St Albans Community Association

Junipers

At St Albans we aim to meet the needs of each individual child. St Albans pre-school is OFSTED registered and our latest inspection in October 2023 was deemed "Good".

All staff but one are all NVQ3 qualified and are able to communicate with the children and families in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu and Bengali and English.

An Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) audit carried out in the Pre-school in May 2011 related to the environment and setting for children looks at seven areas. The national average score is 3.2. St Albans scored 5.7, which is between ‘Good’ and ‘Outstanding’. For a copy of the ECERS report please follow the link opposite.

The Pre-school Manager holds a foundation degree alongside her Early Years Teacher Status. All staff are paediatric first aid trained.

See the most recent OfSTED report here

Mini first aid sessions

Big Cook, Little Cook pancake making workshop

Small World Play – encouraging problem solving and working together

Space Theme – learning all about space

Timetable details

We have two sessions daily, five days a week, Monday to Friday, 9am to 12 noon and 12.30 to 3.30pm. We also provide a ‘wraparound’ cover for lunchtimes at varying prices. Please talk to staff for details. We provide healthy snacks of fresh fruit and milk or water.

Admission details

We admit children between the ages of two to four years old. Our prices are very competitive: three to four year-olds are charged £8.50 per session unless they are nursery grant funded. Nursery grant funding for three year olds, can be accessed in the term that follows your child’s third birthday.

If your child is only two years old they can still attend St Albans Pre-school, however places are limited. The cost is the same as for three to four year-olds: £8.50 per session and £1.95 for lunches.

If you would like to apply for financial aid to help you meet the cost of your two year-old attending St Albans, there is government funding available (ELT) further information can be found on Sandwell Council’s website.

Some 3 and 4 year old children may be eligible for 30 hours funding. To find out more, visit www.gov.uk or pop into the Preschool to find out more.

If you are interested in your child attending the pre-school or would simply like more information, please contact: Samantha Oakley, Pre-school Manager on 0121 558 0018 or simply come along to the centre in St Albans Road, or email Samantha via Pre-schoolmanager@stalbans-cc.co.uk

Contact us to find out more

    Curriculum

    As officially recommended, we base our service on the Early Years Foundation Stage Principles.

    We understand that children develop rapidly – physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially, and therefore, we ensure that all children in our care feel included, secure and valued. No child will be excluded or disadvantaged.

    We build on what children know and can do, rather than focus on what they can’t yet achieve, we work in consultation with parents and carers and provide a well-planned, well-organised learning environment; Above all, we aim to provide high quality care and education.

    Our curriculum and pedagogy are guided by the Early Years Foundation Stage. This document highlights 7 areas pf learning which are Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Communication and Language, Physical Development, Maths, Understanding the world, literacy and Expressive arts and design.

    Our curriculum is delivered through a play based approach that includes both child led and some adult led learning activities.

    We offer a curriculum area designed for children aged 2 years up until 4 years old.

    At St Albans the delivery of this curriculum is based around play activity. These activities include outside play with balls and hoops; music and rhyming games; group reading and role play; sand, dough and water play; creative art and construction; early writing practice and letter recognition; early counting and number ordering.

    We offer a curriculum area designed for three and four year-olds to engage in focus activities relating to language and communication, numbers and problem solving , this area gives the children the best opportunities for effective learning in a quiet environment.

    The children are encouraged to have fun and enjoy their learning through a variety of activities and experiences that are carefully planned to meet their needs. These activities will include such things as painting, making models and playing with sand and water – messy as well as fun. Because of this it is better if the children are dressed in comfortable clothes, ones that they are free to play and experiment in. They are observed regularly to assess their development and progress which is recorded on their learning wall and evidence of learning is shared on our online baby days system, allowing us to provide suitable and challenging next steps for the children to work towards and share more easily this learning with parents.

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