Our preschool is housed in the former Ramillies School buildings, which have been remodelled to provide a warm and welcoming, stimulating environment where we teach and care for our older 2 year olds and 3 and 4 year olds.

The building is entered via a large cloakroom where children store their belongings and change into their indoor shoes. They then make their way up the stairs to enter the department to be greeted by practitioners and where they self-register on our welcome board before heading off to play.

Our Preschool department comprises a series of rooms, each with a distinct feel. For much of the day the children spend their time in two age groups. The younger children – the Saplings Group – caters for children approximately 30 – 42 months and in the year before they start school the children enter the “Oak” group.

Saplings and Oaks each have their own large playroom with provision that meets their specific needs. These rooms both provide opportunities for construction, role play, small world play, puzzles and maths, sharing books and mark making.

Additionally there is a beautiful library where children can of course enjoy a huge range of books, both fiction and non fiction, play games, take part in Letters and Sounds Groups and tell their own versions of stories using story sacks and baskets and puppets. This is shared by both age groups.

Finally our large creative room offers opportunities for painting, collage, model making, playdough, and exploring other sensory materials. Adjacent to the art room is the toilet room with 4 child size toilets and sinks to encourage independence. Linking the rooms at this end of the building is a Mark making corridor where children can practise large scale drawing and writing on our large black board, white board, or to use magnets on the magnetic board.

Our Preschool children also spend a lot of time outdoors, using the large well-equipped garden, visiting the field or going on local walks. The routine in the Preschool Department is a balance of child initiated and adult led activities and play. Children have plenty of opportunity to explore the rooms and the exciting range of activities on offer, but there are pause points during the day where children take part in adult led activities either in a large group such as for physical activities including yoga, or small groups. Examples are “Talking time”, Dough disco, Forest School, Key Group time, Phonological Awareness and Attention bucket interventions.