Little Battlers Pre-school (Foundation Stage 1)
Little Battlers have their own website, please visit www.littlebattlers.co.uk for full details or visit our Facebook page. However, some information can be obtained below.
Welcome to "Little Battlers" our pre-school for children aged 3 and 4 years. The Pre-school is situated on the same site as Battling Brook. The school and Little Battlers Pre-school received a "good" ofsted report. The pre-school has shared policies with Battling Brook and can be obtained from this website.
The Pre-school team has lots of experience working with young children. Our aim is to provide our children with a stimulating and safe environment in which their learning will develop through play.
Play underpins the delivery of all the Early Years Foundation Stage. We provide the children with well planned experiences indoors and outdoors based on the children’s spontaneous play.
Here at Little Battlers Preschool we use a digital Learning Journey application called Tapestry. This allows staff to document your child’s time and development digitally. Parents and Carers can also access this by using a smart device. It is proving to be a good communication device between parents/carers and members of staff, the children also enjoy looking at the photographs at preschool and at home.
Every child at the Pre-school is assigned a key person (a member of staff) who will be responsible for working with them, giving them reassurance to feel safe and cared for and who will build a relationship with their parent/carer. They will keep records of development and progress and share these with parents/carers and other professionals.
The Early Years Foundation Stage principles are grouped into 4 distinct themes.
- A Unique Child
- Positive Relationships
- Enabling Environments
- Learning and Developing
Our children are assessed and their learning developed through the statutory Early Learning Goals. These are in 7 areas and provide the basis for planning:-
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development.
- Communication and Language.
- Physical development.
- Literacy.
- Mathematics.
- Understanding of the World.
- Expressive arts and design.
We provide opportunities for our children to practice and extend their skills in these areas.
Our Pre-school aims to have regard to the DFEE Code of Practice on Special Education Needs and also to the guidelines supplied to private and voluntary provider of Pre-school education. We aim to provide a welcome and appropriate learning opportunity for all children. Our Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCO) - Mrs Mason and Mrs Reynolds will keep all information and records confidential, only shared with Parents/Carers and outside professionals.
What’s special at Little Battlers?
Trips - We like to organise (where possible) two trips per year, one in the autumn term and one in the summer term where parents can experience these together with their child.
Makaton signing - All the staff are trained to sign and we use this with all of the children incidentally throughout the sessions.
We have a special room which we call “The Learning Den” and in this room, we have an interactive white board. Every session, different groups use the room to do the register, calendar and have some small group time to talk, share ideas and learn together. This can also be used as a quiet room where staff can work with very small groups or on a one to one basis.
What about outside?
We are very fortunate at Little Battlers to have two amazing outdoor areas, a playground area and a garden space.
Playground Area
In our playground area, we have the opportunity take part in lots of planting and growing. The children are able to independently plant seeds and bulbs in our growing area and watch the process of the flowers/ vegetables grow. There is also an adventure trail with a bridge to balance on; we have a variety of slides and equipment to help develop their gross motor skills. We provide the children with lots of different materials to work with e.g. chalks, tubes, pegs and sheets including a wooden structure for their imaginative play.
We have some lorry tyres, benches, chalkboards and a wooden structure, which has a canvas cover over it, which the staff designed, and the children decide what this will become in their play each session. There are markings on the playground so it is all systems go for some fantastic creative and mathematical play.
We also have portable boxes full of equipment that ties in with the seven areas of learning.
Garden Area
In our garden area, we have a play cottage and a fantastic climbing frame with a slide. Around the play cottage is a track that flows around the whole of the garden. There is also opportunity for planting and growing in our garden area too.
Our messy forest area brings lots of excitement to our children, enhancing all of their skills especially vocabulary, imagination, gross and fine motor skills. In our messy area is a fantastic mud kitchen, where the children like to put their skills into practice by making some fantastic creations as they explore and investigate all the different areas.
In both of our areas, there are many big-wheeled toys such as cars, bikes, scooters and trikes. We also have two person vehicles so the children learn to take turns and work co-operatively.
Links with the main school.
We visit the Reception classes and play in their playground and get to know the Reception teachers before we start big school. (Summer Term). The Reception children watch our Christmas rehearsal and we watch their practice run.
Links with home.
We greatly value communication between home and preschool. At the beginning of the preschool day, there is a member of staff on the door to greet the children. Parents/carers can talk to the member of staff about any questions or queries they may have or if they prefer a time can be arranged for a more one to one conversation. The new digital learning journey application, tapestry, can also be used as a communicational aid between the child’s key worker and parents and carers.
Email and phone calls are also available to report absences and general information, Email is a favoured communication tool between our parents and carers to contact Little Battlers Preschool.
Funding - how it works!
In Leicestershire, children can access Nursery funding in the term after their third birthday. This means children can access up to fifteen or thirty hours’ sessions free of charge.
(Please note if your child attends Little Battlers from 8.45am-3.25pm a charge of £1 per day will be invoiced for lunchtime supervision due to the day being longer than the funded six hours.)
Children can access sessions before their funding date, or extra sessions at a cost of £4.00 per hour. If contracts are terminated or sessions/hours are changed at your request, four weeks written notice is required excluding the holidays.
Morning Sessions - 8.45am until 11.45am
All Day Session - 8.45 until 3.25pm
We also offer sessions to children who do not claim government funding.
(Flexible sessions and hours can be arranged please speak to a member of staff.)
Example-
Your child attends Little Battlers Preschool full-time during term time Monday to Friday 8.45am-3.25pm this will be your full free 30 hours funding with an additional charge of £1.00 per day to cover lunchtime supervision.
30 Hour Funding
You may be entitled to 30-hour free government funding.
- For working families in England
- With 3 and 4-year-old children
- 30 hours of free childcare or early education for 38 weeks a year
- A total of 1,140 hours per year, that you can use flexibly.
Roll Of The Staff
Staff Details
Mrs T Mason – Manager/SENCo
Mrs Z Smith – Childcare & Education Assistant
Miss S Steans – Childcare & Education Assistant
Miss J Tallis - Childcare & Education Assistant