Organisation
We are a community preschool run by highly skilled Early Years Professionals and an active Parental Committee.
- We provide spaces for 24 children at each session.
- Generally children are eligible to attend from the age of two.
- Our adult to child ratio is always 1:4 for under 3 year olds and 1:8 for 3 year olds and over.
- Each child is assigned a key worker who charts the child’s progress during the course of the year.
- We are a member of the Pre-school Learning Alliance and the quality of our work is assessed by Oxfordshire County Council Early Years Department. Polstead Preschool is registered with, and inspected, by OfSTED.
- We are a registered charity.
What does a Community Preschool mean?
The day to day running of the preschool is the responsibility of the Supervisor in cooperation with other staff. The staff are supported by the Parents’ Committee, which new parents are encouraged to join. There is no longer a parents’ rota but parents are still welcome to come in and help out at the preschool, be it with an art & craft activity, reading stories, playing a musical instrument or sharing their knowledge related to their profession, hobbies or cultural background. Younger siblings are welcome. Occasionally, parents may be asked to undertake jobs like to take home washing or help to clean toys or any other jobs that may be needed.
Why is play so important to children?
Polstead Preschool plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning by providing a variety of activities. Through play children learn about the world around them. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum encourages both child and adult initiated activities that are designed to develop the child’s emerging skills through play in preparation for school. Staff and other adults encourage children by sitting alongside them so they can share and guide them through these activities.
Children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a Key Person.
Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of learning and development are equally important and inter-connected. Through our preschool, children expand their ideas about themselves and the world they share with other people.
The Early Years Foundation Stage
A Key Person has special responsibilities for working with small numbers of children giving them the reassurance to feel safe and cared for and building relationships with their parents and carers. Assessments and judgements will be based on information from home and the Key Person’s observations of the child which will be implemented into the day-to-day planning of activities.