Our Pre-School is currently closed until further notice
Welcome to Clowning Around Pre-School. We know you and your child will find your time with us enjoyable and fun.
Starting Pre-School is a very exciting and important stage in your child’s life. It may be your child’s first time away from you on a regular basis or the first time in a large group. Some children really enjoy this from the start, for others it can take a little longer for them to settle in. At Pre-School, we aim to make this transition as smooth as possible by creating a friendly and positive environment where your child can feel safe and confident.
We encourage prospective parents to visit the Pre-School to see us in action. The manager or a practitioner will be able to answer all your questions.
We are always interested in your ideas, concerns and support. Communication with parents is critical to our programme. We seek to form a partnership with you to ensure your child’s and families’ individual needs and concerns are met.
Learning Through Play
Your child started to learn about the world around them from the moment they were born. The care and learning offered by the Pre-School help your son/daughter to continue to do this by providing them with interesting activities that are appropriate for their age and stage of development.
We have a wide selection of resources to play with, and help encourage the children’s imaginations. We have construction activities, imaginative play, music, singing, sensory/messy play, manipulative play, books, puzzles and games.
We have a good selection of art materials, and the children are always encouraged to create something whether it is; painting, glueing, cutting, printing or drawing, they have the opportunity to express their ideas creatively whilst developing control and dexterity. Children love to take their work home to share with you!
Access to books and story time is used to promote literacy, encourage concentration and calm during ‘quiet time’. The children can relax and appreciate a good supply of storybooks, poems or reference books.
Happy children become willing learners
Children are constantly encountering new experiences which they try to understand. As they do so they explore the world around them, ask questions, extend their skills, develop their confidence and build on what they already know.
The outdoor and indoor environments are organised to give children plenty of space to move around to work on the floor and on table tops, individually and in smaller and larger groups. Resources are organised and labelled so that children know where to find what they need and can be independent. This means that the practitioners can spend more time joining in with children’s learning, extending their language and thinking and helping them to progress.
Parents have a key role
Where parents and the Pre-School work closely together children are happy in the Pre-School environment and enjoy trying new things. Parents are their children’s first and enduring educators and understand their children better than anyone else. By sharing their children’s interests, strengths and needs parents help the Key Worker to plan experiences and activities that will capture their interests and fire their imagination and enthusiasm. This helps children to make good progress in their learning. By talking about what they plan to do and sharing their observation of children with their parents, the Key Worker who work with them can help parents to build on their child’s learning at home in ways that are fun.
Learning Journeys
Once your child starts Pre-School we will start producing a Learning Journey for them.
This is a bit like a scrapbook and is a collection of different documents collected your child’s key worker that provide a picture of your child’s development under the areas of learning identified in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). They consist of photos, artwork, mark making and are interspersed with observations including notes of relevant conversations or comments made by your child. You are very welcome to view these at any time, but we do ask that they do not leave the building.
Pre-School Session Times
Morning Club
- 9.00am to 12.00 noon
- Includes Snack
Lunch Club
- 12.00pm to 12.30pm
- Parents supply packed lunch
Afternoon Club
- 12.30pm to 3.30pm
- Includes Snack
Note: If your child attends Ravenswood Primary School Nursery we can either:
- arrange to pick them up from their morning nursery session to attend our lunch club and afternoon session; or
- arrange to drop them off from our morning sessions and lunch club to the nursery’s afternoon session.
Further information is available from Tony Lamb, on 07931 561173 or by email at ravenswoodplaycentre@gmail.com
We are registered with Ofsted and display our Registration Certificate and most recent Ofsted Inspection report on the Parents Notice Board for parents/guardians to read. Inspection reports are also available online at Ofsted’s website www.ofsted.gov.uk
REGISTER YOUR INTEREST IN PRE SCHOOL TODAY
If you have any questions or would like to visit Clowning Around, either give us a call on 07931 561173 or send us a message through the contact form below.