The first day of preschool can be very daunting for parents and children, to help we have created this information sheet to make sure you and your child are prepared.
Your bag (this should be a disposable carrier bag with your childs name on it)
Should include
– At least 1 set of spare clothes (we like messy and wet play here) including spare underwear (just in case of little accidents), trousers, socks, jumper and a T-shirt. Nappies & wipes (if not yet toilet trained) Sun cream (if your child has a prescribed or sensitive cream, otherwise we will use our generic one) & Sun hat, in the summer and a warm hat and gloves in the winter.
(The items from the carrier bag are transferred to their school bag which hangs on their peg in their classroom, please no back packs. We will message you to advise when we require a top up of nappies etc and any wet clothes that come home will need to be washed and returned in the same manner)
Trainers or plimsolls are great for indoors at preschool. Please make sure these are either Velcro fastening
or slip on,
we will still go outside to play in all weathers and our garden gets wet and muddy.
Please make sure all items are labelled.
Lunch club
Currently we do not offer hot meals and you have to provide your child with a lunch box.
f your child is staying for lunch club then please ensure their lunch box and drink is healthy and of course labelled. We are a nut free setting and do not allow any chocolate or items containing chocolate, sweets, energy or fizzy drinks, in lunch bags. If included, they will be removed and returned at the end of the
session.
Lunch Club is an activity, staff sit with the children and eat with them, modelling good manners and behaviour at the table, engaging in some lovely in depth conversations.
Uniform
Uniform can be purchased but isn’t compulsory, we keep stock in preschool. We try to keep the uniform as cheap as possible to make it affordable as it will get messy!
A price list is available in your parent pack or ask a member of staff for further details. Alternatively you can order this from the My Clothing website
What do I do when we arrive
Wait by the locked gate in the queue along the main path, within the school. Your child will enter at the gate and be greeted by a member of staff and encouraged to walk down the path to the classroom door. There are lots of staff to assist them along the way. If your child needs extra encouragement to come into preschool then a member of staff will carry your child in to the classroom. Parents should then continue to proceed through the gate and out down the alleyway.
9am start
Our general routine is that the children will enter the room and be encouraged to hang up their own coats and then go and find their name for the registration board. This is matched to their picture and then they are encouraged to independently choose an activity. Staff members are in various locations around the rooms to help support a child that may be new to show them all of the lovely things on offer. By 9.30am snack is available as is the garden free flow system.
What next
After a few hours of fun, you will arrive back to collect your child, we ask that parents wait by the locked gate area at the end of the alleyway leading down to the preschool entrance. A member of staff will come out and open the gates at collection time, should this be 12pm, 12:45pm or 3pm.
Parents and carers are encouraged to wait in the garden area and your child will be guided out to you.
Tapestry
You should have received a link for your Tapestry account, if you haven’t please advise a member of staff.
You will be asked to complete “the all about me” section on there.
You will receive regular updates on what your child has been doing/achieving at preschool, in the form of observations via Tapestry. Please add any comments you feel appropriate to these, this will be seen by your key worker and setting manager.
You are also able to upload photos/videos to your secure Tapestry account, please feel free to do so, we love to see the things the children have been getting up to outside of Preschool. This really helps us to build a story with the children and helps to create lots of lovely conversations. There doesn’t have to be an order just add those pictures and click the upload button!
If you have any questions about Observations/Next Steps then please speak to a member of staff.
Accidents no matter how small are notified to you via text message and the details of the accident will notified to you via a Tapestry notification, if you are receiving texts but not the Tapestry notification please email us.
The 2021 EYFS (the curriculum that we work to) has changed and this will change the way we send out Tapestry observations. The EYFS is clear that we no longer need to do lots of assessment and instead we will work together on next steps and supporting your child in their general development and school readiness. Therefore, you are more likely to receive WOW moment pictures and evidence to support next steps. If you require further information around this then please email us.
Other information
Please could you bring in a family photo to be displayed in our family photo album. The photo album is kept in our book corner and is accessible to your child throughout the session. Your child will be able to use the photo for comfort and to share with their teachers and peers.
Don’t forget to join our facebook page, to keep up to date with messages and notices.