Our Mission
At 3-2-5 Pre-School we believe in providing children with a safe and stimulating environment where children flourish. We believe that every child is unique and should be treated so, allowing them the opportunity to develop and learn in a safe and nurturing environment where play and learning is combined.
Learning should be fun, and we strongly believe in children leading their own learning whilst valuing the importance of the environment to develop children’s thinking and creative skills. We understand the value of learning experiences and strive to equip children with a love of learning and a natural curiosity, that will inspire them to become inquisitive lifelong learners.
Tapestry
At 3-2-5 Pre-School we create individual ‘learning journeys’ for your child through a piece of educational software called ‘Tapestry’. By logging on with a secure username and password you will be able to view all your children’s observations, photographs and even videos from their time at pre-school. You will receive an email telling you when a new observation or piece of work is available for you to view. This will enable you to follow your child’s individual progress closely and you can reflect upon their achievements with your child. You can add comments so that your child’s keyworker can find out about which activities your child really enjoyed and the learning they get up to at home. Staff will reference your child’s learning to the EYFS profile so you will know which area of learning your child is achieving in and the age-band they were working in for that observation.
We know how much you like to see your child coming home from Pre-School proudly clutching their most recent piece of work. Therefore, we will photograph the pieces of work we need to keep as evidence and then it will come home with your child.
We are sure that you will love this way of viewing your child’s achievements as much as we do!
In the Moment Planning
At 3-2-5 Pre-school we believe that children learn best when they are following their interests in an open-ended environment. Each individual child’s learning and development matters to us and that is why we do not plan ahead, instead we choose to join the child “in the moment” as they explore the environment.
We observe children in their play and spot “teachable moments” we then join their play and extend their learning, therefore teaching “in the moment”. These moments are the most perfect opportunity to develop children, they are when children are showing high levels of involvement and deep level learning can be achieved.
Environment
Our environment has been developed to create a calming home away from home space for children to develop and feel safe, using natural colours. Research has shown that neutral (soft) colours can help reduce over stimulation in children therefore impacting positively on their behaviour.
The layout of the room focuses on space for children to play collaboratively with one another throughout all the areas. This helps to promote communication between the children whilst they play.
The resources encourage children to use their imaginations and have a sense of curiosity. We have very little plastic resources, instead opting to use natural and real-world items that are open ended and can be used in a variety of ways. Children have access to real tools, real cutlery, logs, cable reels crates, measuring tapes and much more. These real-world items allow children the opportunities to be creative and take risks in a safe environment.
Helicopter Stories
Helicopter stories is an early year’s approach to supporting children’s literacy and communication development through storytelling and story acting. Helicopter stories allows children to dictate their own stories to an adult which is then written down exactly as it is said. The children then gather around our stage (mat area) and act out the stories that have been created.
Alongside the simplicity of this approach is an ethos that is child-centred, creating a culture of curiosity and wonder at the dexterity of children’s imaginings during both the telling and the acting out of their stories
Makaton
At 3-2-5 Pre-School we use Makaton to support children’s communication development. Makaton is a language programme that uses symbols, signs and speech to enable people to communicate and It supports the development of essential communication skills. Makaton has shown to be valuable in supporting children when settling into pre-school, giving them vital tools to communicate effectively. We also upload a ‘sign of the week’ to our facebook page that allows parents to learn a new sign each week alongside their children.