Our Pre-School

Busy Bees Pre-school is a not for profit organisation that was established in 1976 by a small group of parents whose dedication and interest in pre-school education laid the foundations of the group we have today. Their insistence upon good quality equipment and care, together with an enthusiastic and determinedapproach to the changing needs of our community remains an underlying aim of the parents who now manage the group.

Our aim is:

• to provide high quality care and education of children below statutory school age in a parent-involving, community based group;

• to work in partnership with parents to help children learn and develop;

• to provide a safe, secure and stimulating environment;

• to add to the life and well-being of the local community and

• to work within a framework which ensures equality of opportunity for all children and families.

The setting's timetable and routines

Busy Bees Pre-school believes that care and education are equally important in the experience that we offer children. The routines and activities that make up the session/day in the setting are provided in ways that:

• help each child to feel that she/he is a valued member of the setting;ensure the safety of each child;
• help children to gain from the social experience of being part of a group; and
• provide children with opportunities to learn and help them to value learning.

Busy Bees opening times are as follows:

Children's development and learning

The provision for children's development and learning is guided by two frameworks issued by the Sure Start Unit of the Department for Education and Skills.

For children from birth to three years, we give regard to the 'Birth to Three Matters' framework which sets out four key entitlements for young children. This framework informs practice in settings where babies and toddlers are cared for. It also informs practice in settings working across the age range with two to five year olds.

Birth to Three Matters

Our setting supports and promotes the entitlement of every baby and young child to be and become:

A strong child

A strong child is about babies and young children being strong, confident, capable and self-assured. To do this they need to be secure within loving relationships at home and within the nurturing care of their key person in their early years setting. Babies and young children are getting to know themselves and what they can do; the respect, care, love and emotional support they receive helps them develop trust and positive self image. The way we acknowledge and affirm babies and young children leads them to gain confidence and inner strength. Having close relationships with them promotes self assurance and a sense of belonging in our setting as a secure base to learn and try new experiences.

A skilful communicator

Through being with people who love them at home, and through their key persons who care for them in the nursery, babies and young children will become skilful communicators. They will make friendships where they will learn about other people, communicating and sharing their feelings and experiences. They will learn they have a voice, that they are listened to and responded to in a way that supports their understanding and search for meaning, helping them to learn the skills they will need for communicating with others. Through opportunities for talk with adults and peers, through sustained interactions, through stories, songs, mime and gesture, children will learn to become skilful communicators.

A competent learner

Children are learners from birth. They are actively involved in exploring their environment, using their senses to build up their knowledge about the world. Our provision offers babies and young children the opportunity to take part in planned and unplanned activities that will help them to make connections with what they already know and build new understandings to help them form more complex ideas about the world. They will have opportunity to be imaginative and creative; to express their ideas and represent them.

A healthy child

The healthy child is one who is emotionally secure and knows that he or she can depend on carers to meet his or her needs. Through our key person approach we aim to provide babies and young children with secure relationships as a firm foundation for them to gradually learn to become independent at their own pace. Babies and young children will have their needs for good nutrition, play and rest met so that their growth and development are assured. We provide an environment that protects children from harm and abuse; we minimise risk to children, but at the same time provide a safe structure in which they can learn to take their own risks, such as climbing or riding a bike. We provide boundaries within which they learn about being with others in a social group.

The Foundation Stage curriculum for children three to five years

Children start to learn about the world around them from the moment they are born. The care and education offered by our setting helps children to continue to do this by providing all of the children with interesting activities that are appropriate for their age and stage of development.

For children between the ages of three and five years, the setting provides a curriculum for the foundation stage of education. This curriculum is set out in a document, published by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the Department for Education and Skills, called Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage. We follow this guidance.

The guidance divides children's learning and development into six areas:

For each area, the guidance sets out early learning goals. These goals state what it is expected that children will know and be able to do by the end of the reception year of their education.

The Foundation Stage curriculum complements Birth to Three Matters, building on each of the four entitlements, as described above, to further promote children's learning and development.

For each early learning goal, the guidance sets out stepping stones, which describe the stages through which children are likely to pass as they move to achievement of the goal. Our setting uses the stepping stones that lead to the early learning goals to help us to trace each child's progress and to enable us to provide the right activities to help all of the children to achieve and progress.

• personal, social and emotional development;
• communication, language and literacy development;
• mathematical development;
• knowledge and understanding of the world;
• physical development; and
• creative development.

Personal, social and emotional development

This area of children's development covers:

• having a positive approach to learning and finding out about the world around them;
• having confidence in themselves and their ability to do things, and valuing their own achievements;
• being able to get on, work and make friendships with other people, both children and adults;
• becoming aware of - and being able to keep to - the rules which we all need to help us to look after ourselves, other people and our environment;
• being able to dress and undress themselves, and look after their personal hygiene needs; and being able to expect to have their ways of doing things respected and to respect other people’s ways of doing things.

Communication, language and literacy:

This area of children's development covers:

• being able to use conversation with one other person, in small groups and in large groups to talk with and listen to others;
• adding to their vocabulary by learning the meaning of - and being able to use - new words;
• being able to use words to describe their experiences;
• getting to know the sounds and letters that make up the words we use;
• listening to - and talking about - stories;
• knowing how to handle books and that they can be a source of stories and information;
• knowing the purposes for which we use writing; and
• making their own attempts at writing.
• Mathematical development
• This area of children's development covers:
• building up ideas about how many, how much, how far and how big;
• building up ideas about patterns, the shape of objects and parts of objects, and the amount of space taken up by objects;
• starting to understand that numbers help us to answer questions about how many, how much, how far and how big;
• building up ideas about how to use counting to find out how many; and being introduced to finding the result of adding more or taking away from the amount we already have.

