
About Pre-School
We welcome children from 2 years to school age from Ugborough, Bittaford, Ivybridge and further afield! Staff at Ugborough and Bittaford Pre-School would like to invite parents of new starters to come and play for a morning. We hope this would enable you to have a better understanding of your child’s time with us.
Our Ethos
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To enhance the development and education of children under school age in a parent-involved and community-based group.
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To provide a safe, secure, fun, friendly, and stimulating environment with a specially tailored curriculum, which leads to approved learning outcomes.
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To work alongside parents within a framework that ensures equality of opportunity for all children and their families.
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To be fully inclusive and our highly trained staff are very experienced in working with children with SEND.
Our Weekly Timetable
Our weekly timetable includes Forest School, cooking, outdoor play and visits to Ugborough Primary School. Every Friday afternoon we join the Foundation class, singing songs and listening to stories and have snack time in Hillhead classroom. Our latest Ofsted Report, December 2024, noted that we 'liaise regularly with the nearby school, inviting teachers to visit to get to know the children and join in shared events such as the Harvest Festival'. Our strong partnership with the school smooths the transition from pre-school to primary.
As the year progresses, we focus on literacy and numeracy activities for our older pre-schoolers, to successfully prepare them with the skills needed to start their school journey, wherever that school may be.
Many of our regular events such as our Harvest Celebration, Nativity, Easter Egg Hunt and Sports Day are attended by our friends in the Foundation Stage of Ugborough School, as well as the older members of the Ugborough community.
Key Worker System
Research has shown that outcomes for children life-long are improved with one specific adult in a childcare setting. This Key Worker will be the primary liaison with the family and will assist with the child's self-care routines - such as nappy changing and toileting. As a small staff team, we all know each child very well and communicate constantly between each other to ensure continuity of care. We hold ‘stay and play’ sessions where each parent/carer is allotted a length of time to get updates on their child’s progress while observing him/ her at play. This would also be an opportunity to talk with your child’s Key Person and find out more about the monitoring that the staff do to ensure we provide a rich learning environment for each individual.
Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)
Our staff team have worked together for many years and have huge experience in identifying children with additional needs. Our setting has full disabled access and the nurturing environment naturally allows inclusivity - including some sign language. Through our system of observation and record keeping, we are able to monitor children's individual progress. Should you or we have any concerns regarding your child, we will communicate regularly and closely and a way forward agreed. We follow the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) Special Educational Needs Code of Practice for the identification and assessment of Special Educational Needs.
We are highly experienced with working with outside agencies such as Health Visitors, Speech and Language Therapist, Nursery Plus Teachers, Occupational Therapists and the Complex Needs Service. We have successfully secured EHCP funding to support the child.