Preschool Area

The staff within Preschool room have many years of experience in supporting children to develop the foundations that are needed to prepare for school. They deliver this in child centred preschool room in accordance with the principles from the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). By advocating this approach to learning we are enhancing the children’s preparation for the world of ‘big school’.

In preparation for 'big school' each child within preschool is given a complimentary t-shirt and jumper when they join the room and more can be purchased by yourselves if you wish, we hope that introducing this will get the children used to wearing a uniform. Each child is also given a book bag and are able to borrow books from the setting that are from the Oxford Tree Reading scheme, these books have no words but can be used at home with yourselves to begin to discuss how to hold a book, turn the pages and describe what is happening within the story. The staff team also choose a letter of the week to focus on, the staff use the Jolly Phonic scheme to teach the children the sound that the letter makes and the children are able to bring things in from home to display beggining with the particular letter of the week.

 

At Hatton Hill Day Nursery and Preschool we provide a balanced provision of adult supported and play experiences within rich, stimulating indoor and outdoor environments. We ensure these environments include complexity and challenge, with the aim of encouraging children’s initiative and development of skills. We support our children’s development and consolidation of these skills and concepts by giving them the time and opportunities to make sense of their world, grow in confidence, and for them to believe in themselves as capable and powerful learners. The room is organised in learning areas where children are able to access a range of low level equipment and resources, they also have access to two computers and digital cameras to capture their experiences first hand!

 

We believe our children strive in an environment where they have first hand experiences of the world around them. We commit to this by encouraging our children’s encounters and discoveries in their local community through the display of their creative projects and the development of strong links with local schools. This also leads to a busy and exciting week which includes visits from specialists in dance, gym, music, language, football and PC lessons.

 

Our progressive approach to the EYFS is supported by current knowledge and is developed with the assistance of our Early Years Curriculum Advisor. Together with the preschool team, this ensures high quality delivery of the EYFS. The EYFS sets out six areas of learning which are:

Parents are kept up to date with their child’s developmental progress towards the EYFS early learning goals in a variety of ways - daily verbal and written communication, twice yearly written progress reports, Foundation Stage meetings, individual child profiles and curriculum information evenings.
 
If you would like to learn more about this phase in early education please visit the EYFS website.