King William Playgroup

Welcome to King William Playgroup, we are a small charity run playgroup based in Old Town, founded in 1990. We welcome all families from the surrounding areas to join us and provide a safe, friendly environment for children aged 3-4 years old to gain all the skills they need to grow and develop.

About us

We pride ourselves on developing each individual child, providing potential to grow through curiosity, exploration, and fun.

We believe that children learn better when they are given the opportunity to be confident, independent, and creative.

Our “in the moment” approach gives the children the freedom to move freely between environments, choosing to play both inside and outdoors allowing more independence in their development.

We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage guidance and provide a play-based curriculum to suit each child and their individual needs.

We believe all children must have the opportunity to grow, develop and learn. We value open communication with all our families and feel that working in partnership with parents provides the best possible experiences and outcomes for all children throughout their journey with us.

Useful information

From September 2024 we will be charging £6.25 for an hour's breakfast club, Monday - Friday (term time only).

We will open from 8:00am-9:00am for this.

We will continue to open 9:00am-3:00pm for all other children (term time only).

This can be accessed as a whole day 9.00am-3.00pm or either 9.00am – 12.00 pm or 12.00pm –3.00pm

King William Playgroup Policies:

All Polices are available upon request, If you would like to see any of our Policies, please email us and we will send it to you directly.

We are always happy to welcome you and your children into our playgroup. Please press the Join Us button, fill in the application form below and we will contact you soon! Or you can download the application to join, fill it in and bring to our playgroup

Join us

Your Child’s journey with us starts here

Once your child has received notification of a space, you will receive and email inviting you for an Induction/Visit

This visit is extremely important for both us and your child. We will talk with you to gather vital information about you and your family to support a smooth transition into playgroup. This visit will also give you an opportunity to meet the staff and your child’s Key Worker as well as familiarising your child with their new environment. Extra settling in visits can be arranged at this point for you and your child if you wish.

We will work with you to settle your child on their first day to ensure they are happy to start their journey with us.

Sickness

If your child is unwell, please inform us by email:

kingwilliamplaygroup@outlook.com or call 01793527678.

If they have sickness or diarrhoea your child must stay at home for 48 hours after their last bout.

Funding

All children are entitled to 15 hours of government funding the term after their 3 rd birthday spread over 38 weeks per academic year.

We do offer the opportunity for your child to start once they have turned 3 years old prior to their funding starting, you can choose up to 15 hours and we charge £5 per hour. Once funded we claim the funding on your behalf.

Some families are eligible for 30-hour funding, this is usually if both parents work a minimum of 16 hours per week - to see if you are entitled, check out the Childcare Choices website

It is possible for you to share funding over two settings/childminder

Sundries

As we are a Charity, we do ask families for a contribution of 60p per day sundries fee which includes:

Healthy snacks & drinks morning and afternoon, hand wash, toilet roll, paper towels, stationary, arts & crafts, paint, cooking ingredients, nappies, baby wipes, topic/theme resources, kitchen roll, cleaning products.

This fee is invoiced every half term.

Staff

We are proud of the team that we have here at King William Playgroup. We have dedicated, experienced staff some of which have been here for more than 10 years.

Teresa Smith – Manager – NVQ Level 4 – DSL

Sharon Woods – Deputy Manager; SENCO - Diploma Level 3 – DDSL

Tracey McGunigall – NQV Level 3 – Health; Safety Officer

Helen Frijia – BA Honours PGCE Primary

Hayley Richards – Diploma Level 3

Hannah Murphy – Childcare Practitioner

Eileen Martin – NVQ Level 3

Hannah Murphy – Administrator

We use Tapestry to document your child’s learning journey. Tapestry is an app that you download, you can view your child’s observations and upload your own. Once you have completed your permission form, you will receive an email inviting you to create an account.

It is vital that you create your account as we also use Tapestry to communicate information, important dates and events that your child will be involved in.

We have a closed Facebook page that you can request to join. We use this to communicate important dates, to show activities and the set up of the room for the week ahead.

Committee

Our playgroup is a Charity managed by a parent/volunteer led Committee where all members are elected at our AGM. The committee meet as a group every half term to discuss and arrange events and celebrations for playgroup. We also discuss finances, budgets, and projects on our wish list and how best to fundraise.

We do ask is that you complete a DBS form and EY2 via Ofsted. The roles and responsibilities are varied, whatever experience you have will make a huge impact on supporting your child’s learning as well as supporting our preschool community.