9:15am Welcome
9:30am Registration
Free Play - e.g. play dough, puzzles, trains, books, dressing up and home corner.
Craft Activity- e.g. paint and glue, cookery.
10:45am Drink and Snack - each child is offered milk or water together with a light snack.
Physical Play -(e.g. Large Play equipment and 'Topstart' equipment),
Puzzles, colouring and board games
11:30am Story, songs and/or music and movement.
Followed by close of Session at 11:45am.
Monday - Cereals and raisins
Tuesday - Sandwiches Jam/Plain
Wednesday - Cheese and biscuits
Monday - Apple and Cheese
Tuesday - Sandwiches Ham/Plain*
Wednesday - Scones and Jam
Thursday - Cereals and Banana
Monday - Strawberries and Sweet biscuits
Tuesday - Sandwiches, Marmite/Plain*
Wednesday - Breadsticks/carrots/cucumber/dip
Thursday - Sweet biscuits
*on a mixture of brown and white bread.
The menu is drawn up taking into account special needs, healthy eating and weekly topics. Children are encouraged to take a role in the preparation and clearing up of snacks. A weekly cookery activity is planned within the menu, where such issues as health, hygiene and safety are discussed and put into practice.
Staff and any Parent/Carer helpers are encouraged to sit with the children during snack time to encourage both good manners and to allow opportunities for adult/child interaction.
The Hall rental amounts to just over £16.00 a session and we have to pay insurance for the adults and children as well as the equipment.
Fees are comparable with other local playgroups- £5.00- plus we also operate a snack fund of £1 per week, which helps towards the cost of snacks and cookery activities.
There are 4 members of staff who are paid in line with the Government's minimum wage. There are insufficient funds to cover time the staff spend in preparation, staff meetings and attending training courses, all of this is done on a voluntary basis.
Training is a vital feature at Cheswick Green Playgroup and our staff is constantly looking to up-date their skills and knowledge. It is up to the group to fund this training.
Equipment and craft materials are constantly in need of purchase or replacement, in order to maintain the high standards we are striving to achieve.
You as parents, in partnership with the staff have a vital role at Playgroup and without such support it would not be possible to offer the high quality pre-school provision you and your children deserve (Please see separate Committee information).
YOUR PLAYGROUP NEEDS YOU!
For many children, starting at Playgroup is their first step towards independence and there are important lessons to be learned:
Give your child a chance to learn these positive lessons by working with Playgroup staff to make the settling-in period as easy as possible. Here are a few guidelines to enable your child to get maximum enjoyment from our group.
DON'T WORRY. Children develop very quickly at this age, and a child who seems unable to manage alone for even a second can have a very different attitude in a week or two. Just be calm and practical about it, reassuring the child that he or she will be able to manage soon, and helping him or her to make friends and get used to the activities.
Please make sure that your child's arrival is recorded in the register. If you will not be collecting your child yourself, please let the staff know who you wish to collect your child - please complete "board" in foyer with the details and inform staff. If you will not be at home during the session, please let a member of staff know where you can be reached in an emergency. Permanent arrangements can be entered on your child's personal "Child Record" which you will be asked to complete once your child has started playgroup.
Before Playgroup starts:
We have tried to make our foyer visually interesting with display boards, posters, books and notices and we hope that you will look at these with your child.
We do very much hope that your child will enjoy being part of our Playgroup. If you have any questions or difficulties, please be sure to let us know. Contact any member of staff with questions about your child, the "rota" , fees or administration.
A " rota" is in operation for helping in Playgroup. This enables us to keep our costs down and for you to see how our group functions. During your rota duty you will be asked to help with general day to day duties such as supervising an activity, preparing for craft and making refreshments. Partnership between parents and staff is vital and we value your contribution.
Parental involvement is a great asset to any group and must never be underestimated; any support you can offer; however small will be gratefully accepted. Thank You.
The Pre-school Learning Alliance (P.L.A) is a national educational charity and umbrella body, linking 17,000 community - based pre-schools. The charity aims to support the active involvement of parents in their children's early education and to provide opportunities for those same parents to participate in further education and training.
We at Cheswick Green 'Under fives' are members of the P.L.A and feel that this is a measure of our aim to provide a quality service.
We also have the support of a P.L.A development worker, namely Gill Bache who offers advice to staff, committee and parents and is the 'voice' of Pre-schools on Solihull's Early Years Development Partnership.
One the many things that the P.L.A offer is training, a vital resource for us all and something which we review on an ongoing basis. Lesley has just completed her Introduction to Pre-School Practice and will be continuing with the Diploma in Pre-school Practice.
The Pre-school Learning Alliance produces it's own magazine, Under Five Contact (containing the latest news from the world of pre-school education) and the local Solihull branch sends half termly newsletters. Both of these publications can be seen on our noticeboard or by looking in our Parent Information File.
The Pre-School Learning Alliance now has it's own website which can be found at www.pre-school.org.uk.
This gives extensive details of all the services they offer, together with news, information and membership subscription details.
We have now achieved Accreditation! See the News page and Solihull-Online
A voluntary initiative for pre-schools wishing to raise the quality of their kind of provision.
To achieve accreditation, we first went through a self-assessment process and when we felt confident that the required standards were being met in all areas an external assessor was invited in to confirm our achievements or indicate which areas still required "work".
Once accredited the group is entitled to display the Alliance's Accreditation certificate- an assurance that we are operating to a very high standard. Gaining accreditation is vital for us in order to compete with local competition, advertise our quality provision and to boost staff and parent morale.
Here at Cheswick Green Under Fives we have always been lucky enough to have the full support of everyone involved with the groups, together with members of the local community. As you can appreciate this process will mean a lot of extra work for our staff, committee and YOU! However we hope it won't be long before we can all be part of the Group's success!
For further information please speak to a member of the staff or committee or visit the Pre-School Learning Alliance website at www.pre-school.org.uk.
Here at Playgroup we recognise that home rather than school is the place where learning to read begins. Although we do not formally teach children to read, we feel that it is important that children are exposed to a wide variety of printed and handwritten material, including stories, songs and rhymes AND SO TO THAT END WE HAVE SET UP A LIBRARY SYSTEM.
'Be a reading role model. So, what is the key to helping your child become a reader? In one word- READING! Why? Because research shows that the most important thing parents and caregivers can do to help their child succeed in school is read aloud to them everyday. Reading aloud to children also helps them'
extract from 1997 International Reading Association Brochure text written by Kathleen A.Travaline
We are lucky enough to have a good supply of quality books both fiction and non-fiction, that reflect the diverse society in which we live. The books have been acquired over the years from purchases, donations and more recently by way of a grant from the Solihull Borough Childminding Association, who also supplied us with a bookrack to display and maintain them effectively. We are constantly adding to our range and have recently begun to make 'our own' books, which we hope you and your child will share and enjoy.
"FIVE MINUTES SHARED READING EVERY DAY IS BETTER THAN HALF AN HOUR ONCE A WEEK!"
PLEASE ENJOY OUR LIBRARY. IT IS HERE FOR YOU!!