Job Vacancies:

We are hiring Pre-school assistant (Bank Staff) Please see the job description Here

 

To avoid disappointment please **Register now**… sessions are snapped up fast here at CAPS, we have less than 10 spaces left for September 2023!! Please find more information on how to secure your child’s place here: Enrolment & Admissions
Like many Pre-schools, we are a charity (Registered Charity Number 1174604).  Our brilliant staff are employees, most of whom have been with us for many years, and parent volunteer trustees form our Management Committee.

Registered with Ofsted, the Charity Commission and the Early Years Alliance; we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) guidance and work closely with West Berkshire Council Early Years Services to provide the best possible care to our little people.

 

Our Ethos

Our staff and committee are highly committed to ensuring each child is safe, secure, making happy memories and at the heart of everything we do.

Our goals are for every child to:

  • Enjoy Pre-school and have made many happy memories
  • Make the best possible progress with us
  • Grow to love learning and have more confidence; making friends and taking part
  • Be ready for primary school upon leaving

Setting Outstanding Standards

Ofsted Outstanding Provider logo - Elmscot Group Nurseries & Nursery Schools 

We are very proud to be considered “Outstanding” providers by Ofsted in our most recent (2019) inspection.  We were also found to be ‘Outstanding’ in 2015 too, and ‘Good’ before that.  We continue working hard to maintain our high standards.  Please ‘click’ to a link to Ofsted for our latest inspection.

If you would like to contact Ofsted, they welcome parent input and feedback.   Link to us | Ofsted Parent View

Why are we a great Pre-school?

Outdoor learning

Our children are outdoors as often as possible – unless the weather is really against us, we are outside everyday!  The benefits to being outside are endless, but here are the top five reasons according to early years experts:

Encourages an Active Lifestyle

Children who learn to play outdoors are much more likely to continue to enjoy outdoor activities such as walking, running and cycling as they get older. Given the number of gadgets and new technology available to us all, outdoor play is an extremely important factor in combating an increasingly sedentary lifestyle.

Appreciation of Nature and the Environment

Learning in an outdoor environment allows children to interact with the elements around us and helps them to gain an understanding of the world we live in. They can experience animals in their own surroundings and learn about their habitats and lifecycles.

Develops Social Skills

Indoor spaces can often feel overcrowded to children and naturally, they may feel intimated in this type of environment. More space outdoors can help children to join in and ‘come out of their shells’. Giving children outdoor learning experiences offers them a chance to talk about what they have done with their friends, teachers and parents.

Encourages Independence

The extra space offered by being outdoors will give children the sense of freedom to make discoveries by themselves. They can develop their own ideas or create games and activities to take part in with their friends without feeling like they’re being directly supervised. They’ll begin to understand what they can do by themselves and develop a ‘can do‘ attitude, which will act as a solid foundation for future learning.

Understanding Risk

Being outdoors provides children with more opportunities to experience risk-taking.  They have the chance to take part in tasks on a much bigger scale and complete them in ways they might not when they’re indoors.  They can learn to make calculated decisions such as ‘should I jump off this log?’ or ‘can I climb this tree?’

Our brilliant staff

All of our early years staff are well qualified and highly experienced in all aspects of early years provision.   Our team are dedicated and very hard-working; they……

  • Work with the children all day every day,  following their interests and enabling them to learn through play, without them knowing
  • Write consistent, focused and efficient observations, demonstrating how each child is developing through their learning journey
  • Track and monitor each child’s progress against the set EYFS recommendations
  • Focus on school readiness for the older cohort
  • Invite parent involvement though Tapestry, catch-ups and meetings

Our administrator is a former parent, and has a wealth of experience and knowledge.  The management committee is made up of volunteer parents who have children that attend Pre-school; they are fully committed to helping provide the best care for your, and their own, children.

Community involvement

If your child attends CAPS you, as a parent/carer, automatically become a member of the Pre-school community… whether you wish to join the committee and have a say in the management, or would like to help with fundraising and events – or perhaps volunteer during sessions with reading or ‘Topic Talks’ (about your hobbies or profession)… all input is welcome.  Simply contact the committee on [email protected]

We would love to become more involved in the local community… inviting sports/crafts/hobby groups in to give us demonstrations, or visiting other local charities and organisations.  If you are involved in a group and might like to work with or visit us, please do get in touch.

Professional partnerships and associations

To ensure we maintain our high standards and  keep up with all new relevant research, developments and legislation, we work closely with several external professional bodies regarding all elements of early years provision: safeguarding, staff training and development, charity best practice, health and safety, SEN/PEP/LAC, child development of course, and much more.

West Berkshire Council - Free resources available to West Berkshire  businesses - Information          Ofsted - Cholsey Primary School          Download Member Of EY Alliance logo | early years alliance        The Charity Commission - GOV.UK         

For full details on how to join CAPS please visit our Enrolment page.  Check out our  Facebook Page.