OPENING TIMES
We are open Monday to Friday for 38 weeks of the year during term time. The Pre-School is sessional and every morning and afternoon session runs for 3 hours. A 30 minute daily Lunch Club is also available for children to attend. Please note that any child attending a full day must also attend Lunch Club. Any combination of attendance can be requested as shown below:
| Session Times | Price |
| Morning Session: 9.00am – 12.00pm | £21.00 |
| Lunch Club (Packed Lunch): 12.00pm – 12.30pm | £3.75 |
| Afternoon Session: 12.30pm – 3.30pm | £21.00 |
| Full Day: 9.00am – 3.30pm with packed lunch | £45.75 |
For details of the specific term dates please visit the ‘Term Dates‘ page
TYPICAL SESSION
Whilst we have a daily routine, we like to remain flexible and regularly adapt a session to suit the needs of the children and to make the most of unplanned opportunities. A typical day, however, will be based on the time-table below.
09:00 – 09:15
Morning Session begins. Parents and children arrive and are welcomed to the setting. Any special notes about children are written down and staff will be available to talk briefly with parents.
09:15 – 09:25
Children and staff gather for registration.
09:25 – 11:40
Free play. The children are encouraged to explore the facilities available to them and are able to select their own toys to play with. A different adult led activity (linked to the 7 areas of learning) will be planned and made available each day. The outdoor play area is accessible every day, except when the weather is bad. The children are allowed to come and go as they please. During this time the snack bar will be open, small groups of children sit round a table with a member of staff and are offered a drink of milk or water and a variety of snacks.
11:40 – 11:50
Tidy up time. We encourage everybody to help tidy toys away.
11:50 – 12:00
Circle time. All staff and children come together at the end of the session to share an activity. This might be singing, story time, playing with instruments, learning the days of the week or discussion about the day. We also celebrate birthdays.
12:00
Home time. Parents come to collect the children.
12:00 – 12:30
Lunch club children wash their hands and sit down together at the table to eat the packed lunch they have brought in or the freshly prepared hot lunch and pudding option. This is an opportunity for social and communication development.
12:30
Lunch club children are collected.
12.30 – 15.30
The schedule is repeated for the afternoon session.
FOREST SCHOOL
At Knaphill Pre-School we are very fortunate to have access to a lovely area of woodland that is located on our grounds. In 2017 we decided that it would be of real benefit to provide a whole new dimension of learning by taking advantage of our outside space, so we set about becoming Forest School accredited! Our Forest School leaders had specialist training to ensure that that our outdoor learning is delivered in a safe and controlled environment, and we now offer Forest School activities to all of our children (at no extra cost) as part of our standard curriculum.
Forest School is an outdoor educational approach, encouraging learning from regular, positive experiences in the outdoor environment. Children are actively encouraged to be independent, self-regulated and self-aware, enabling them to develop connections with the natural world, whilst respecting both the environment, their peers, practitioners and themselves. Forest School learning also encourages development of risk taking and problem solving whilst developing confidence and self-esteem. During Forest School sessions’ all areas of the Early Years Curriculum will be explored and observations will be made and linked to the curriculum.
When you join we will share our Forest School Handbook which explains how we embrace Forest School learning – the handbook lists all of our policies and procedures as well as providing detail about what equipment is required, how risk, health & safety is managed, and how we look after and respect the natural environment. Visit our Gallery where you can see our Forest School in action!
LUNCH CLUB
At Knaphill Pre-School we believe it is important to provide children with positive healthy eating experiences in order to promote their health and well-being. To support this, we will will provide a healthy snack for all children during each morning and afternoon session at no extra charge.
We operate a daily Lunch Club from 12pm to 12.30pm at a cost of £3.75. Unlike many other settings, we allow you to use your Funded Entitlement to cover the full costs of these sessions if that is your preference! The following arrangements apply for Lunch Club:
- Parents are asked to provide lunch for their child if the child is booked to attend.
- We encourage parents to provide healthy lunches.
- Lunch boxes must be labelled with the child’s name and placed on the lunch trolley.
- No lunch time food will be cooked or heated on the premises and only cold food from home can be brought in i.e. sandwiches with a healthy filling, fruit, and deserts such as yoghurt.
We ensure that staff sit with the children to eat their lunch so that these times are a social occasion in which children and staff can participate. In order to protect children with food allergies, we discourage children from sharing and swapping their food with one another.
