Monday to Friday
Usually, 9.30am to 12.15pm – we are currently staggering start and finish times to minimise the number of people on-site at any one time.
Term-Time Only
Age group: From the age of two, children can be left with qualified experienced staff to enjoy a range of play opportunities.
Each child has their own key workers to ensure that they reach their full potential.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have changed usual our start and finish times to minimise the numbers of people on-site at any one time. We’ll let you know your start time and finish time for your child.
Fees
| Playgroup 9.30am to 12.15pm | £8 per session |
| Playgroup 9.30am to 12.15pm Funded Places* | Free |
* You may be eligible for a funded place – please see the information about Support with Childcare Costs further down this page.
Unless you arrange otherwise, we’ll send a bill to your email address each week and this is payable upon receipt.
Payment should be made by BACS (bank transfer) if possible.
Our bank details are:
Station House Community Association
Santander
Sort Code: 09-01-51
Account Number: 65213280
We accept all childcare vouchers and you may be eligible with financial support via your tax credits.
Support with the cost of childcare
Don’t underestimate how generous the Government’s Tax-Free Childcare scheme is.
You can get up to £500 every 3 months (up to £2,000 a year) for each of your children to help with the costs of childcare. This goes up to £1,000 every 3 months if a child is disabled (up to £4,000 a year).
If you get Tax-Free Childcare, you’ll set up an online childcare account for your child. For every £8 you pay into this account, the government will pay in £2 to use to pay your provider.
You can get Tax-Free Childcare at the same time as 30 hours free childcare if you’re eligible for both – fabulous!
There are lots of different
The Childcare Choices website can help you check what childcare support is available to you.
Registration
If you’ve not already registered your child for Playgroup, you can do that by clicking the button below.
Holidays and Cancellations
You have to pay for every session unless you book holidays and give us 5 days notice.
You must inform us as soon as possible if you need to cancel the session you have booked. Cancellations with less than 5 working days notice are charged at full cost. If you need to cancel, please:
- Call us on 01709 880682
- Email us at childcare@shouse.org.uk
- Send us a private message on Facebook via our Station House page only.
Please DO NOT contact our staff members via their personal social media profiles, personal text or when you’re in the Home Bargains queue (it does happen!) – we can’t guarantee that they’ll remember to pass the message on.
Getting ready for Playgroup
Due to Covid-19 we have had to change some of the things we did before. We need to minimise the amount of time parents are on site to comply with government guidelines and to help stop the spread of the infection.
To help you and your child make the most of Playgroup there are a few things you need to know and can do to make your child’s time as happy as possible.
- Do not arrive too early for your session. Due to Covid 19 measures, parents are not allowed to enter the building. Please leave the site promptly after dropping off or picking up your child.
- Please queue up outside the double doors leaving 2 metres between you and the next person.
- Please do not bring your child into playgroup eating and drinking. We have breakfast early in the session so they won’t be thirsty or hungry.
- Ensure that your child has suitable outdoor clothing for the time of year and weather – jackets, hats and appropriate footwear.
- We love outdoor play and we can get messy – no ‘best’ clothes please.
- Hats are essential almost all year round – please provide your child with a sun hat for the summer and warm one in the cooler months.
- We sometimes go on a group walk or need to walk to get to an activity. When we do, to keep children safe on the walk we ask them to wear a hi-vis jacket. We provide this and it’s really important that they wear this for their own safety, so please remind your child that this will happen.
- We kindly ask that children DO NOT bring their own toys to Station House – to avoid upset these must be kept at home.
- At the end of the session please wait until a member of the team come to hand over your child. If we are still playing outside, please resist the urge to get your child’s attention. We know that its lovely to see them play but this can cause upset or excitement, which inevitably leads to a crying group of toddlers!
- Children often get an upset tummy and where children are in very close contact this can be spread like wildfire. It’s not nice for anyone so to minimise the risk of it spreading please do not bring your child in until 48 hours has passed from the last time they were sick or had the runs. When a child in playgroup is sick or has a runny bottom we will immediately ring you and you need to collect them straight away.
- We operate a strict no-smoking/no-vaping policy. Please do not smoke or vape in our grounds.
A typical Playgroup session
| 9.30am | Drop-off and breakfast |
| 10am | Free play |
| 11.30am | Everyone washes their hands and has something to eat and drink. This might be a sausage roll or sandwich, and if it’s a birthday sometimes there is a cake. Then it is time for singing and stories. |
| 12.15pm | Pick-up time – collect your child from the purple double-doors. This is also an opportunity to find out what they have been up to that day. Parents/carers again will queue up outside where a member of staff will bring out their children to them. Please respect our queueing system remembering that other adults may feel anxious. If you do need to collect your child early please tell us when you drop them off, or if it’s a last-minute thing ring ahead so we can get your child ready and make the leaving swift minimising the distress to your child and all the other children. |
Talk to us
We only get a quick snippet of time to talk to you at drop-offs and pick-ups. If you ever feel that you need to talk to us or discuss anything (there’s no such thing as a daft question) please phone the office on 01709 880682.
If your key worker wants to talk to you about your child, they will phone you – so please make sure you update us if you ever change your phone number.
Key Workers
Key workers are in place to make sure that every child has individual attention, a named person to help support their learning and development and a contact person for parents and carers.
Every child has a learning journal; this is a book which describes your child’s achievements in playgroup.
When we hold our parent/carer session your child’s key worker will show you this book, but you can look at it at any time. Please ask any member of staff and they will get it for you.
We do not leave them out because we respect how precious they are and we need to make sure that only eligible people can see them and they don’t get lost or spoiled in any way.
Playtime
Where possible we play outside so they may get a bit mucky – they’ll need suitable footwear, coats and hats.
We have a wide range of games, activities and crafts (no screens or technology). It’s fun and learning through play, making friends, getting active and being creative.
Early Years Foundations Stage
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), is how the Government and early years professionals describe the time in your child’s life between birth and age 5.
This is a very important stage as it helps your child get ready for school as well as preparing them for their future learning and successes. From when your child is born up until the age of 5, their early years experience should be happy, active, exciting, fun and secure; and support their development, care and learning needs.
Children can all be great communicators
One of the prime areas of learning in the EYFS curriculum in England is ‘Communication Communication and Language the three early learning goals are based around; ‘listening and attention’, ‘understanding’ and ‘speaking’. The focus on these areas shows how important it is that children develop good foundation skills in communication and language early on in their life.
Universally Speaking provides information that will help you to support children to develop skills in line with their age, as well as help you to identify and support children who may be struggling.
Children’s communication and language is ‘everybody’s business’. Parents and staff who see and work with children regularly are often the experts in knowing about a child’s communication. With the right information and access to the right help at the right time early on, everyone can really make a difference.
Additional Support Needs
If your child has any additional support needs, allergies, medications or anything else we need to be aware of, please detail this on your registration form.
If this changes throughout the year, please do let us know as soon as possible.
Health Visitors
Health visitors are a brilliant source of advice support and guidance. To get in touch with a Health Visitor call 0800 612 6221.
You will be asked to leave your name and a contact number and someone will call you back.
Keep up-to-date with Station House
Station House has set up a Facebook page and would like to invite you to use it to keep up to date with news and views about Station House. We will be using the site to post such things as notices, closures, events, and any changes to the timetable, we think this will be a useful resource and hope you will use it.
Please let your friends know about our Facebook page and encourage them to follow us.
Engaging with our Facebook page
- We’ll post updates, news and you can share your views and feedback with us.
- Do not post questions that are personal to yourself, remember everyone can see what you type.
- Any queries that are personal, such as bill enquiries, booking amendments, change of address, reporting of illness. Please inform us of these in person, over the phone or via private message.
Photo consent and social media
Occasionally we post photos and videos of the children and their work – we do this to showcase the fantastic things we do at Station House.
If you DO NOT want your child to be on these please inform a member of staff.
You’ll need to indicate your consent preferences when you first register your child for Playgroup and you can update these at any time – just let us know.
Changed your details?
If you do change your contact details – address, phone number or email – please let us know as soon as possible.
Meet the team
Our mission is to provide the best care for the children within our community and to extend our support through projects that provide a better family life.
We have a skilled and experienced team who work hard to create fun and educational opportunities for your child.
Our policies and procedures
A full set of policies and procedures available upon request or on our website.