Welcome to Meanwood Preschool. We are a small, unique setting situated in Meanwood’s community hub at the Holy Trinity Community Hall. We provide a happy home-from-home environment with caring and dedicated staff to help your little ones flourish. We help children to build confidence in themselves; to make friends and become independent thinkers, giving them the best start on their learning journey.
Our large outdoor area enables us to access all of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework outdoors; so whatever the weather we can be outdoors enjoying the seasons!
We would love you to come and visit! Please email or ring to arrange a day and time.
Our preschool is run by a team of experienced teaching staff with a passion for nurturing young creative minds. As parents ourselves, we understand the importance of building children’s confidence to become independent thinkers and be ready for big school!
With a high ratio of staff to children we are able to give more time and attention. By focusing on the preschool years, (3-5yrs) we aim to provide a broad and balanced curriculum; which enables learning through structured and free flow play. During this important time in a child’s life, the focus will be on preparing them for their future learning experiences and building happy, positive relationships with friends…as well as having lots of fun on the way!
The inside learning space encourages independence where children have free access to many activities including books, role play, creative materials, construction equipment and tools to develop writing skills.
We have a large, private and secure outdoor area where children can be physically active and learn through contact with nature. We believe being outdoors has a positive impact on children’s sense of well-being and development.
We can accommodate up to 20 children per session, aged from the term the child turns three to five years.
Sessions will run during term-time only, (38 weeks of the year)
and children can attend:
Monday 9:00am – 3.00pm
Tuesday 9:00am – 3:00pm
Wednesday 9:00am – 3:00pm
Thursday 9:00am – 3:00pm
Friday Closed
All children are eligible for 15 hours of funded childcare per week from the term after their third birthday for 38 weeks of the year. We accept the 30 hours funding for parents who are eligible.
If paying for sessions preschool fees are £34.80 per day.
We plan certain activities around topics but are also keen to take the lead from the children. We like to use the interests and passions of the children to plan ‘in the moment’ as well as forward planning around seasons, festivals and life events. We follow the Statutory Framework for the EYFS which is for birth to the end of the Reception year in school. We monitor each child to make sure they are making good progress and any difficulties are identified addressed.
Once children arrive at preschool they are free to choose activities on offer. In the preschool room there is role play, creative materials, construction, mark making equipment, dough, puzzles, a book area and lots more. Other exciting activities we do on a regular basis include: model making, clay work, baking and big art!
During the morning session, the children have ‘snack time’ which consists of a drink of milk/water and fruit. Just before lunchtime we tidy up and sit together for letter of the week, circle and showing time. We sit and eat at tables altogether or picnic in the garden when weather allows.
After packed lunches we begin by having a mindfulness session or story. We use our staff specialisms to enhance the children’s learning experiences and offer various sessions during afternoons; yoga, physical education, phonics, number time and singing. We then get back to play and free choosing time.
We have a fantastic outdoor play area which is safely fenced in and secure and we encourage the children to use the outdoor space as often as the weather allows.
We believe that every child deserves the best possible start in life. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and five have a major impact on their future life. The curriculum we follow is the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (DFES 2017).
Children learn by playing and exploring, being active and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and out. There are four overarching principles from the framework that shapes our practice:
Unique Child
Every child is a unique child who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured
Positive relationships
Children can learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships
Enabling environments
Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers
Learning and development
Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates. The framework covers the education and care of all children in the early years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Within the curriculum there are seven areas of learning and development.
Prime areas:
Communication and language
Physical development
Personal, social and emotional development
Specific areas:
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding the world
Expressive arts and design
We are very keen to get parents involved at Preschool by inviting them to come in and help out whenever they can.
There are a variety of things you could get involved with, such as baking, playing games, reading stories or creative activities. You might have special skills or interests you could share which would enhance what we offer our children.
Your commitment could be for a whole morning or just part of it, and it can be whenever suits you best. We do know that for some parents this is very difficult because of other commitments but the more offers of help we get the better.
Please talk to one of the staff or email us at: hello@meanwoodpreschool.co.uk
If you feel your little one would benefit from joining us or you have any questions please get in touch:
Meanwood Preschool,
Holy Trinity Community Hall,
Memorial Drive,
Meanwood,
Leeds LS6 4LF
Phone number 07535 000084
Email hello@meanwoodpreschool.co.uk
Ofsted Reg. No. EY557771
