Gallery
Autumn 2022
The Autumn Term 2022 was enjoyed by all and our new Caterpillar children settled into pre-school life quickly. To celebrate harvest the pre-school did its own collection of goods which we donated to Leatherhead Foodbank to support the local community. Our items were greatfully received. For Halloween, we held a 'Slime-the-Deputy' event (but it is possible that Louise, the manager, got the most enjoyment out of this!). The pre-school marked Remembrance Day with the children, and a group visited the War Memorial at St. George’s on 10th November and laid a wreath in remembrance.
Following our successful pilot of the Early Talk Boost programme in Autumn 2021 the setting chose to revisit this programme with a small group from Butterflies class. The programme puts an emphasis on children’s listening and attention and helps them build confidence. The children engaged well with the programme and showed good progress. The pre-school hosted its first ‘Dad’s Stay & Play’ session in an attempt to engage dads in their child’s learning. We had a large number of dads attend and it was lovely for the children to have so many male role models under one roof.
During our people who help us week we had visits from a policeman and a district nurse who told the children all about the important jobs they do. The children got to wear some real police hats, have their finger prints taken and practise how to put on a bandage. The children also enjoyed another visit from Booster Cushion Theatre Company, this time with a performance of ‘Golilocks and the Three Bears Plus’.
On the back of the positive feedback we received from our Chatter Matters workshop in the summer term, we offered our parents a Behaviour Management workshop in December. This provided parents with a variety of strategies to help manage unwanted behaviour in a positive way.
We had a number of Christmas celebrations with the children, including a show that the children performed for their parents and a Christmas party complete with party lunch and entertainment.
Summer 2022
In the Summer Term, the children continued to enjoy their mini-Yoga classes. The children also had the opporutnity to enjoy visits from two theatre groups. The first was the Booster Cushion Theatre company with their rendition of Little Red Riding Hood. Later in the term we had a visit from Beeja who performed an interpreatation of a train journey through India using movement, dance and music. After the performance, the children had an opportortunity to try on some of the headdresses and scarves.
We celebrated Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee with a variety of activities and a grandparent’s Stay & Play session.
In the second half of the term, we had a ‘music from around the world theme’, inviting parents and members of the local community to come into the setting to talk to the children about and demonstrate the varied instruments that they play, which the children thoroughly enjoyed.
We also ran our first parent workshop with the help of specialist providers. The Chatter Matters workshop was aimed at providing advice and support for parents who had concerns about their child's speech and language development. This was very well received, especially as waitings for speech and language therapy were long.
We finished off the term with our traditional Leavers Sports session, where we bade farewell to all the children who left to move onto ‘big school’.
Spring 2022
In the Spring Term, we were fortunate enough to introduce two specialist activities for the children. The first of which was welcoming Axel, a therapy dog, (and his owner) to the setting on a fortnightly basis. Axel's visits helped to support the chidren's self regulatin and emotions. The children loved welcoming Axel, grooming him, feeding him treats and taking him for walks around the infant school's field. In return Axel enjoyed storytime with the chidren and all the fuss that was made of him!
Our second specialist activity was a weekly mini-Yoga class, specifically for pre-school aged children. The yoga sessions are designed to help increase strenght and flexibility as well as developing self-confidence and self-awareness and also supporting the children's emotional wellbeing. The children quickly learnt some basic yoga poses and looked forward to the weekly classes.
As part of our curriculum relating to oral health, we welcombed a dentist to the setting who talked to the Butterfly children about the importance of healthy eating and brushing their teeth properly. This was supported by activities in the setting designed to lay the foundations for good habits in oral health.
Finally, we celebrated World Book Day, with both staff and children dressing up as their favourite book/book character for the day.
Autumn 2021
In the Autumn Term we were one of a limited number of settings selected by our Early Years Advisor to pilot an Early Talk Boost Programme designed to support children with their listening and attention skills aswell as their expressive and receptive language. The pilot was extremely successful and we plan to re-run the programme with groups in the future.
In addition, we had planned a visit from the fire fighters at Leatherhead Fire Station (Blue Watch). The children had an opportunity to explore the engineand to have a go at blasting water from the hose! Needless to say they really enjoyed it!
We also had a visit from the High Sheriff of Surrey, who presented the pre-school with an award in recognition of our dedication in providing outstanding Early Years educaiton and our efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic.