Stone with Woodford Playgroup

We are a long established, community based playgroup operating for over 50 years from our community village hall in a rural area in Gloucestershire by the South Gloucestershire border.

We provide early years education for children aged from 2 years to 4 years old for 39 weeks of the years and are open on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 9am to 2.30pm.

The number of children on our roll ranges between 15 to 22.

We have an experienced Playgroup Manager, who had been with the setting for over 20 years and two other members of staff who have been involved with the setting for a long time by having children attend the setting and/or being part of the management committee.

We are run by a Voluntary Management Committee that includes parents and a community representative. The committee has positive relationship and support all staff.

We are members of PATA UK a voluntary sector provider of support to early years childcare and education in Gloucestershire.

We offer funded places and accept nursery education funding and tax free childcare with the only charge being for hours not covered by funding. The majority of our children are now funded.

As a rural setting, we serve families from our local village and the surrounding countryside in Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire, some of which need to travel by car to the setting due to limited public transport.

Our location within a shared village hall means we work collaboratively within a community space and adapt the environment daily to create a safe, stimulating learning environment. As a result we refer to ourselves as a flat pack setting.

We have strong links with our local school and arrange for the preschool children to visit the school and meet the reception teacher up to 6 times in the year.

Strong relationships and 2 way communication with families is central to our setting.

We provide a safe and nurturing environment with a variety of planned, adult and child initiated activities, in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage framework, that support early development, including creative play, outdoor exploration, storytelling and social interaction. Our sessions encourage children to build confidence and independence, make friends and develop key skills through play based learning.

Opportunities are provided both indoors and outdoors, enabling children to explore, investigate and develop key skills across all areas of learning with an emphasis on the prime areas of learning: personal, social, & emotional development, communication & language & physical development.

We are dedicated to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion, ensuring all children feel valued and able to thrive.

The playgroup is committed to inclusive practice and supports children with a range of needs, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those requiring additional support with communication and language. Practitioners work closely with parents/ carers and external agencies, where appropriate, to ensure all children are supported to make good progress from their starting points.