Welcome to Wybunbury Delves Preschool

A warm welcome to Wybunbury Delves Preschool

Our Preschool is an important part of our school family. It has it's own room and garden along side the Reception classroom but our youngest children also make full use of our lovely grounds and facilities.

We offer places in Preschool from the term your child turns 3. Our intake dates are at the beginning of each new term – September; January and April.

Our Staff

Preschool is led Helen Bracegirdle as Supervisor with Anna Lloyd as Deputy, Kim Williams as Preschool assistant, and Megan Critchley who supports Preschool during lunchtime before going on to support in KS1 and OOSC after school.
Your child will also meet members of the wider school team during their sessions at Preschool. Mrs Ward is our Reception class teacher and Early Years Lead, she works closely with the Preschool team.

Our Children

We can have a maximum of 24 children (aged 3 or above) on a session and when there are children aged 2 (the term that they are 3) on the session the maximum is 20 children. We maintain EY ratios within the session
Children under 3 – 1 adult: 4 children
Children aged 3 and above – 1 adult: 8 children

Sessions and Fees

We are open 38 weeks each year – term time – our open dates can be found here.
We are open from 9am to 3pm Monday – Friday.

• Morning Session 9.00 – 12.00 £15.00
• Afternoon Session 12.00 – 3.00 £15.00

An optional 'early bird' drop off in line with school start time (8.45 a.m.) is also available at a cost of £2.00; please talk to a member of staff if interested. A 'late bird' session is also available (3.00-3.15pm) at a cost of £2.00 per session

Funding

As a parent or carer of a 3 or 4 year old, you are entitled to 15 free hours of childcare. You may be eligible for 30 hours of child care. Please visit www.childcarechoices.gov.uk to check availability.

You may be eligible for free childcare for your 2.5 yr old. Contact the Family Information Service on 0300 123 5033 to find out if you qualify.

Our ethos

To prepare young children for their future learning experiences within a caring, secure, stimulating environment linked to our Church school

Following the approach of School, we believe in a holistic approach to childcare where all elements contribute to the greater good and development of the child; be that the environment the child is in, the people that are caring for them or the food they eat. Our focus is to establish the best possible environment for each and every child. We achieve this through a variety of free and different play opportunities where our children develop their natural curiosity and desire to learn as they explore the world around them.

We are a close team with a flexible, sensitive and open approach and treat all individuals with the same care, attention and equal voice.

We aim to:

• Provide high quality care and education for children
• Work in Partnership with parents to help children learn and develop.
• Add to the life and well being of the local community.
• Offer the children and their parents a setting that promotes equality and values diversity.

We aim to ensure that each child:

• Is in a safe and stimulating environment.
• Is given sensitive care and attention, because of our ratio of qualified staff to children.
• Has the chance to join with other children and adults to live, play , work and learn together.
• Is helped to take forward his/her learning and development by being helped to build on what he/she already knows and can do;
• Has a personal key person who makes sure that each child makes progress.
• Is in a setting that sees parents as partners in helping each child to learn and develop.

Child Development and Learning

The provision for child development and learning is guided by the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework, issued by the Departments for Education and Skills. The foundation stage is a framework for children from birth to five years. This curriculum is set out in a document published by the qualifications and curriculum authority and the Departments for Education and Skills, called curriculum guidance for the foundation stage.

Our setting uses the stepping stones leading to the Early Learning Goals and provides a range of play activities which help children to progress in each area of learning. Play helps young children to learn and develop through doing and talking, which research shows to be the means by which children think. In some of these activities children decide how they will use the activity and in others an adult takes lead helping the children to take part in the activity.
There are 7 areas of learning that must shape educational programmes in Early Years settings. These areas are particularly crucial for igniting children's curiosity, enthusiasm for learning and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and blossom.

The Prime Areas

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development – Involves helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves and others to form positive relationships and develop respect for others. To develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings, to understand appropriate behaviour in groups and to have confidence in their own abilities.
• Communication and Language Development – Involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment; to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves and to speak and listen in a range of situations.
• Physical Development -Provides opportunities to be active and interactive, to develop their coordination, control and movement. Children are helped to understand the importance of physical activity and to make healthy choices in relation to food.

We also support children in four specific areas, through which the prime areas are strengthened and applied.

The Specific Areas

• Literacy: Involves encouraging children to link letters and sounds and begin to read and write. Children are given access to a wide range of reading materials to help ignite their interest.
• Mathematics: Provides children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems and to describe shapes, spaces and measure.
• Understanding the World: Guides children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment.
• Expressive Arts and Design: Enable children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas, feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, dance, role play and design and technology.

For each area, the guidance sets out Early Learning Goals. These goals state what is expected that children will know and be able to do by the end of reception year.

Click here for our learning plan of action