Whitwick Parish Church

PRE-SCHOOL MANAGER: ANGELA STANTON

Our pre-school is held in St John the Baptist Church Hall on North Street Whitwick. (Opposite Whitwick Park).

We are open every morning Monday to Friday 9.20am until 12.20 in school term time and take children from the age of two and a half years until they start school.

Formerly known as St John the Baptist Playgroup, the group was renamed in October 2008.

As Angela explains "This reflects the role it has within the Early Years Foundation Stage of the children's education and the links with local schools."

Our Aims.

1. To provide a high quality, reliable safe and stimulating environment in which basic social skills and preparation for full time schooling is achieved.

2. To help children in their personal development according to individual needs.

3. To provide a Christian environment in which children, staff and carers are aware of the love and presence of God.

Objectives.

1. To offer a range of activities that help physical, emotional, manipulative, creative, social and intellectual skills.

2. To comply with legal requirements and cover the six areas of learning as set out in the early years curriculum. (Personal & social development, communication, language and literacy, mathematical development, knowledge and understanding of the world, physical development and creative development.

3. To encourage children’s development through experiencing new skills and relationships in a safe and enjoyable way.

4. To have a skilled team of suitably trained personnel to aid development of the children.

5. To encourage children to co-operate with one another, to be sensitive to the needs of others and to develop understanding of other cultures.

6. To develop links with other local bodies who care for children within the area.

Structure

The pre-school is run by a management committee and is part of St John the Baptist, the Parish Church, Whitwick. It therefore seeks to promote good relationships between home, the local community, the pre-school and the church. The pre-school manager is appointed by the Management Committee, and approved by the Church PCC. The committee is made up equally of members elected to represent pre-school parents/carers, members appointed by the church and staff reps (non-voting). The manager is a non-voting member of the committee. Meetings are normally held termly, but the manager is expected to work closely with the management committee via the chair.

Ofsted Visit - November 2007

Ofsted made a visit to playgroup on Monday 10 October. Unlike schools we have no warning about visits so I was blissfully unaware until I returned home from college that day to be told and informed the inspector would be back on Wednesday to see me. Having spent Tuesday looking for the paper work asked for I met the inspector on Wednesday. She had already made a judgement and was looking for evidence from me that would either improve or lower our overall standing.

I’m pleased to say I didn’t let us down. The outcome was pleasing to us all. Quality for standards & care was satisfactory, although a little disappointing this was due to paper work errors rather than anything the staff had not carried out. Quality and standards for nursery education was good. This was much more pleasing and a boost to all the staff and parents.

Overall we were pleased with how the inspection had gone. It has given us confidence that we are providing the care and education we want to deliver to the children and parents of Whitwick.

I would on a personal level like to thank the staff for their hard work in achieving these results and to the parents our thanks for the support they give us during the time in playgroup.

Playgroup continues to be a very popular and busy place. Our numbers for this year are again almost bursting. The children have been busy with their play and we hope enjoying the range of topics we do. Many of them took part recently in a sponsored ‘Toddle’ to raise money for Banardos Children Charity. They raised £50 for our own church harvest appeal, by buying biscuits. The fun and enjoyment we see on their faces as they develop is great to see. They are now busy getting ready for Christmas as many of us are, we hope to pass on the real Christmas message to them and their families through this. Please continue to upheld us in your prayers.

Elizabeth Herbert

Office Address:

St John the Baptist Church

North Street

Whitwick

Leicestershire

LE67 5HA