Pre-School has a rota for parents (relatives or carers) to help at one or two sessions each half term. This sounds quite daunting, but has proved a really successful way for parents to see their child at play and watch their social development. Most parents find their involvement very rewarding and enjoy being involved in the daily fun of Pre-School. And most children are very excited when it is their parent or carer making the snack. If your child does seem unsettled by the novelty of having you in Pre-School please don't hesistate to give them all the attention they need.

First an on-line rota is added to the link below:
http://doodle.com/uxdfcabtddkkirh6
It enables parents to choose a suitable date in advance of the paper copy being placed on the noticeboard in the quiet room.
Emma Nadin helps to run the process smoothly so please speak to her if you're having problems with dates or using the on-line rota system.

When you are the parent help for the first time the staff will guide you through what to do. You need to arrive with your child a little earlier than usual (around 9am) to help set up the day's activities and equipment and then make the staff (and yourself) a drink. Please be aware that unfortunately due to health and safety reasons it is not possible for your child to join you in the kitchen whilst you are preparing the drinks/snack. At 9.15am the session starts by taking the register followed by different activities – please feel free to get involved yourself for a short time. At about 9.30am it's a good time to start preparing the breadsticks, apple, drinks and to prepare the snack table. At 10am the rolling snack begins for approximately 40 minutes. Children can come and sit down at any point during that time for their snack. It's a great chance to have a chat with them all.

Once the children have finished their snack it's your job then to clear away the plates etc, wash/dry up and clean all the surfaces including the snack table. After this you can join everyone upstairs and see at first hand what activities the children do - you can get involved yourself perhaps by helping to write names on paintings, change aprons or maybe read stories! The activity session will finish about 12am. It would be great if you could help the staff tidy away the activities and wash any paint/glue pots that may have been used.

We hope you enjoy your experience as parent help. A detailed copy of the Parent Help Information Sheet can be found downstairs in the kitchen or is available from the Parent Help Rota committee member.