Pre-School Centre

Children learn best via first-hand experiences and through using all their senses. Where better to do this than outside?

Real-world learning opportunities enable deeper levels of involvement. This helps with retention of information and gives hands-on opportunities for problem-solving. Children develop their critical thinking.

We provide a beautiful natural outdoor area with endless opportunities for the children. The provision is available all day whatever the weather. The children are able to access the garden anytime as we offer a free flow approach where the door is never closed.

The children wear the right gear for the different seasons. They will put on their own jackets, puddle suits, shoes, or wellington boots in our transition area. This has a huge learning impact. 

The children feel free and breathe the fresh air in. They can explore all the wonderful outdoor materials. This includes mud, sticks, leaves, water, grass, plants and many more natural objects. These support their imaginative play and take steps to enhance their creative flair.

Outdoor inspiration is key to children. We use lots of different tools to develop and strengthen their muscles for handwriting. We use brushes, mops, rollers, garden tools, sticks, fabric and more.

Using their outdoor voices is fabulous as they can feel free to sing, shout, play as loud as they like. We love our huge sandpit which becomes a stage and promotes a flourish of language.

At our Pre-School Centre we have a garden with:

• Wooden huts. The children can be imaginative and turn in to anything they would like them to be.
• A huge sandpit. The children can play and feel the sand on their feet.
• A lovely well established willow tunnel. They can charge through or make little dens inside.
• A busy mud kitchen full of vessels, water trough and cooking materials. The children often create different meals which are always a delicious feast for all.
• A quiet with hay bales and blankets where they can sit and recharge or sit and read.
• A hill with a slide sunken in. The hill promotes some risky play where they can run, roll and even ride their bikes down with a helmet on.
• A barked area with logs to maneuverer and sit on, tyres to roll or hop on.
• An area with large loose parts to build, construct and be budding engineers.
• Access to water.
• A separate yard, with a mini kitchen, small loose parts and a little cosy area. They can read or sit and chat to friends.
• Many different bikes and other enhancements to add of the year for outdoor play.
• Lots of places to sit and look up at the sky.
• Trees and lovely plants surround the area to create a neutral inviting environment.

Our outdoor space and learning environment is creative, inspiring and full of nature. 

Let’s get learning at home. Learning never stops at any part of the day.

Please see the Lancashire Country Council website for some brilliant ideas for you to choose and try out at home.

Over our academic year, we share ideas of ways to continue the children’s learning at home and how you can help at home.

We have our very own lending library where your children can borrow a book and have a lovely time reading and looking at the pictures. We have story jars that are wonderful at supporting them to chat play and read.

There are many great supportive links online that can give ideas and activities that we share within our newsletters.

The children enjoy linking their learning with nursery and home and its such a valuable experience for them. The children always embrace our ideas and show enthusiasm in having a good go.

We take great pleasure in our parent partnership. We always welcome pictures being sent in for the children to share their home lives and experiences with their Pre-School Family. This enhances their communication and language. It also guides us with our planning to expand their learning further.

Top tips for parents: encouraging effective home learning means making the most of your everyday routine

1. Read a bedtime story to your child everyday.
2. Involve your child in everyday routines. This could include: putting the washing in the washing machine and switching it on; pegging out the washing; sorting the washing into piles. Throughout these tasks talk to your child. Help them to notice the different sizes, colours, numbers on the dials etc.
3. Involve them in making meals, snacks and baking. Food is usually a motivator for children, they should be keen to join in.
4. Use travelling times to sing nursery rhymes and play games, such as 'I spy' with your child.
5. Explore the local green spaces, parks, gardens, beaches and woodlands. Make collections of interesting seeds, leaves, pebbles etc. You can take photographs of them.
6. Bath-time - make a collection of different sized plastic recycled bottles and containers. Use the language of measure with your child.
7. Create a space in your garden for your child to grow vegetables, fruit and herbs. If you don't have a garden you can use a window ledge container.
8. Involve your child in fixing things. Build their curiosity about how things work.
9. Make time for your child to play energetically. Play games with them that involve running and climbing. This could be building an obstacle course out of furniture and items around the house or garden.
10. Build your child's communication skills. Encourage them to follow instructions linked to the household chores. Eg, put your socks in your wardrobe; put four plates on the table.

Walk and Talk

Walk and Talk is a new Lancashire campaign to promote the importance of communication and language for our youngest children. The campaign aims to encourage families to go outside and communicate with each other.

We'll be sharing information such as:

• Top tips for communication and language
• Discussion ideas for different places such as the park, the woods and the shops

As the year progresses, we will build up a library of discussion prompts for local places that families can visit. This includes Williamson's Park, Lancaster or Longton Brickcroft. Please see our informative display in the atrium for more information and leaflets to pick up.

Laura, one of Pre-School practitioners, is the lead for our setting with the campaign.

Useful websites for parents with simple and fun activities

BBC Tiny Happy People
Tiny Happy People can help you develop your child's communication skills. Explore simple activities and play ideas, and find out about their amazing early development. Simple, fun, free activities to try at home. This includes short, effective videos.

Easy Peasy App
Easy Peasy is a parent engagement and home learning programme. It improves language and communication skills for children. It also helps parents to support their children through the transition to school. It includes games, simple videos, tips and prompts. These provide useful information about child development.

Parent Zone
We use Parent Zone to share ideas with our parents – ideas for extending our home learning.

Ofsted

We were awarded Outstanding in our most recent Ofsted report (2023). Read the Ofsted report here.
View our 2017 Ofsted report here.

View our Policies below 

• Admissions
• Behaviour
• Complaints
• Documentation
• Equal opportunities
• Equipment
• Food and drink
• Health
• Key person
• Organisation
• Parents as partners
• Physical environment
• Physical health
• Prevent
• Safeguarding
• Safety
• School readiness
• Student
• Suitable persons
• Sun safety
• Transition