We very much look forward to welcoming you and your child into The Hive Pre-School. This booklet, in conjunction with the Year Ahead Evening, is intended to provide parents with information on the year ahead.
The ‘Hive Pre-School’, offers year-round care; weekdays from 8.00am-6.00pm, and is inclusive of three meals a day. It delivers a high level of care and education to children aged 3 years old and upwards by qualified Teachers and Teaching Assistants.
Mrs Angharad Daker Teacher Monday, Tuesday adaker@cliftonhigh.co.uk
Mrs Clare Shaw Teacher Wednesday, Thursday, Friday cshaw@cliftonhigh.co.uk
Mrs Shauna Morley Teaching Assistant Monday-Friday
Mrs Ozlem Ozlen Simsek Teaching Assistant Monday-Friday
Mrs Lindsey Burch Teaching Assistant Monday-Friday (term time only)
When children join The Hive Pre-School, they will enjoy a wide range of experiences whilst also participating in a variety of new skills and interests. We provide a well planned and resourced
Access to The Hive is from Clifton Park through a double gated entry point. After opening and closing the external gate, please ring on the buzzer entry system and enter through the second gate. Walking up the driveway towards The Hive Pre-School’ s main entrance foyer, you will pass the playground on the right.
Kindly ring the doorbell to enter, mentioning your name while looking at the camera. Only children are permitted to enter the buildings so we would be grateful if you can say goodbye to your child at the door.
Our catering staff make every effort to provide a healthy and varied menu. Lunch is served in the main School dining hall at 11.45am. Should your child have any special dietary requirements please advise us on these as soon as possible.
Tea is served at approximately 4.00pm. Good table manners are encouraged and taught during each meal time.
• Reuseable water bottle
• Waterproof trousers and jacket
• Wellington boots
• Change of uniform in a bag
• Sun lotion
• Sun hat
All items should be named. Waterproofs, wellingtons and a change of clothes remain in School on your child’ s peg.
There are two departure times for children in The Hive Pre-School:
• Children can be collected between 3.303.45pm before tea OR
• anytime from 4.30pm after tea.
The Hive Pre-School officially closes for the day at 6.00pm during term time, and 5.00pm throughout the holiday provision. We ask that all children are collected by 5.50pm and 4.50pm respectively.
Children can arrive from 8.00am for breakfast, which is served until 8.30am. Children are offered a daily selection of cereal, toast, yoghurt and fruit.
We provide children with a healthy snack to eat at snack time each day. This may be something that we have grown at School or foods such as fruit, raisins, breadsticks and rice cakes.
Please ring The Hive gate buzzer if you arrive before 4.40pm. Thereafter, the children play outside or upstairs so if you arrive after 4.40pm, please ring The Hub mobile phone number 07305 108044.
The curriculum recognises the vital importance of play, understanding that children learn best when they are interested and motivated. Skilled practitioners observe and support children’ s play, fostering their learning and planning activities around their individual interests. The curriculum is divided into three ‘Prime’ and four ‘Specific’ Areas of Learning.
Prime Areas build the foundations for all future learning and are considered vital for the longterm success and happiness of your child. These are titled Personal, Social and Emotional Development; Communication and Language; and Physical Development.
Specific Areas continue the learning process and establish further skills, concepts, knowledge and attitudes. These are identified as Literacy; Mathematics; Understanding of the World; and Expressive Arts and Design. These areas develop early reading and writing skills, mathematical understanding, imagination, music and artistic skills amongst many others.
During The Hive Pre-School years, there is a strong emphasis on development of the Prime Areas of Learning. As your child moves through to Reception, the balance between Prime and Specific Areas will gradually change until an equal balance between all areas is achieved.
There are three Hive Pre-School classrooms that are all located on the ground floor of the The Hive Pre-School building, allowing for easy access to the outdoor areas. Children move between all these areas throughout the day.
Classroom layout, role play, mark making, small world, messy play, sand and water trays.
Crafting, reading area, role play, dining facilities for breakfast and tea.
Indoor climbing frame area, music, large construction, investigation, sensory area, mindfulness, yoga, a space for rest.
