Author: Administrator

Welcome to Rising Stars

Dear Parents
As your child will soon be attending some of our ‘Rising Stars’ sessions we would like to give you a bit more information about how they differ from other sessions and how learning will be extended over the course of the year, to gradually help prepare the children for their next move, onto Infant school. Over the next year our Rising Stars sessions are on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.
The Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum specifies that at least three quarters of each session should be ‘free play’, where children have access to a variety of toys and activities, but have the freedom to make their own choices about what they want to do. The final quarter of the session can involve adult directed activities, but these include things like lunch time and story time.
As with all other sessions, the majority of Rising Stars sessions will still be ‘free play’, but we do include short group time activities throughout the session, to allow us to spend more time engaging the children in activities such as phonics and number work, ready for school.

Preparing for Infant School
We work closely with Ditton Infant School in particular, as they are our main feeder school, but do meet with other schools as well, to agree the best way to prepare children for school. The majority of schools tell us that social skills are still the most important thing for us to work on. If a child is able to sit still, take turns to speak and listen, follow instructions, have the confidence to give their opinion and speak in front of a group; then they are likely to settle more quickly and flourish in a classroom environment. Ideally children all need to be completely day time toilet trained before they go to school and able to manage their own hygiene, as well as being able to dress and undress independently or with minimal help.
Some schools have higher expectations than others and these are questions you may want to ask when you are selecting the right school for your child. At Ditton Church Pre-School we work hard to prepare all children for school, but it is important to remember that all children develop at different rates and that at Pre- School we can only cover the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum and not beyond. Please also bear in mind the difference in age of children when they start school. Infant schools only have one intake now, so there can be almost a year’s difference in age within a class. This is something the Reception class teachers will be aware of, so don’t worry!

Each July we have a Leavers Service in St Peters Church. Parents and carers are invited to this very special event where we say goodbye to the children and wish them lots of happiness at their new schools.
You will be given your child’s Learning Journey Folder when they leave. We will ask your permission to share your child’s final progress report with their new school.

Applying for your child’s school place
Please be aware that this is totally the responsibility of the parents, not the Pre School! We would advise that you visit your local schools and ask questions and make your own judgments before completing the application form. Application forms are usually completed online, between the months of November and January. You will be asked to list three or four schools, in order of preference and will be notified sometime in the spring which school your child has been offered. Places are allocated by the local education authority, not by the schools. We will remind you when it is time to apply and ask that you let your child’s key person know which schools you have listed and confirm with us where they are going once you have confirmation.

All Reception teachers are invited to visit the children in Pre School before they leave us. This gives the children the opportunity to meet their new teacher, whilst they are in a familiar environment, with their key person there for support. It also gives the key person the opportunity to share any relevant information with the teacher, which will make the transition as smooth as possible for the child.
As the majority of our children tend to go to Ditton Infant school; they do invite us to take the children for a visit during the summer term. You will be invited to take your child for other visits, but it is important to remember that these arrangements are made between the school and the parents and Pre-School staff are unable to take or collect from these visits. If your child is going to a school other than Ditton Infants, the school should contact you directly to arrange a visit.

Activities at Rising Stars
The following pages give some information about the sort of activities that we cover at Rising Stars and a few tips on how you can support your child’s learning at home. It might be helpful to discuss these with your child and please do let their key person know if there is anything they are concerned about.

Lining up outside:
At Rising Stars, instead of parents coming into the hall with their child at the beginning of the session; a member of staff will ring a bell outside the front door and the children will be asked to kiss their parents goodbye outside and line up ready to come in on their own. Again, this is to prepare them for expectations at school. Please do not feel that you cannot come in to speak to staff though – if you need to speak with us just let the member of staff at the door know and follow the children in! If your child is new to the setting this term and needs you to come in with them to begin with, this is fine as well.

Lunch:
The first difference between a Rising Stars session and any other session is that children bring a packed lunch with them. Children find their name at the table and sit with their key person (or buddy) and a small group of other children. We start with our lunch time prayer and then children are encouraged to eat their savouries first. We ask that packed lunches promote healthy eating and do not include sweets. No items containing nuts must be sent in, due to possible allergies. Please also include a drink (not fizzy). Although staff will be on hand to help, it would be a good idea to let them practice opening and closing their lunch box at home, to help them feel more independent. We know that some schools do not allow the ‘tube’type yogurts; instead children take a tub yogurt and a spoon. Packaging should be as easy as possible; children struggle with sandwiches wrapped in cling film for instance, but find foil easier to manage. Please ensure that lunch boxes are named clearly on the outside of the box.

Our lunch time prayer is:
Thank you for the world so sweet
Thank you for the food we eat
Thank you for the birds that sing
Thank you God for everything
Amen

Good afternoon time:
At some time during the session the children and staff will come together in groups for ‘Good Afternoon Time’. The children sit in a circle, as they would in the school classroom and one member of staff will lead the session while other staff sit with the children to encourage them to speak and listen. This group time will be kept very short at the beginning of the year and extended slightly as time goes on and the children are able to concentrate for longer periods of time. During ‘Good Afternoon Time’ we talk about the days of the week, months of the year, seasons and weather and we spend some time counting and learning the phonics.

Literacy
Phonological Awareness is…
the ability to listen and recognise different sounds and patterns in language.
There is evidence …
to suggest that a child’s skill in phonological awareness when starting school determines how well he or she will learn to read.

