Welcome
East Leake Pre-School Playgroup, a committee run charity, operates in the Old School building adjacent to Brookside Primary School. We operate two age-streamed playrooms, the Playful Penguins and the Fabulous Flamingos and offer 35 places per session for local children aged between two and four.
We have a private, secure outdoor play area which we use every day offering lots of outside resources and fun. We are open term-time only and offer a mix of morning, afternoon and full-day sessions.
The fun that happens at Playgroup...
Here at Playgroup we love the chance to go out and visit our community!
Prior to COVID, the children made weekly visits to the local Residential home which built relationships and supported the elderly. The children enjoyed meeting new people and their confidence grew!
Unfortunately we cannot continue our weekly visits but we still have great connections with the residents by using the power of video links. The children enjoy creating wonderful artwork for them which brings a smile to their faces.
We have local visits to the Fire Station in East Leake.
The children meet the Fire fighters, listen to stories, take a look at what is inside a Fire engine and even get to sit inside one! There is usually one member of staff that has the exciting task to get dressed up in their uniform.
The children absolutely love this experience and it teaches them about Fire safety.
We send a huge thank you to the local Fire Station for taking their time to have us join them and all the hard work they do within the community.
We are very lucky to have the local Police come to visit the setting.
The children learn about the people who work in their community and who are responsible for looking after them and protecting them; how they contact those special people when they need their help, including dialling 999 in an emergency, what uniform they wear and the vehicle’s that they drive! If the children are lucky enough, they get to sit inside the Police van and hear the noisy sirens.
These visits and learning link to Understanding the world and People and communities.
All the children thoroughly enjoy the experience and on behalf of everyone at East Leake Preschool Playgroup, we would like to extend a massive thank you to the Police Force and PCSO Kelly for taking part in these visits.
Occasionally we enjoy food tasting sessions with the children. It encourages them to taste new food and recognise that sometimes we need to try a new food to find out if we like it.
Every now and then we have a tray full of different ingredients, equipment and foods from a specific culture and link them to celebrations such as Chinese New Year, Harvest Festival and events happening in and around the community. We also join food tasting to a children’s book called ‘Handa’s surprise‘.
Children can feel, touch, look at, taste and smell the foods to explore with their senses. They discuss what they think it is, what it tastes like and whether they like it or not.
The children also get the chance to buy their own yummy treat when the ice cream truck comes to visit!
Personal, social and emotional development (PSED) is one of the prime areas of learning.
To build emotional resilience we need to support and enable children to:
· Build relationships with adults and peers
· Develop independence and self-help skills
· Learn to identify, express and manage their feelings and emotions
· Build their confidence through challenge and play
Committee
Playgroup is a charity which is run by a fantastic committee of parent volunteers.
Funding
We accept funding for 2 - 5 year old children
Fundraising
We rely on fundraising activites, grants, donations and sponsorships to help buy new resources for the children.