Harrietsham Pre School
Welcome to Harrietsham Pre School
About Us
Harrietsham Pre School believes that children's early care and education is most important in helping to shape their lives. Parents and the people who the child spends time with. all have an important part to play. We wish to work with you in providing opportunities and experiences for you and your child, in the welcoming atmosphere of Pre School.
Please provide us with as much information and insight into your thoughts and opinions about your child and their world, the better for us to support you in the Early Years period. Simiarly we will undertake observations and evaluations and work with you to plan a stimulating and enjoyable time for both you and your family whilst at Pre School.
We may be working together for up to two years or more, depending upon the age of your children and their entry date. We will always try to be approachable, friendly, non judgemental and listen to your concerns and opinions seriously and with due consideration.
Please take advantage of the staff's knowledge and experience in the areas of child development, learning processes, stage related activities and individual issues that you may have.
Daily Routine
Children enter at 9.00 am and get ready to play. Activities and resources are available for children to self select, or they may ask for a specific activity which they want to do. Choices usually include the Quiet and Book area, Imaginative Role play area, Cooperative play on the floor or at a table, such as track and trains, Exploratory ‘messy’ play area and the writing table. Staff are always available to help the children in both their practical efforts and in their learning. Planning sheets will be checked so each child is following key learning steps.
During the mornings free play we have our ‘Snack Time’ and tidy up at the end of the session. We then come together for a group circle time, when we may play outside on some equipment such as bikes or climbing frame, of we may ‘act out’ a well known story, listen to or play some songs and musical instruments or maybe get creative with some large scale group painting.The format of a morning session at Pre School satisfies both the Government’s requirements as set out in the ‘Foundation Stage’ and ‘Birth to Three Matters’ and from September 2008 the early Years Foundation Stage as well as Kent County Council’s Delegated Conditions for Funded places.
If your child is staying on for packed lunch brought from home, the afternoon will be taken up with the children helping to organise their lunch time routine and various activities such as painting, junk modeling, music, cookery, games etc. This is an additional service set up by Pre School to meet the needs of the community in extending the time available to access qualified childcare.
Harrietsham Pre School promotes ‘healthy’ food and a balanced diet. Both the snack and lunch food should be of a manageable portion size for your individual child and contain a balance of components from within the food groups. Please note that we store all food in the fridge which is monitored to be at 5 degrees centigrade. (Even at this temperature some food is more likely to spoil such as ham and chilled pasta dishes). If you want ideas for healthy, fun and nutritious packed lunches please ask.
Our Weekly Sessions
Monday, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays 9.00am to 12.00pm and 12.00pm to 2.00pm
Wednesdays 9.00am to 12.00pm
Morning sessions include free play time, a snack and directed learning. The Afternoon
Session is made up of supervised lunchtime, quiet play, free playtime and directed learning. Children may stay for the whole 5 hour session on the four days stated above where availability allows and once they are settled and ready.
The Early Years Foundation Stage
The early Years Foundation Stage has been implemented since September 2008 for all Early Years settings to follow, after a series of Government reports and initiatives culminating in the ‘Every Child matters’ report from which inspections by Ofsted are carried out.
In brief, this documentation states the legal and supporting criteria along with the children’s developmental processes needed to achieve good quality childcare.
It uses four themes:
-Unique Child
-Positive Relationships
-Enabling Environments
-Learning and Development
Each theme has four underlying principles and each principle has a further 4 commitments.
Please refer to the Principles into Practice sheet produced by the DfES.
Pre School uses a variety of policies, procedures, processes and observations to evaluate our abilities in the sixteen commitments. Many can be shown by working directly with children and their families / carers.
For example,
• By creating valued and respectful relationships, the setting is contributing to the social and emotional ‘Health and Well-being’ under the theme of a ‘Unique child’;
• By maintaining good lines of communication with parents and carers the setting is promoting ‘Parents as partners’ under the theme of Positive Relationships.
• By creating rich and varied opportunities to play, learn and discover, both indoors and outside, the setting is contributing to a diverse ‘Learning Environment’ under the theme of ‘ Enabling Environments’.
• By using a wide range of resources to support play in solitary, small and large groups the setting reinforces ‘Active Learning’ under the theme ‘Learning and Development’.
One of the sixteen commitments is concerned with the six areas of Learning and Development.
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Communication, Language and Literacy
• Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
• Knowledge and Understanding of the World
• Physical Development
• Creative Development
And in turn are underpinned by the four Foundation Stage principles.
They represent a continuum of learning but are not a definitive list or order of children’s cognitive skills. Below is a brief summary of the type of learning within each area within the approximate age / stage range of children attending Pre School.
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) is the area of development centered around confidence, self esteem, behaviour, friendships, respect, attitudes and community. Children acquire skills in this area as they access the social and inclusive Pre School setting and take up the opportunities to access the variety of activities on offer.
• Communication Language and Literacy (CLL) is about allowing children to explore their language skills using vocabulary, speech and sound patterns, narratives and to talk with another person. Also about the written word in the form of books (fact and fiction), instructional information and their own mark making and handwriting experiences.
• Problem Solving, reasoning and Numeracy (PSRN) covers numbers, counting, recording, problem solving, patterns, orientation, shapes and sizes. These concepts tend to be very prevalent in our everyday routines and are used to help children enjoy mathematical challenges at their own pace.
• Knowledge and Understanding of the World (KUW) as it’s name suggests, is about exploring their world whether it be urban or country landscape, whether it be indoors or outdoors or even fact or fiction. It incorporates the use of technology, planning, timescales and cultural experiences.
• Physical Development (PD) provides children with opportunities to move, use their strength and control by using both their large muscle and small muscle groups, take care of their own needs, and play with a variety of equipment.
• Creative Development (CD) helps children explore different media and materials from paint, role play, junk modeling and dancing so as to express their ideas and emotions. This helps them learn about colours, texture, sound and ordering aspects of their own life.
We hope this information is useful to you and that it helps answer any questions you may have. If you have any further queries, please ask a member of staff who will be pleased to help. Harrietsham Pre School realises how important the smooth transition is for your family in joining us, if there is anything we can do to make this as easy as possible please contact us on 01622 851819.
On behalf of the Pre School Committee
Janet Bellamy
(Supervisor)