Pre-School
Mighty Marbles Pre-School
The Preschool classroom (around 3 years and upwards) is equipped with a large range of EYFS equipment to stimulate the children. Each child is allocated their own key worker who will observe them and plan activities to help them achieve their individual goals and reach their full potential. All children have their own pegs where they can hang their coats and bags and a drawer where they can keep their artwork or crafts. Children are encouraged to put their own coats on their pegs at the beginning of a session to encourage their independence.
Planning is followed through the interests of the child as in accordance with the EYFS guidelines. The children also take part Montessori activities every day.
As this is an open plan classroom, all of our toys and resources are freely accessible to enable the children to choose what they want to play with and when, which helps to build their confidence and independence. In this room, we introduce a little more structure to our activities to begin preparing the children for school. Children are encouraged to help to tidy away resources after they have finished playing with them and to make their own choices when it comes to snack times and lunch time.
We have a dedicated eating area where all the children will eat together with staff, encouraging the Montessori approach with special helpers, servers, and cutlery. We also have a sleep room for those children still needing an afternoon nap.
The weekly curriculum in the Pre-School focuses on various activities based on the children’s interests as well as large group activities such as Science, Music, Languages, Culture, Cookery, Expressive Arts, Montessori, and Forest School. All activities are fun, stimulating and age appropriate and link into the EYFS.
All the children will take part in traditional Montessori lead activities which include Pink Tower (a set of 10 wooden cubes that increase in size, and they stack on top of one another), Long rods (a set of 10 Red Wooden Rods all the same thickness but varying in length from one decimetre to one meter), and Number rods. We also use sandpaper letters and numbers.
They will also engage in practical life skills such as pouring, cutting, threading, using tongs, washing up and sweeping etc.
We also have sensory play, weekly baking, Forest School, Languages, Yoga, Music, and Movement available for all the children.
As well as all the Montessori lead activities, we follow the Early Years Foundation Stages (EYFS) – the standards that school and childcare providers must meet for the learning, development, and care of children from birth to 5 years of age.
Within the Pre-school the children are taught maths, phonics, and literacy through Montessori teaching in a variety of exciting ways. This ensures your child receives appropriate preparation for school. We work closely with the local primary schools to ensure ‘what’ and ‘how’ we teach the children is in line with their teaching methods.
We make links with the primary schools the children are going into to make the transition process are smooth as possible. When your child leaves, they are equipped with a pre-school report and are made to feel special through a graduation ceremony.