Help your child to listen to sound by….
Playing ‘Sound Lotto’
and
singing ‘Old Macdonald Had a Farm’
Sing this song and encourage your child to join in with the animal sounds. Show them pictures of the animals when you make the sounds. Can they point to the right picture when you make the sound?!

and
playing ‘Butterflies and Elephants’
Make a sound like shaking a tambourine and let your child run like a butterfly. Then make a different sound like banging a tambourine and let your child stamp like an elephant.

Help your child move to sound by…
Playing
‘Musical Statues’
Play a musical instrument or some music. Your child moves around and freezes when the music stops. You can make the periods of silence between sounds longer and longer so it becomes more and more difficult for your child to stay still.

and
‘Vice Versa’
Try playing musical statues with your child moving around when there is no sound, and stopping when the music is playing.
a

and
encourage your child to try dancing/moving to different types of music. You can provide lengths of ribbon or scarves for the children to use while they are dancing.

Help your child to listen to rhyme and alliteration by…
Reading together
There are many rhyming story books and exposure to a wide variety of these books is helpful e.g. The Gingerbread Man, Each Peach Pear Plum, Duck in a Truck, Chicken Licken

and
Playing Rhyming pairs
How about making up some rhyming couplets with your child:
I like rice – it’s very nice
I like fish – on a dish
I like jelly – it wobbles in my belly
You can encourage your child to add some actions to the rhymes.

Hickory dickory dock
You can sing the song and encourage your child to find a rhyme for the number of times the clock is struck. For example “the clock struck two, the mouse went… boo”, “the clock struck three, the mouse went… whee.”

(These ideas are taken from ‘Jolly Jellyfish jumps into literacy’ produced by Lincolnshire County Council.)

Phonics and hand writing skills:
Before children are ready to manage pencil control they need to build up the muscles in their hand and wrist and develop their fine motor skills. This is why; at Pre School you will often find items like tweezers included with other resources, as they help children practice using the pincer movement. Other items such as water spray bottles can help in the same way.
When your child is ready to start holding a pencil it can be useful to start with a short pencil and rubber supports can be purchased from most stationers if extra support is required to help them hold it correctly. When your child reaches the stage that they are ready to start forming letter shapes it is important to encourage them to always start at the top of each letter and to use lower case letters.

Library
After Christmas your child will be given a library bag (which must be returned to Pre-School when they leave). You will be told which day is your child’s ‘library day’ and asked to send the bag in on that day. We set up our own lending library and your child can choose a book to bring home for the week and read with you. The book must be returned the following week in the bag, so the child can choose a new book. Each book is numbered, so we know which book the child has borrowed and we encourage the children to look at the numbers when they select their book and tell us if they know what they are. The child is also asked to ‘write’ their name in our library book and use a stamper to mark the date. It does not matter if the child cannot write their name, they will be supported appropriately by their key person at whatever level is suitable for them.

Number work:
As a rough guide, it is advisable to try and help your child learn to count up to twenty and recognise written numerals up to ten before they start school. Obviously, this is covered in many ways during their time at Pre-School and some children will be able to count beyond twenty and recognise numbers in double digits, but this is not a necessity at this stage. When counting it is advisable to ask your child to point to each item in turn as they count, to ensure they are actually counting the objects and not just reciting the numbers! We use many mathematical games at Pre-School to make learning fun. One of the children’s favourites is bingo, where we use numbers or letters to encourage matching and recognition .

Story time:
We encourage audience participation at story time in Rising Stars! Children are invited to take turns to stand at the front and act out the story using props, or to hold puppets or join in with repetitive refrains and using different voices for different characters. This is a fun way of building their self confidence in speaking in front of a group, but children are not made to do anything they feel uncomfortable with.

News time:
We encourage children to participate in ‘news time’. Children will sit with their key person or buddy, in a small group and take it in turns to share some news with the rest of the group. This may be something they did at the weekend or a family event or holiday. Children can bring items to show, to support their news, but we encourage parents to only send in items their child can talk about. The children will be given an item to hold when it is their turn to talk and taught that if they are not holding the item then they must keep quiet and listen to the speaker.

P.E.
P.E. sessions will be gradually introduced over the year. Later in the year you will be asked to send in a P.E. kit in a P.E. bag on certain days during the term. P.E. not only encourages physical development and social skills, but is also used to help the children learning to dress and undress independently, as they will be expected to do at school. Often more time is spent on getting ready than the activity itself! In the summer we have an annual Rising Stars Sports Day which is held on the church green, parents, families and carers are encouraged to come along and watch.

We very much hope that your children will enjoy the coming year at Pre-School and that we can support each individual child in preparing for the next year ahead. Please remember that if you have any questions or concerns, you are welcome to come in and speak with us at any time. You are also welcome to ‘stay and play’ during a session, to see what your child gets up to, but unfortunately we are unable to accommodate younger siblings as well.
We will keep you informed of upcoming events over the year and attached you will find a diary of particular activities that will take place during Rising Stars over the next term. Please make sure, as the year progresses that your child always comes with anything they need, such as named PE kits, library bag and book and items for news time. I hope the above information has been useful to you, but do not hesitate to ask if you have any further questions.
Wendy Caldicott
Pre-School Supervisor

Church Centre, New Road, Ditton, Aylesford, Kent. ME20 6AE
Pre-school Mobile: 07845-921621
Pre-school Email Address:
info@dittonchurchpreschool.org
Pre School Administrator Email Address:
office@dittonchurchpreschool.org
Ofsted Number 127147
Registered Charity Number: 1139117
Website: Dittonchurchpreschool.org

#

#