Pre-school Unit

The age range of Pre-School is flexible to meet the needs of the children and the nursery but is approximately between 3 years and the term before there 5th Birthday.

All children have the opportunity to experience play and learning  in a way that they feel most comfortable with.  Staff will provide opportunities for free play, structured play and gross and fine motor play.

Pre-School has 7 main play areas.

Within these areas are Personal, Social & Emotional/ Communication and Language/ Physical / Literacy/ Mathematics/ Understanding the World/ Expressive Arts and Design.  All children will have the opportunity to experience all of these areas as well as the large outdoor play area. 

In all of these areas there is a range of activities available for the children to experience such as, ICT, small world, construction, role-play, quiet area/ group time, craft area and the puzzle area.

Key Person

Every child will have their own Key Person who will work closely with each child, building relationships with them and their parents. This person will build on each child’s development, get to know their interests and will be available to discuss the child with the parents at open evenings.
 

Planning

Each of the 7 areas in Pre-School has a long-term planning sheet for that particular area.  The staff do weekly planning which is based around the children’s individual interests.  We carry out twelve weekly detailed observations and learning journeys on every child and spontaneous observations are done regular. This is in line with the EYFS Framework.

Observations

Pre-School take regular observations of all children, which are called spontaneous observations  Learning Journey’s or Characteristics of Learning Observations are done every twelve weeks, these are used for planning and development files.
Parents/Carers will have the opportunity to read and sign these observations.

Parents/Carers Observation

We very much appreciate home observations from parents and carers. Home observation sheets and activity bags are available for parents to use as often as they like.

The home observations are useful for staff to get an insight into what your child enjoys at home and are used in our planning and as a part of involving parents/carers.

Development Mile Stones

In Pre-School, the children may start to write their own name and some numbers, develop communication skills and build on their extending vocabulary. Social activities such as group time, singing, story and music and movement are encouraged daily. The children also use Makaton daily, which is an aid to help children with communication difficulties, communicate with the other children. The children in Pre-School are encouraged to become more independent and will focus on personal hygiene, toileting, and food preparation skills. The children will be encouraged to prepare their own snack and serve own meals/drinks with support and supervision.

Curriculum

All rooms in Nursery work to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). This is a guide for children aged 0-5 Years. The EYFS is based around the children’s individual interests and encourages observation outside of Nursery. More information about this can be obtained from staff, in the entrance halls or from outside your child’s room.

Holiday Club:

We have a Holiday Club based at the Northern General campus which opens from 6:30am till 6.00pm or 7:00pm (if pre booked) over the school holiday periods set by Sheffield City Council.

We take children aged between 4-11yrs  and can take up to 24 children per day.
We welcome children from sheffield, Barnsley, Rotherham, Doncaster and Derbyshire.

There are plenty of fun activities planned for each holiday as well as days out, and we have large outdoor play areas & outdoor equipment.

Here are examples of some of the activities we do:
• cooking • painting
• sewing • making play dough
• play station • hot beads
• board games/football etc • outdoor play
• glass painting • cars and garages
• large connect 4 • elemental play

Here are examples of some of the places we visit:
• Magna • Cleethorpes
• Twycross Zoo • Libraries
• Pizza Hut • Weston Park Museum
• Bowling • Parks
• McDonalds • RSPB
• Heeley City Farm • Roller Skating
• Gulliver’s Kingdom • Pirate Ship

Holiday Club planning is sent to parents prior to each holiday period (6 week before for STH & 3 week before for Non STH).

If you would like to be put on our Holiday Club mailing list or would like more information please contact us on: holidayclub@sth.nhs.uk