2022-03-31-accounts - Ickwell Pre-School

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Report – Pre-school AGM 30/11/2022

Numbers of Children

When I joined the Pre-school in January, we had 41 children on roll. This had increased to 49 by the summer term. This was a fantastic number of children; with an increasing number of two year olds joining us – a promising sign for longevity for the Pre-school.

We said our goodbyes to 15 children in the Summer term as they went off to Primary School and we are really pleased to hear that they have all settled in at their new schools.

In September of this year we started the Autumn Term with 42 children; seven new children joined us then and we are pleased that a further two have joined us throughout the duration of the term.

Looking forward we have one child leaving us at Christmas, one new child joining us after the Christmas holidays and another one joining us in the middle of the Spring term. We are very busy with the children doing an increasing amount of hours as the year progresses and our older children prepare for school. This year we will have 28 children leaving us for Primary School and we are looking at advertising for September spaces in the new year.

Covid

We started the year still following some covid guidelines; limiting visitors to the setting, enforcing the use of masks visits were absolutely necessary. Unfortunately in March, Covid finally got the better of us as a setting when all bar two members of staff contracted Covid. This led to a four day closure just before the Easter holiday. Thankfully as the year has gone on we have seen Covid restrictions lift further and with the support of parents being vigilant with symptoms we are hopeful that we can now get ‘back to normal’. As a staff team, we are still following the NHS recommendations of a five day ‘stay at home’ period after a positive test. This is to protect vulnerable family members and to try and prevent any impact on children and their families.

Changes

September of this year saw big changes in the running of our Pre-school. We opened our doors to 2 year old children from their second birthday – this had previously been 2 years 4 months.

With this in mind we consciously split our provision into two rooms; the Caterpillar room and the Butterfly room. The Caterpillar room is our 2 year room, which caters specifically for children from 2 until the term (or half term) after their third birthday. The Butterfly caters for our children from the term after their third birthday until they leave us for Primary School.

This has been a really positive change for us as a Pre-school. It has provided us with a calmer, quieter space for our 2 year old children. We have seen a huge difference in how they have settled. We have been able to tailor our activities and learning opportunities to make them more age and development stage specific. For example, our Caterpillars have been able to practice their superhero coat skills and they are all now able to independently put their coats on which is fabulous! Our Butterflies have introduced a circle time at the start of the session where they sing a song about the days of the week, work out the day and also talk about the seasons and any special events.

The transition for the children is structured as the children all join for lunch each day and share the playground area outside. This means that the two year old children are able to mix with and learn from their older peers but they retain their quieter indoor space.

Another big change has been the extension of our morning club and the implementation of our twilight clubs. Our morning club is utilized by a number of families, whereas our twilight club has seen a slower uptake. We will continue to review the financial implications of this as the year progresses.

Curriculum

We have continued to follow our In the Moment Planning over the course of the past 12 months. We follow the children’s individual interests and observe in the moment, allowing us to respond straight away and extend the children’s play. The Caterpillar Room have recently been focusing on Road Safety as a result of conversations with parents which revealed a lack of knowledge in this area.

We have been focusing on feelings, empathy and social skills as a whole setting. We are still seeing children coming to the setting who have had very limited opportunities for socializing with other children and adults due to the impact of Covid.

We are continuing with the use of Tapestry, however due to the EYFS reform in 2021, thankfully we have been able to move away from the paperwork and back to the real work of creating learning opportunities and having fun with the children.

Events

We continue to have Coach Finn in each Wednesday morning. Each child that attends on a Wednesday morning attends a half hour group session with Finn. Currently, they are learning and developing their ball skills.

In March of this year we celebrated World Book Day with a week of events. The children dressed up over a week to ensure all children could partake. We had some fantastic costumes and this is always a brilliant way of embracing stories, even more so than normal!

Unfortunately due to the Covid closure, we had to cancel our usual Easter hunt around the green but we were still able to run our Easter Raffle.

In the Summer term, the committee treated all of the children to a Pony Ride which was such a wonderful experience for our children.

May saw the Committee run the refreshments for May Day which was a brilliant fundraiser for the setting.

In June we celebrated the Jubilee with a Jubilee Picnic in Pre-school as well as the Jubilee Magic Show organized by the Committee. The Picnic was a wonderful opportunity for all of our children and families to come together and enjoy an ice cream while meeting Spiderman and Cinderella.

In July we held a leaving party for our school leavers, with the committee paying for Captain Fantastic to come in and entertain the children. A great time was had by all!

We celebrated a wonderful Sports Day at the end of term, the children were incredible, the weather was fantastic and it was lovely to see the children able to take part this year, after having to cancel the previous years due to hot weather.

Looking forward this term, we have the Children’s Christmas Party next week, which has been paid for by our committee and will see all of the children entertained by Captain Fantastic and then come together for some party food afterwards.

Finally, we will end the term with our Christmas sing-a-long. We have had a fantastic response to this and hope that all of our children and their families will join us for the last event of the year and a visit from a special someone!

Awards

This year saw us achieve our Silver Woodland Trust Award and achieve our reaccreditation as a Communication Friendly Setting. A huge thank you to Anne and Sam, along with the rest of the team for their hard work towards these awards. We were commended very highly by the Early Years team at Central Bedfordshire Council for having a communication rich environment.

Staff

In the summer term we said a sad farewell to Holly as her contract had come to an end. Stacey joined us in September and was a fantastic asset to the team, unfortunately she was offered a job much closer to home at her children’s school and we were back in the position of advertising for another role. We have had an advert out for a 30 hour contract for a Pre-school assistant but unfortunately the whole Early Years sector is suffering with a huge lack of qualified staff.

This year has seen Sally achieve her Level 3 in childcare and Charlotte graduate with a Masters Degree in Education with a proficiency in SEND.

Sarah, our Finance Manager, has rejoined us remotely this year to provide a seamless transition as we look to appoint a new Finance and Administrative Assistant.

Thanks

I would like to finish with a few thank yous.

To Charlotte, who has now been here at Ickwell for two years, for being a fantastic support in keeping the Pre-school running somewhat smoothly. She has been a fabulous deputy manager throughout the year and works her socks off behind the scenes!

To Sam, our long standing, ever suffering SENDCo who has had a tremendous workload this past twelve months but who steps up and does her absolute best for our children with SEND.

To the rest of the staff team, for all stepping up and jumping in wherever needed and necessary to keep Pre-school fantastic for the children. I have inherited a wonderful team, who I know will continue to go above and beyond to create a wonderful learning environment for the children.

To Steph and the committee for their hard work behind the scenes and at the fundraising events

throughout the year, these events are imperative for providing funds for much needed resources at the Pre-school. This little group of people are all volunteers but without whom, we wouldn’t have a Pre-school.

Finally, but most importantly, to our parents for supporting us and lending us your smiley little people! We all thoroughly enjoy our jobs, and thrive on seeing your children grow and develop in their own individual ways.

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