Gallery
Autumn 2023
The Autumn Term 2023 was enjoyed by all, and our new Caterpillar children settled into preschool life quickly.
In September Barnett Wood Pre-School celebrated its 30th birthday. We marked the occasion with random acts of kindness in the community such as rock hiding, and leaving gifts for local residents. We also asked parents to support us in a collection of goods to donate to the Leatherhead Foodbank. To round the celebrations off, Chase and Marshal from Paw patrol even made an appearance for the children.
In celebration of our birthday and of our Outstanding Ofsted grading (awarded in May), we had a visit from Chris Greyling MP to share with him the work that we do for local children.
The preschool marked Remembrance Day with the children, and a group visited the War Memorial at St. George’s on 9th November to lay a wreath in remembrance.
Following our successful offering of the Early Talk Boost programme in previous years the setting chose to revisit this programme with a small group of children from the Butterflies class. The programme puts an emphasis on children’s language, listening and attention and helps them build confidence. The children engaged well with the programme and showed good progress.
During our people who help us week we had visits from a policeman, a doctor and a couple of teachers, who told the children all about the important jobs they do. The children got to wear some real police hats and had their finger prints taken. The children also enjoyed another visit from Booster Cushion Theatre Company, this time with a performance of ‘Hansel and Gretel and you’.
The preschool was able to work with Joco dance to offer weekly dance sessions to the children thanks to successful fundraising events run by the parent committee.
We had a number of Christmas celebrations with the children, including our annual show that the children performed for their parents and a Christmas party complete with party lunch and entertainment.
Spring 2024
At the start of the Spring term the children celebrated the Luna New Year with food tasting and their very own dragon dance. Following wonderful support from our parents, the preschool won a Little City competition which meant that the children were able to enjoy a Little City session engaging in the immersive imaginative play experience.
As part of our curriculum relating to oral health, we welcomed a dentist to the setting who talked to the 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. The children each received a children’s toothbrush and a 1:1 tooth brushing lesson with a staff member.
This year we also introduced the topic of Road Safety to our curriculum, with the children all receiving a lesson in crossing the road safely, using the Barnett Wood Lane zebra crossing.
Thanks to parent fundraising, we were able to offer the children a reptile experience, provided by Manor Farm which was a massive hit with the children. With parental permission, children were given the opportunity to touch, stoke or hold a variety of reptiles. In addition to this, the Butterfly children had a Pyjama Drama session each week for the second half of the term.
We celebrated World Book Day, with both staff and children dressing up as their favourite book/book character for the day. Some of the children from Barnett Wood Infant School joined us and shared their favourite stories with our children.
During the term we had regular visits from Storyteller John. The children look forward to his visits and are always very engaged with the stories he tells.
Summer 2024
When the children returned from their Easter break, there were two new members of the Barnett Wood Pre-School family for them to meet, as we introduced them to Pumpkin and Pepper our preschool pets. The children have loved stoking and handling the guinea pigs and have been involved in their day to day care, where possible (for example making sure they have enough food and water).
During the first half of the term, it was the turn of the Caterpillar children to have a Pyjama Drama session. We also invited Ezeesports back to provide sessions for both Butterflies and Caterpillars throughout the Summer term.
This year, we teamed up with The City of London, Ashtead Common, and took small groups of Butterfly children out for 'common visits' where the children had an opportunity to explore the common, take bark rubbings and play 'pooh sticks'.
We spent a week celebrating music from around the world, where we invited in parents and members of the community to show the children some of the interesting instruments they play. These included a french horn, a trumpet, didgeridoo, pan pipes and bongo drums.
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’.
