Pre-School Room
In our Pre-school room we care for our oldest children aged from 3-5 years. We provide our Pre-school children with age-appropriate resources that the children can self-select freely. There are areas in the room to support mark making, role play, small world and construction, cosy reading area, focus learning area and floor and table space to extend activities.
A Space for Senses and Curiosity
The children also have access to a small sensory space between the Pre-school and Toddler room. This space is used to:
- Stimulating sensory development – through activities that engage sight, sound, touch, smell, and sometimes taste.
- Supporting emotional regulation – offering a calming, quiet space where children can self-soothe or take a break when feeling overwhelmed.
- Encouraging exploration and curiosity – helping children learn about the world through hands-on, open-ended experiences.
- Promoting focus and attention – particularly beneficial for children with sensory processing needs, autism, or ADHD.
- Enhancing fine and gross motor skills – through sensory-rich materials like sand, water, textured surfaces, and light or sound-based toys.
- Building language and communication – as children describe what they see, feel, and experience.
Building Confidence and Independence
We focus on preparing the children for their move to school by having planned activities and P.E lessons. Activities focus on the different areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), however special attention is paid to Mathematics and English. All the children are encouraged to express their views and are given the opportunity to self-select resources and activities they are interested in. This allows them to build on their confidence and learn to be independent.
The practitioners read stories, sing song, read poems and rhymes frequently to and with children. Actively engaging the children in stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems, allows them the opportunity to repeat and use new words in a range of ways. When the practitioners engage in conversations, storytelling and role play, the children are supported in expressing their own ideas and thoughts. We use questioning with the children, so they learn to think outside the box and build on what they know.
Friendships and Skills
The children are supported in understanding and regulating their emotions in a positive way that builds their resilience, confidence and independence. The practitioners role model and guide the children in looking after themselves, healthy eating and personal hygiene so they can manage these independently.
The Pre-school room is a space where the children start to build friendships with their peers. We encourage and role model, co-operate play and support the children in resolving conflicts, skills they will need when starting school.
Being outdoors is an extremely important learning opportunity for all children, we use the outdoors to support children in developing their core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, co-ordination and agility. We have PE sessions once a week to support children’s gross motor skills and teach the children about why it’s important to have a healthy body and social and emotional well‑being.
Preparing Children for School and Beyond
There are mark making resources, malleable materials such as play dough, scissors and puzzles available. These activities help the children to develop their fine motor skills, that they need to be able to hold and pencil correctly and be able to control its movement to form letters. We do activities based around letters and sounds, to help the children to become familiar with the letter formations and the sounds they make. We use our activities as opportunities for the children to hear and see letters and numbers, as this gives them a foundation to build on when they start school.
Our 5 core traits for every child who leaves us to go to school is to be:
- Resilient
- Independent
- Confident
- Curious
- Respectful
