Pre-School

Pre-School

Early Years Foundation Stage Ethos

Brambles pre-school follows the Early Years Foundation Stage Ethos (EYFS).

EYFS is based around four themes:

• A unique child – every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
• Positive relationships – children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person.
• Enabling environments – the environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning.
• Learning and development – children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of Learning and Development are equally important and inter-connected.

Our planning incorporates the EYFS and is built on our knowledge of how individual children learn and achieve their full potential. Plans for each week are topic-based and are on display within Brambles.

Key Person

When your child starts Brambles they will be allocated a key person. The role of the key person is to observe and support your child (and you) through their time at Brambles and to ensure that every child develops to their utmost.

Settling In

Your child may need time to settle at Brambles, so a slow introduction, leaving them for half an hour at a time, may be appropriate. Children who become upset are comforted by a member of staff. Parents are welcome to stay for as long as they need.

We will always contact you if we feel your child is not settled after a reasonable amount of time and you are welcome to contact us at any time. We hold three settling-in sessions in the summer term to assist new children. Please contact Sarah Hudson for more information.

Daily Routine: A Typical Day at Brambles

Example Timetable

Lunch club

When collecting your child at 12:55 pm, please stay outside the school gates until you see our doors open as Thorns children may be playing in the playground.

Please remember to bring a packed lunch if your child is staying to lunch club.

Full day sessions

We are now open every afternoon until 2:55 pm.

Between 12:55 pm and 2:55 pm the children engage in structured play both inside and out, and also participate in small group work.

At 2:45 pm everybody helps to tidy away and then there is group time for stories, singing or show & tell. The doors will then be opened at 2:55 pm for parents/carers to collect their children and speak to the staff (if required).

Fees From September 2022

Early Education Funding 15 or 30 Hours

The term after every child’s 3rd birthday entitles them to 15 hours of free nursery education each week for 38 weeks per year. This can be used for morning sessions, lunch club and afternoon sessions.

If you want to apply for funding for 30 free hours you must do so during the term before you would like the funding to start. Please see childcare choices.gov.uk for more information and the code to apply. Once the code has been issued it is vital that you inform us of the code and include your NI number before the start of term. Failure to do this may result in withdrawal of extended funding, resulting in us having to invoice for additional hours at full fee rates.

Any additional hours will cost £5.60 per hour. Our charges per session (over and above the 15 hours a week free nursery education) are:

£16.80 for a morning session
£16.80 for an afternoon session (includes lunch club)
£33.60 for a morning and afternoon session (includes lunch club) and
£5.60 for lunch club.
Please note that the funding can be split between providers.

Children Yet To Qualify For Early Education Funding

For children who are not yet eligible, our charges per session are:

£16.80 for a morning session
£16.80 for an afternoon session (includes lunch club)
£33.60 for a morning and afternoon session (includes lunch club) and
£5.60 for lunch club.

Invoicing

Invoices are issued in advance monthly and are calculated on the actual sessions booked, plus any additional extras requested by parents/carers. Payment is due on receipt and can be made directly into our bank account, by Childcare Vouchers or the Tax Free Childcare Scheme. We reserve the right to apply an admin fee of £10.00 for late payment of invoices.

Pre School fees were last increased for September 2022 and it is anticipated that they will be increased again in September 2023.

Sometimes you can be unavoidably late collecting your children. We understand this so please let us know if you have been held up. A late collection charge will apply and a penalty of £10 will be payable for 3 instances of late collection.

Hours

Please note that children attending morning sessions may also attend Lunch Club subject to availability.

We will be closed for Thorns teacher training days.

Dates to be confirmed.

Prospectus  Download

Forest School Handbook  Download