We have several self-contained, well-resourced outdoor areas. This outdoor space offers a wonderfully rich, multi-sensory environment that is meaningful, motivating and stimulating for our children. It is a flexible environment that can work in harmony with indoor provision, providing opportunities to extend classroom learning with experiences not available indoors.
Outdoor play gives contact with the real world, enabling children to learn through first hand experiences and to process their thoughts, feelings and ideas. As well as a chance for exploration, the outdoor environment is often an opportunity to work on a much larger scale.
Following our School phonics scheme ‘Supersonic Phonic Friends’ gives children playful, daily repeated experience, exposure and enjoyment of general sound discrimination (environmental sounds, instrumental, sounds and body percussion) and phonological awareness (rhyme and rhythm, alliteration, and oral blending and segmenting.)
In order for the children to be ready for Reception Class, they need to demonstrate that they are able to tune in, listen to, remember and talk about sounds. They need to be skilled in rhythm and rhyme, alliteration and oral blending and segmenting before they start to look at the shapes of letters. When ready, the children can begin their systematic synthetic phonics journey in Reception Class.
Foundation in Phonics 1
General Sound Discrimination
Aspect 1
Aspect 2
Aspect 3
Aspect 4
Environment Sounds
Instrumental Sounds
Body Percussion
Phonological Awareness
Rhythm and Rhyme
Aspect 5 Alliteration
Aspect 6
Aspect 7
Voice Sounds
Oral Blending and Segmentation
The Strands
• Tuning into sounds (auditory discrimination)
• Listening and remembering sounds (auditory memory and sequencing)
• Talking about sounds (developing vocabulary and language comprehension)
The activities offered to the Hive children beyond the curriculum are opportunities for them to achieve and develop confidence and self-esteem through creative, holistic and sporting experiences.
Sport is embedded into the Hive Pre-School day and ranges from swimming and tennis through to yoga and dance. Their weekly swimming lessons take place in our on-site pool and are taught by specialist swimming teachers who develop the children’s water confidence and skills. Tennis lessons are also undertaken by the School’s specialist tennis coach who facilitates fun and engaging games to encourage their enjoyment of the sport. Yoga and dance lessons offer children alternative avenues of self-expression so they can continue to flourish emotionally.
During regular outdoor activities, adventure and nature trips as well as participation in our weekly ‘Forest’ programme, held within the School grounds, children are encouraged to explore, experiment, observe and problem solve. These hands-on learning experiences develop their critical thinking, decision-making and discussion skills whilst enabling them to enjoy adventure and understand the value of nurturing the environment.
Children are exposed to creative and performing arts in the Hive Pre School with the aim of
A
Day in The Hive Pre-School for our ‘Bees’
8.00am Arrival, breakfast and ‘Early Bees’ activities
8.45am All ‘Bees’ arrive and register, choose My Learning and play
9.00am Letters and sounds Stage 1. Phonics learning with a story
9.15am On-site Forest School with ‘Freddie Fox’
10.15am Mid-morning snack. Mathematics and graphics
10.30am Disco Dough or outside learning in the EYFS garden
10.45am Adult-led activity and free flow in the top garden with climbing apparatus and construction
11.45am Circle time. Wash hands for lunch
12.00pm Eat homemade lunch in main Dining Hall
12.30pm Outside learning in the EYFS garden
1.15pm Circle time or rest and relax in the Mindfulness Room
1.30pm Child-led yoga by a specialist teacher
1.45pm Adult-led activity with free flow into the bottom garden for play on the bikes, trikes, tractors and scooters
2.30pm Tennis lesson with internal specialist School coach
3.00pm Circle time
3.30pm ‘Bees’ who are not staying for tea, finish to go home. Those that are staying choose My Learning and play
4.00pm Eat homemade tea in the Hive classrooms
4.30pm ‘Bees’ can be collected from anytime onwards. The ‘Bees’ that stay choose My Learning and play in the Infant Hub
5.30pm Relax and listening time
5.50pm All ‘Bees’ to be collected to go home
6.00pm The Hive closes
As parents you are your child’s first and most enduring educator. A strong partnership between home and School has a positive impact on your child’s development and learning. Research has shown that reading to your child, teaching rhymes and songs, playing with letters and words, playing games, turn taking and encouraging independence are associated with positive benefits for your child.
