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Pre-School

Welcome to Mount Pleasant Pre-School

Our Early Years learning begins in our pre-school. We have 80 places available to support children in their journey to being ready for school.
Children either attend in the morning or the afternoon. Each 3 hour session is carefully designed to bring to life the key features of effective Early Years practice (Development Matters DfE 2021) defined as:
  • The best for every child
  • High-quality care
  • The curriculum: what we want children to learn
  • Pedagogy: helping children to learn
  • Assessment: checking what children have learnt
  • Self-regulation and executive function
  • Partnership with parents
In our pre-school we follow the statutory framework for Early Years Foundation Stage, where effective teaching and learning is organised through:
  • Playing and exploring
  • Active learning
  • Creating and thinking critically
The Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Educational Programme has 7 areas of learning and development:
  • Communication and Language, which is developed through:
    • High quality conversations with adults throughout the pre-school session
    • Reading and sharing stories
    • Learning rhymes and songs
    • Role play
    • Asking questions
    • Using home languages
  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development, which is developed through:
    • Supporting children to manage their emotions
    • Developing a positive view of themselves
    • Setting simple goals
    • Developing confidence in what they can achieve
    • Developing persistence
    • Taking turns and being patient
    • Finding ways to be calm
    • Learning how to look after themselves
  • Physical Development, which is developed through:
    • Playing indoors and outdoors
    • Developing core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, co-ordination and agility
    • Develop gross motor skills
    • develop fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination
  • Literacy, which is developed through:
    • Developing a love of reading
    • Recognising letters and words
    • Understanding language
    • Gripping and holding pencils and brushes
    • Mark making
  • Mathematics, which is developed through:
    • Counting and grouping
    • Using manipulatives to ‘show’ values
    • Recognising shapes
    • Recognising patterns and connections
    • Having a go and learning from mistakes
  • Understanding the World, which is developed through:
    • Learning about life in our community
    • Learning about life in our world
    • Visits to local places
    • Meeting people who help us
    • Stories about our world
    • Exploring how things work
  • Expressive Arts and Design, which is developed through:
    • Develop artistic skills
    • Use different media
    • Experience the Arts
    • Explore how they can express their creativity and imagination
Joining our Pre-school – important information for parents:
What time are the sessions?
Acorns and Pinecones
Acorn Class: 08:30-11:30
Children in our morning (am) session are in Acorns class
Pinecones class: 12:30-15:30
Children in our afternoon (pm) session are in Pinecones class

 

Acorn
Class

Pinecone Class

What does my child need to wear?

Winter EVERYDAY Summer
Warm hat Waterproof coat Navy blue shorts
Gloves Welly Boots Hat or cap
Scarf Navy blue jumper or cardigan
White polo shirt
Navy blue joggers
School shoes or trainers
What does my child need to bring?
  • A small bag with a spare set of clothes, because:
    • We play outdoors whatever the weather
    • We play with water, sand and soil
  • With spare clothes available, your child can change if they get very messy, dirty or have an accident
What will help my child settle happily and quickly?
  • Knowing how to:
    • Say goodbye and know that you will come back soon
    • Use the toilet and wipe themselves clean
    • Wash and dry their hands
    • Pull up and down their trousers
    • Take off and put on their shoes
    • Fasten their shoes – velcro or laces
    • Know and understand simple phrases
What if I am worried that my child is not ready for pre-school?
  • Come and talk to us!
    • We can help and we have links with others who can help
    • We are inclusive
    • We know children learn at different rates
    • We are highly experienced
How will I know about my child’s progress?
  • Brief daily verbal feedback from their key worker
  • Entries in their learning book
  • Meet the teacher meetings
  • Parents’ Evening
  • End of Year Reports

Mount Pleasant Infant School

195 Derby Rd, Southampton SO14 0DZ

For any enquiries contact our School Business Manager, Mr Richard Ware

T: 023 8063 0522
Executive Headteacher:
Mrs Emma Kerrigan-Draper
Head of School:
Mrs Gemma Brumwell