Pre-School

Our Hedge End Pre-school aims to:

• Provide high quality care and education primarily for children below statutory school age

• work in partnership with parents to help children learn and develop

• add to the life and well-being of its local community

• offer children and their parents a service, which promotes equality and values diversity

As a member of Wildern Opportunity Group Pre-school in Hedge end, your child:

• is in a safe and stimulating environment

• is given generous care and attention, due to our high ratio of adults to children

• has the chance to join with other children and adults to interact, play, work and learn together

• is helped to take forward her/his learning and development by building on what she/he already knows and can do

• has a personal ‘key person’ who ensures your child makes satisfying progress

• is in a pre-school which sees you as a partner in helping your child to learn and develop

• is in a pre-school in which parents help to shape the service it offers

• The Opportunity Group and the Pre-school are open 38 weeks of the year.

The Curriculum Provided

Children start to learn about the world around them from the moment they are born. The care, education and activities offered by the Opportunity Group and our Pre-school in Hedge End helps children to continue to do this by, providing all of the children with interesting activities that are right for their age and stage of development. We cover the Birth to 3 years Framework as recommended by the DES. The framework is divided into separate areas:

• A strong child

• A skillful communicator

• A competent learner

• A healthy child

For children between the ages of 3 and 5 years, the Hedge End pre-school provides a curriculum for the foundation stage of education. This curriculum is set out in a document,The Early Years Foundation Stage; published by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the Department for children, schools and families. The Pre-school follows this guidance, which is divided into 6 areas:

• Personal, social and emotional development.

• Communication, language and literacy development.

• Mathematical development.

• Knowledge and understanding of the world.

• Physical development.

• Creative development.

Play helps young children to learn and develop through doing and talking, which research has shown to be the means by which young children think. The Opportunity Group and the Pre-school use the early learning goals and their stepping stones to plan and provide a range of play activities which help children to make progress in each of the areas of learning and development. In some of these activities, children decide how they will use the activity and, in others, an adult takes the lead in helping the children to take part in the activity. In all activities, information from the early learning goals and stepping-stone is used to decide what equipment to provide and how to provide it.

Opening Times

We offer flexible sessions in order to fit in with our parents busy lives, full details of the opening hours are available from the preschool and all times stated below are subject to availability. Lunch is served (packed lunches to be provided from home) between 1200 and 1230.

Fees

The fees are £3.90p  hourly (from September '11), we also require a £20 deposit to secure a place and require that every child starts with at least two sessions per week.  

Children are entitled to up to 15 hours per week through the Early Years Education Grant (EYEG), however this entitlement only begins the term following the child's third birthday.

More details are available about the fees and EYEG when you make a visit to the pre-school.