numbers.

In the Explorers Room, children share news and record events in their life; they are encouraged to learn initial phonic sounds and words associated with these sounds. Through a variety of activities, the children can learn to form letter shapes ad control mark-making using various equipment. All the children’s work is recorded in their books which will be available to you at the end of the year.

The Role-Play Room

Allows children to work on their own and with others to pretend, improvise and think imaginatively. We like to change our role-play offer regularly to reflect the topic we are studying as this adds interest and enthusiasm. The area encourages the children to plan and make decisions; it allows the children to explore mathematical concepts in a context that makes sense to them. They can explore length, height, space, patterns and be involved in problem-solving.

Reading And Listening Area

This area encourages children to enjoy books and ultimately encourage their interest in learning to read. It allows children to develop listening skills and concentration as well as learning how to handle and take care of books.

Discovery Area

This area embraces many new and interesting experiences for the children. In addition to the fun of tasting new foods, the children learn new words and develop skills such as spreading and cutting.

They experience the mathematical activities of weighing, measuring and sharing and the scientific process which occurs when food is modified through, for example, cooking or freezing.

Children are also given the opportunity to explore textures, experiment with natural and man-made materials and discover their environment and the world around them, encouraging them to develop an enquiring mind.

The Outside Area

Enables the children to develop their dexterity through activities such as climbing, riding, moving and pushing. These types of activities also promote awareness of their surroundings. Our range of outdoor activities include sand, water, construction, gardening and chalking.

This Pre-School also make use of Prep School areas:

• School music rooms – for Music lessons,
• School hall – for twice weekly PE lessons and yoga, dance, ballet and movement.
• School pool for Swimming weekly.
• Wedgewood room for Story-time and mini assemblies with the Head of Prep or the School Chaplain.
• School Library for Story-time, Welsh Books and Makaton Rhymes as well as borrowing books to share at home.

Trips and Visitors

Trips and visitors play an important part in a child’s education. Trips are part of our ongoing work and enhance the children’s knowledge and understanding of the world in which they live.

The children usually have a trip or visitor associated with their current topic. They will also explore the local area when they go shopping, visit the local church or go on a seasonal walk.

Pets and Animals

Pets and animals allow the children to develop essential skills of caring and taking responsibility for a living creature. From time to time we may have a pet such as guinea pigs or land snails to look after.

We also organise zoo and farm visits, along with inviting farm visitors. Individual consent will be gained for each event and every pet to ensure that children are allowed to come into contact with the animal.