Little Meadow Group

Whilst our sessions follow a plan, this is very fluid from day to day allowing the staff to adjust and adapt to meet the evolving needs of the children on each particular day.

The three prime areas of development are seamlessly intertwined to all we provide in order to capitalize on every opportunity to develop the children through their play and with them in control.

Each afternoon the children will experience the following activities interjected with activities that follow their lead:

• Registration - initially this will be done whilst playing. By the summer the children are largely sitting on          the carpet and responding to their name.

• Free play - Staff and children will jointly agree on activities to be brought out. Painting. Playdough,               craft, water and sand are out at every session.
• Snack time
• Group play - This may be outdoors, music and movement or circle time.
• Singing/story time
• Going home time- The children have a set routine for this that carries through into rising 5’s.

Rising three’s will have a charge of £15.00 per session and a registration charge of £15.00, this covers the cost of setting up all the records and registrations along with the provision of book bags in both Rising 3’s and Rising 5’s.

Once your child becomes entitled to nursery funding, any funding shortfall with Little Meadow is payable at £6.00 an hour, or £15.00 per session, in line with our Financial Agreement.

The government also operate a funding scheme for Achieving 2’s which has an assessment criterion. For further details please refer to the Family Information website at www.glosfamiliesdirectory.org.uk.

The term after your child’s 3rd birthday you will be able to access the universal 15 hours a week free childcare and this is administered by the setting and in some cases you may also be entitled to claim a further 15 hours extended funding. Please see our fees and funding page or click here for further information.

Places can be paid for using a large number of company voucher scheme’s, please contact the office for further details.

Alternatively you can complete and return an Expression of Interest form from this site and either post it, email or bring it in to the office. You will then shortly after receive a letter from us confirming receipt and advising of the admissions process. We will keep in touch with you every step of the way.

During session and at snack the children help themselves to a choice of Milk and water. For those children that enjoy milk but due to dietary needs drinks alternative milk substitutes, the setting are happy to provide these. Snack time is a social occasion for the children to rehearse good eating habits whilst sat with peers. Snacks are provided and are often chosen by the Rising 5 children. One week they could be accessing a certain number of grapes and cheese from bowls to work out a total, another week practicing using a knife to spread a particular shaped cracker and another filling a pitta bread with salad grown in our garden. All the children are encouraged to try everything in order to develop a healthy attitude to food.

At Little Meadow we do engage in some very messy activities and would hate any child to be prevented from accessing all that is on offer for fear of spoiling their clothes. For this reason a uniform is available but not compulsory. Uniform can be purchased from the setting office and is a lovely introduction to the children of wearing certain clothes at certain times.