Knowledge and understanding of the world

This area of children's development covers: 

• finding out about the natural world and how it works;

• finding out about the made world and how it works;

• learning how to choose - and use - the right tool for a task;

• learning about computers, how to use them and what they can help us to do;

• starting to put together ideas about past and present and the links between them;

• beginning to learn about their locality and its special features; and learning about their own and other cultures

Physical development 

This area of children's development covers:

• gaining control over the large movements that they can make with their arms, legs and bodies, so that they can run, jump, hop, skip, roll, climb, balance and lift;
• gaining control over the small movements they can make with their arms, wrists and hands, so that they can pick up and use objects, tools and materials; and
• learning about the importance of - and how to look after - their bodies.

Creative development

This area of children's development covers:

• using paint, materials, music, dance, words, stories and role-play to express their ideas and feelings;

• becoming interested in the way that paint, materials, music, dance, words, stories and role- play can be used to express ideas and feelings.

How parents take part in the setting

Busy Bees Pre-school recognises parents as the first and most important educators of their children. All of the staff see themselves as partners with you in providing care and education for your child. There are many ways in which parents take part in making the setting a welcoming and stimulating place for children and parents, such as

• exchanging knowledge about your children's needs, activities, interests and progress with the staff;
• helping at sessions of the setting;
• sharing your own special interests with the children;
• helping to provide, make and look after the equipment and materials used in the children's play activities;
• being part of the management of the setting;
• taking part in events and informal discussions about the activities and curriculum provided by the setting;
• joining in community activities in which the setting takes part; and building friendships with other parents in the setting.

The Parents' rota

Busy Bees has a dated rota which parents can sign if they would like to help at a particular session, this is located on top of the children’s drawers on a clip board. Helping at the session enables parents to see what the day-to-day life of the setting is like and to join in helping the children to get the best out of their activities.

We welcome parents to drop into the setting to see it at work or to speak with the staff.

The role of the parents

Busy Bees aims to support parents. Parents are welcomed:

• to work in the group with the children;
• to assist with fundraising;
• to take part in the management of the pre-school;

Learning opportunities for adults

As well as gaining qualifications in early years care and education, the setting staff take part in further training to help them to keep up to date with thinking about early years care and education.

The Session

We organise our sessions so that the children can choose from - and work at - a range of activities and, in doing so, build up their ability to select and work through a task to its completion. The children are also helped and encouraged to take part in adult-led small and large group activities which introduce them to new experiences and help them to gain new skills, as well as helping them to learn to work with others. Outdoor activities contribute to children's health, their physical development and their knowledge of the world around them. The setting caters for children's individual needs for rest and quiet activities during the day.

The management of our setting

A parent management committee - whose members are elected by the parents of the children who attend the setting - manages the setting. The elections take place at our Annual General Meeting. The committee is responsible for:

The Annual General Meeting is open to the parents of all of the children who attend the setting. It is our shared forum for looking back over the previous year's activities and shaping the coming year's plan

• employing and managing the staff;

• managing the setting's finances;

• making sure that the setting has - and works to - policies that help it to provide a high quality service; and making sure that the setting works in partnership with the children's parents.

Fees

The fees are £8.50 per session, payable half-termly in advance. Fees must still be paid if children are absent without notice for a short period of time. If your child has to be absent over a long period of time, talk to Jo Gunter, who is the Committee Chairperson, or Maria Meredith who is the Pre-school Manager.

For your child to keep her/his place at the setting, you must pay the fees.

We are in receipt of nursery education funding for three and four year olds; where funding is not received, then fees apply.

The Lunch Club is £4.00 per day and is payable half-termly in advance; this is not covered by the Early Years Grant.

Policies

Busy Bees’ policies help us to make sure that the service provided by Busy Bees is a high quality one and that being a member of the setting is an enjoyable and beneficial experience for each child and her/his parents.

The staff and parents of Busy Bees work together to adopt the policies and they all have the opportunity to take part in the annual review of the policies. This review helps us to make sure that the policies are enabling the setting to provide a quality service for its members and the local community.

Special Educational Needs

As part of the setting's policy to make sure that its provision meets the needs of each individual child, we take account of any special educational needs a child may have.

Busy Bees works to the requirements of the 1993 Education Act and The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice (2000).

The first days

Starting at our setting

We want your child to feel happy and safe with us. To make sure that this is the case, the staff will work with you to decide on how to help your child to settle into the setting. The setting has a policy about helping children to settle into the setting: a copy is enclosed in this prospectus.

Clothing

We provide protective clothing for the children when they play with messy activities.

We encourage children to gain the skills that help them to be independent and look after themselves. These include taking themselves to the toilet and taking off - and putting on - outdoor clothes. Clothing that is easy for them to manage will help them to do this. All children are allocated their own drawer in which they keep a pair of indoor shoes - please supply a pair of plimsolls or similar when your child starts.

We hope that you and your child enjoys being a member of Busy Bees and that you both find taking part in our activities interesting and stimulating. The staff are always ready and willing to talk with you about your ideas, views or questions.