Programme of Activities

Programme of activities for Monday, Tuesday, and Friday
Programme of activities for Wednesday
Programme of activities for Thursday

Programme of activities for Monday, Tuesday and Friday

09:00	Children arrive for free play session
09:30	Funded session starts
09:40	Group time/register (Greeting song, a child is chosen to be ‘Star of the Day’, we do some counting and dress our weather monkey George)
09:50	Music/Leap into Life movement session
10:00	Café-style snack and child-initiated play
10:45	Outdoor play
11:15	Adult-led focus activity
11:25	Child-initiated play
11:40	Tidy-up time
11:50	Group story and song session
12:00	Packed lunch
12:30	Sharing books with their friends
12:45	Individual short feedback session as parents/carers arrive

Programme of activities for Wednesday (extended session)

09:00	Children arrive for free play session
09:30	Funded session starts
09:40	Group time/register (Greeting song, a child is chosen to be ‘Star of the Day’, we do some counting and dress our weather monkey George)
09:50	Music/Leap into Life movement session
10:00	Café-style snack and child-initiated play
10:45	Outdoor play
11:15	Visit Ugborough School Library
11:30	Adult-led focus activity
11:40	Child-initiated play
12:00	Packed lunch
12:30	Sharing books with their friends
12:45	Individual short feedback session as some parents/carers arrive. Calming rest time with beanbags and blankets for children staying for the extended session
13:00	Adult-led games session/child-initiated play
13:30	Tidy-up time
13:45	Outside play
14:00	Individual short feedback session as the remaining parents/carers arrive

Programme of activities for Thursday

09:00	Children arrive for free play session
09:30	Funded session starts
09:40	Group time/register (Greeting song, a child is chosen to be ‘Star of the Day’, we do some counting and dress our weather monkey George)
09:50	Music/Leap into Life movement session
10:15	Café-style snack and child-initiated play
10:45	Outdoor play
11:05	Adult-led focus activity
11:15	Child-initiated play
11:30	Group story and song session
11:40	Lunch
12:00	Music Man Music Specialist
12:30	Sharing books with their friends
12:45	Individual short feedback session as parents/carers arrive

Free play session: The hall is available for use from 9am and as our staff members need to set up furniture for the session. Children are requested to stay in the literacy area with a member of staff, where they can find books, beanbags, mark-making materials and a construction activity. The children are invited to play with all the other activities as soon as furniture is set up.
Funded: After your child’s third birthday, they will receive 12.5 hours per week of free childcare. This will increase to 15 hours in September 2010. Vouchers are not redeemable against the free play session i.e. 9.00am- 9.30am. The funded session starts at 9.30am when the full range of activities can be offered. For details of fees for funded and unfunded children, please see our fees policy.
Leap into Life movement session: “Leap into life” is a programme of physical movement education, adopted by all Devon schools. It aims to ensure children get the very best start to their physical development and thus avoid the health problems of inactive and sedentary lifestyles. It supports young children to develop a wide range of functional, manipulative and aesthetic movement skills.
Snack: At snack time we offer a wide variety of healthy snacks e.g. wholemeal toast, breadsticks, crackers, hummus, cheese cubes and a selection of at least two types of fruit/vegetables. Milk or water is offered as fluid refreshment. Staff members are happy to cater for any particular dietary requirements and have experience of working with children with a range of food allergies.
Outdoor play: We spend a long time outside every morning, and if the weather is wet we dress the children in all-in-one wet weather gear and wellington boots. We have use of many of Ugborough School’s facilities such as their large playground, wooden balancing bridge and stepping stones. There is also a garden area where we can play on the slide and plant seeds, to teach the children about horticulture. We make good use of the playing fields and can often be found kicking balls, playing games and running around!
Focus activity: Every child is allocated a key worker who provides continuity, not only for the child, but also as a point of contact for the parent/carer. During focussed activity, the child participates in activities with their keyworker. These sessions are specifically planned and based upon observations of the children over the course of the previous few days. This tailors activity to meet the developmental needs of each and every child.
Lunch: Most of our children stay for packed lunch, a time of social interaction and of course developing positive table manners. Each member of staff is allocated a different day to sit and eat their lunch with the children, and give assistance where necessary. In line with government recommendations, we strongly discourage the consumption of fizzy drinks, chocolate and sweets, and ask that children do not bring these items into the pre-school. We request that parents are considerate to our healthy eating message when packing their child’s lunch and also ask parents to place a small freezer block inside, to keep the contents cool. If you have any queries about our healthy eating policy or are just stuck for ideas, then please do not hesitate to talk to a member of staff.
Feedback session: Staff feedback to parents/carers about the child’s response to the day’s activities and also use this time to plan for future learning with parent involvement. We may take the opportunity to ask for photos to be brought in to initiate discussions . We also welcome any props children can bring in from home or holiday. These help link the child's home life with their time spent at pre-school.
Child-initiated play: The children can choose from a range of activities on offer. These activities will cover the six areas of learning, as set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage, please see below for further details. This curriculum will carry through to the end of the reception year at primary school.