We value and respect our local community and use it as a resource at every opportunity. Throughout the year we will be visiting places in the locality. We can walk into Clifton Village to visit a wide variety of local businesses, including the travel agents, barbers, cafes, hairdressers and vegetable shops.
We keep detailed records so that we can tailor our provision and inform our planning to fit individual children’s needs, learning styles and interests. You can access any records regarding your child’s development upon request by contacting Mrs Sarah Barker, Head of EYFS sbarker@cliftonhigh.co.uk.
You will have the opportunity to attend two Parents’ Evenings during the course of the year. In addition, you will receive written reports informing you of your child’s progress during the year and at the end of your child’s time in the Hive Pre-School; a full summative report. Should you wish to make an appointment to meet your child’s Class Teachers at any other time, please either speak to them directly or send them an email.
The School’s Medical Team are based near The Hive Pre-School and the nurses are in School every day from 8.30am-5.00pm. All medicines brought into School should be given to your child’s Class Teacher who will hand them to the nurses. Medicines should be clearly labelled with your child’ s name, instructions for administering along with written permission for a School Nurse to administer the medicine. Please also inform your child’s Class Teacher if you have asked a School Nurse to administer medication to your child.
If your child needs the security of a toy in School, they are allowed to bring one to help them settle initially.
Please ensure their toy is labelled with your child’s name. At certain times of the day, the toy is placed to one side or put in their drawer so full focus can be on an activity. The toy is a transition tool and is not expected to be in the Hive Pre-School full time.
We celebrate children’s birthdays with the class. We sing and ensure their day is full of joy!
Our School uniform suppliers, Schoolblazer, retail our Hive Pre-School polo shirt, tracksuit, shorts and summer dress. These items are an expected uniform requirement for term time and annual Hive Pre-School children. Please go to Schoolblazer’s website at www.schoolblazer.com for further details on how to order, or refer to the School’s uniform policy on our website. Please name all clothes, water bottles and waterproofs to avoid confusion and losses. One of our aims is to help children become independent and it helps if they have clothes they can manage themselves. Sensible and well-fitting shoes with Velcro fastenings are much easier than laces or buckles. We also ask that your child has appropriate clothing to access the outdoor area to suit the weather conditions of the time of year – warm clothes in winter and a sun hat and sun lotion in the summer.
We use the outdoor areas whatever the weather and recommend the purchase of a classic waterproof jacket and dungarees from “Raindrops” (www.raindrops.co.uk) to ensure your child is kept dry. Each child should have a pair of wellington boots to keep in School labelled with their name. These items are kept in School throughout the year as we often conduct large-scale waterexperiments even in warm weather!
Children’s progress through the Early Years Foundation Stage is recorded in an electronic learning journal, called ‘Tapestry’ which contains observations of their learning journey. An email will be sent in September to show you how you can activate your child’s Tapestry account and access this record remotely. Tapestry promotes a strong partnership between Clifton High School and parents. You will have immediate access to your child’s learning and can upload your own observations from home. Family members can access it too. The software is very userfriendly and it is simple to upload observations via an app if you have access to a smart phone.
Your child will be working in a literacy-rich environment where books and reading material are shared throughout the day. Our aim is that your child develops a love of books, written material and words. They will enjoy weekly visits to the library and are encouraged to bring their chosen book home to read with you. We ask you to support your child’s developing interest in reading on a regular basis at home.
Our Foundation Stage is inspected by ISI (Independent Schools Inspectorate). Clifton High School received a truly outstanding Full Report in June 2023 and we are very proud of what was observed and reported upon. The full report can be viewed on our website, linked here.
Where possible we will endeavour to send copies of letters and information about events via email in order to reduce the amount of paper consumed. We send regular communications to your email through a platform called Talaxy and a weekly Parent Bulletin is emailed home each Friday. A comprehensive guide to communications at Clifton High School can be found here.
In the event of pupil absence, please notify the School by emailing absence@cliftonhigh.co.uk or telephone the School Office on 0117 973 0201 before 8.30am. The School Office will then contact your child’s Class Teacher to report your child as absent.
