We are a friendly, relaxed and approachable setting. We provide a warm, caring, family-oriented environment. We strive to develop the children’s personal, social and emotional skills to enable them to become strong, independent and confident learners.
With two dedicated classes, Bumblebee Room and Dragonfly Room, children’s development is tailored to their age-group. As with every Early Years setting, we follow the Development Matters Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework (EYFS) which can be viewed here.
The Bumblebee Room caters for children aged from 18 months up to and including 3 years old.
We mainly focus on the 3 prime areas of the EYFS – Personal Social & Emotional (PSED), Communication & Language (CL) and Physical Development (PD).
We work on developing early gross motor skills that will be built on when they progress to the Dragonfly classroom.
The Dragonfly Room caters for children aged 3-5 years old. In this room we follow all 7 areas of the EYFS and support all the children to develop as well rounded, happy, confident individuals.
In the final term our main focus is to make sure that the children have all the skills required for a smooth transition into primary school.
After school care is open for our Pre-School children together with children who attend Dilton Marsh C of E primary School.
The Bumblebee & Dragonfly classrooms both have their own under cover outdoor areas. This allows the children to access outdoor play and activities in all weathers.
The children benefit from a mix of activities within their own classes, these are targeted for age/stage appropriate development.
The children do also benefit from mixing together, role modelling play and learning from their peers. Our Garden is a safe space with a variety of resources, many being natural, for them to explore, problem solve and to be curious about the environment around them.
We are very proud to be part of the Fare Share Scheme. We started taking Fare Share donations for our Pre-School approximately 2 years ago from Tesco Express on the Leigh Park Estate. The Fare Share donations are foods which are still perfectly edible but have reached their sell by date (not use by).
Most of these foods can be frozen and used at a later date, and things like broken bags of pasta, rice, salt etc. are used as resources in the Pre-School for craft activities and making things such as our play dough. Some of our favourite donations so far were the day after Mothering Sunday: we had enough bunches of flowers to give one to every Mum at our pre-school. Also, during the summer having several bunches of bananas that we froze, and then the children made delicious creamy banana ice cream – nothing added, just beautiful bananas!!
We have donations 3 days a week and this provides morning snacks for the Pre-School children and snacks for the afterschool club. Anything that is left, our parents and also the parents from Dilton Marsh Primary School are very welcome to take and make use of themselves. We are so pleased that there is nothing left at the end of the day, so every item that is donated does get used which means there is less going to our landfills!
The donations have been very much appreciated and we are now taking further donations from Asda in Frome 1 day a week and Waitrose in Warminster 1 day a week, so this is a full week of donations!
We feel very lucky and privileged as the donations have helped our children and families, as well as the wider community. This includes items such as bottled water, bread and pastries being passed on to a charity that provides support for the homeless. Also, Little Marshian’s parent baby and toddler group, based in Dilton Marsh, had a sensory play morning using some donated broccoli as trees in their dinosaur land, and then used it further for some broccoli painting.
We offer learning opportunities covering all 7 areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework, offering both indoors and outdoors activities and facilities. Within the structure of the learning environment the children are free to explore the resources and planned activities.
All Staff members hold up-to-date certificates in Paediatric First Aid and hold relevant certificates in Safeguarding Children. Every full-time member of staff is Level 3 qualified in child care and the part time member of staff is currently working towards a level 3. Lis and Rachael will continue to expand their professional development to ensure positive progression for each and every child. Enhanced DBS checks are renewed every year via the Update Service
All Staff members hold up-to-date certificates in Paediatric First Aid and hold relevant certificates in Safeguarding Children. Every full time member of staff is Level 3 qualified in child care.
The whole team are dedicated to making children, happy, safe and ready for school.
Step Up Pre-School
High Street
Dilton Marsh
Westbury
BA13 4DY