Personal, Social and Emotional.: This area of the curriculum aims to promote sharing and encourage turn taking and independence through the use of toys and game. Puppets are also sometimes used with storytelling, to allow children to verbalize emotions. Assistance is given where needed for hand washing and putting coats on etc, but children are encouraged to be independent and help the younger ones. We have an inclusive policy to all children and parents, and encourage this through stories taken from a wide range of cultures. We celebrate festivals from many different religions throughout the year and the atmosphere at the pre-school is respectful and caring.
Communication, Language and Literacy.: We plan many activities ranging from listening activities with music or tape recorders, to sharing stories in an individual small or large group. We use fine and gross motor activities to develop wrist, finger and arm movements, empowering the children with the skills needed for handwriting. Writing materials are included in many areas of our provision, to nurture this important skill. Circle games and easy speaking techniques are used to ‘bring out’ the quieter children and promote confidence.
Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy.: Many areas of maths are evident throughout play in the pre-school setting e.g. we use different sized containers for water measurement, help the children count out enough cups and plates for their friends at snack time, use puzzles and 3D blocks to talk about the properties of shapes etc.
Knowledge and Understanding of the World.: This is a very broad area of the curriculum, encompassing scientific understanding, design, ICT, RE, history and geography. Many of our activities are designed to nurture an interest and further development in this area, for instance, we may use magnifying glasses to study insects while on a nature trail, or walk round the village spotting things of interest for discussion. We have links with the parish at Ugborough church and are visited by the vicar at Christmas, Easter and Harvest festival. This gives the children opportunity to learn more about the meaning of these celebrations. There is an area where children construct their own creations out of junk materials. This is in addition to the large variety of construction toys we have on offer. The children learn computer skills with our laptop and regularly use our digital cameras, tape recorders, the CD player and camcorder. We also cook or bake at least once a week, where the children learn about ingredients and what happens to foods as they are cooked.
Physical Development.: As the name suggests, this deals with fine and gross motor skills and also with healthy living. There is a gross motor area in our large hall which is set out daily, this may consist of a large climbing frame, an obstacle course, mats for rolling on or target based games to practice ball skills etc. When outside we use tricycles and scooters, play games such as hopscotch, as well as aiming and balancing games. Healthy eating is promoted in a fun way and many different nutritious foods are offered at snack time.
Creative Development.: The children undertake creative activities either on an individual or team project level, using both 2D and 3D media. They have the opportunity to dress up in one of our many costumes and use the role play area, which they often set up as an airport, hospital, hairdressers, kitchen etc. We are a very musical pre-school. The children love singing and playing instruments. As we have found this to be such a popular area of interest with our children, we have further developed it to include a weekly session from a Musikgarten music specialist.

Ugborough and Bittaford Pre-School, Ugborough Village Hall,
The Square, Ugborough, Ivybridge, Devon, PL21 0NT
Telephone Number: 07763 215455
Email: admin@ugboroughandbittafordpreschool.org.uk