A Typical Day

 

The village hall is laid into different areas out prior to the children arriving, incorporating the different themes of the EFYS.

 

• Quiet area which allows for reading books and taking time out on the mats

• Construction area with Stickle Bricks, Duplo, Lego, Happy Land and train track toys. encouraging

• Creative Development involving exploring and experimenting with different materials like cutting, gluing and sticking

• Imaginative Role Play

• Problem Solving, Numeracy and Reasoning which helps to develop mathematical understanding
  

The Day Ahead A typical day at West Wickham Preschool begins at 9.30am with some unstructured play while the staff and children wait for everyone to arrive. Once everyone has settled, usually around 9.45am, Sue or Claire will ask the children to join in circle time where they sing “Tick Tock song” followed by a discussion on what activities are planned for the day ahead or perhaps something topical such as a child returning from holiday.

This usually lasts no more than five minutes and then the children "run" off to play with the various activities on offer.  The children are encouraged to have a go at all of the different activities.

 

During the summer months, water based and sand activities are set up outside on the patio to encourage the children to go out, play and run about.  We also have a set of tricycles which are also brought out.   When the weather allows, stories are read to the children outside just before they are collected at 12pm by their parents/carers.

The setting also runs a “cooking school” which is run on a rota basis once a week.  All children have an opportunity and are encouraged to take part in baking healthy snacks which are usually often eaten at snack time.  Or if there is a special occasion such as Easter, appropriate recipes are made and taken home to parents. 

 

The preschool does offer a snack to the children which is included in the preschool fees.  Snacks are prepared by the parent helper guided by a list of healthy foods compiled by the staff.  The preschool encourages healthy eating so has a programme of healthy snack options such as fruit as well as a drink of milk or water is prepared on a rota basis.

 

The children are encouraged to help in tidying up the toys before snack time.

 

Once snack time is over, the children are taken outside by the staff up to the tarmac playground behind the village hall.  It is a safe area for the children to run around as it is quite a distance from the road.

 

The staff will instigate games and activities such as chalk drawing on the tarmac, playing with balls, running and chasing games.  Again, this is weather dependent.  However, they spend about 20 minutes playing and then the children are rounded up and they come back into the hall or out on the patio for stories and a song just before being collected by their parents/carers.

 Back to top

 

In the planning process, Sue, our Pre-School Leader sets the Topics/Themes and Activities for each half term.  To see what they are for 2009. please select this link.