News announcement:

Cheltenham Headteachers’ Group (CLP) would like to clarify collectively that, following the Prime Minister’s announcement at 7pm last night, in the short term nothing has changed  – our Pre-School remains closed to all pupils, other than those children whose parents are Keyworkers who have previously booked childcare provision.  We appreciate that the uncertainty surrounding future planning remains difficult for us all, but know that you, like us, will want to ensure that every step is taken to ensure that Pre-School is as safe as possible for all members of our Pre-School community as we take these tentative steps towards re-opening.

If you are a non-key worker planning on returning to work, please be mindful that we are not in a position to allow your child into Pre-School at this point.  We would like to reassure you that we will inform you of our initial plans regarding any planned phased return to Pre-School from 1 June 2020 once we have received further guidance from both the Government and the Local Authority.

Early Years Practitioner, Level 3, required 3 days per week (Monday, Wednesday and Thursday) from 7:45am to 3:15pm, term time only, as well as every Tuesday afternoon 1:15pm – 2:30pm for a Staff Meeting. Closing date for applications March 20th 2020. Ideally to start April 2020.

Due to increasing numbers and popularity of our setting we are looking for a candidate who is enthusiastic and committed to delivering an outstanding provision and who has a minimum of two years working at Level 3 or above in early years. Current certificates in both Child Protection and Paediatric First Aid would be advantageous but not essential.

If you are keen, enthusiastic, creative and dedicated to helping children become the best they can be, then we would love to hear from you.

Please contact Tess for an Application Form here and a full Job Description.

Should you have any questions please contact the Pre-School Play Leader, Tess Engelbrecht, on 07961 396613 or 07867 813627.

In keeping with the theme of pancake day the children were really excited to use some of the ingredients to use their imagination and create their own; they even had ago at flipping them! We explored mixing, used picture cards, did lots of sharing and talked about our favourite pancake toppings. Messy play doesn’t appeal to everyone but those who wanted to try really enjoyed all the messy mixing!

Our thanks to Commitee member Lauren who helped to run this activity.

Many thanks to our Committee members for volunteering their time this half term week to paint our hall! It’ll look fresh and clean when we return next week, for us and all the other hirers of the hall.

At Shurdington Pre-School in Cheltenham we believe that all children are unique and all children make sense of the world around them in their own way. There are similarities in some aspects of play, of mastering a skill or in developing social understanding but each child will achieve this at their own pace, based on their own interests, ideas, preferences and previous experiences.

We cater for a wide age range in our Caterpillar Group and in our Butterfly Group and pride ourselves on ensuring that our Early Years provision is tailor made to each and every child. Our Day Care Sessions are created around the children attending to ensure they have high quality play and learning experiences. We do this through the Shurdington Pre-School Key Person system – planning activities and our environment specific to each child’s interests or needs and creating your child’s individual Journey Book of their Early Years experiences. 

In addition, our invaluable Parent Rota System means that parents and the Pre-School Team work closely together to ensure an holistic approach to provision.

We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage: The statutory framework that starts at birth and finishes at the end of your child’s reception year. We use a Document called Development Matters to help us track your child’s journey and ensure that our provision is helping them progress. This Document is available via this link: Development-Matters There is also a helpful parent’s guide here: Link

More information is also available via the Department of Education website Child Development is a journey – not a race. 

At Shurdington Pre-School, we would love to be part of your child’s exciting Early Years journey.  To visit our setting, or for more details, please do not hesitate to contact us.