Dear Parents. Pebbles is a small, friendly pre- school situated in the historical village of Avebury. We provide a variety of well planned, ‘fun’ activities based on the six areas of learning, for children raising 3 to 5 years.
We are open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday mornings from 9:15am to 12:45pm. Children may bring a packed lunch to eat alongside their friends. There are three staff members, all of whom are qualified or experienced in Early Years Education and Play Activities. Our Play Leader is qualified to NVQ3 level, one Assistant is qualified to NVQ2 level and our third assistant is awaiting certification for NVQ2, all are holders of First Aid Certificates and will also attend at least 4 training courses per year. We also have a bank of pool staff with various experience to call upon. A committee of active parents, who fund raise regularly in a variety of ways, helping us to provide the best for your child, funds the pre-
school.
Fees at present are £8:00 per session, + £2:50 for “Lunch Club”. (all children are entitled to free part time education funding from the term following their 3rd birthday).
Our timetable allows for ‘free’ play and ‘self’ expression (with sand, water, play dough, paint, sticking, chalking, colouring, drawing, as well as a vast selection of imaginative and construction toys,) and also structured 1-1 pre-writing, reading, and number skills with their Key Worker. We also have a daily planned activity based on a set topic. During registration we encourage the children to recognise their own names with ’name cards’ and we also practice phonic sounds of letters, and number recognition during this group time together.
Before lunch we try to include a physical activity either in the grounds of Avebury School (where we have strong links) or indoors. These activities may include ball games, skittles, hoopla, music and movement,
trike riding, number rhymes, circle games, or hide and seek games. After lunch we hope to end the session with a ’topic’ based story so that the children can unwind before parents collect them.
Each child will be given a diary on joining Pebbles and a book bag. We will keep you up to date on all the activities your child has been involved in through this diary system - these we will complete on a weekly basis. Please feel free to add your comments too. We also change a library book once a week for your child to enjoy and share with you at home.
On joining our pre-school an “initial child profile” will be sent home for you to complete and return to us. This base line assessment enables us to meet the needs of your child and commence the ‘Stepping Stone’ observations. These recorded observations provide an accurate record of achievement to take away with you and keep when your child moves into full time schooling. We
will also regularly monitor and record your child’s progress using ‘Building Blocks’ - these are available for you to view on request and will be forwarded to the relevant school (with your consent) where they will give the teacher an invaluable incite of your child’s progress and future needs.
To finish, Pebbles has its own pet … ‘Pebbles’ the puppy - who carries his overnight bag where ever he goes! This toy has been going home with all the children for the weekend and returning to tell us all that he has been up to! (This helps even the shyest and quietest child talk about his or her weekend, holiday, and visitors in a group.) So your child too should have ‘Pebbles the Puppy’ to look after some weekend soon.
Any other queries you may have - please do ask at the end of a session,
Or call me at home on…01249 814162
We hope this gives you a clearer picture of our pre-school,
Best wishes,
Susan Ponte
Pre-school Leader,
Pebbles Pre-School.
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