There are some more updates to tell you about.

Firstly on The Team page you will see some new information and photos of our current staff. There is still one more person to go on & i’m just waiting on some details.

Secondly, the Policies and Procedures page has had some updated Policies. They are:

1.Alcohol and Other Substances

2.Complaints Procedure for Staff

3.Food and Drink

4.Health and Safety

5.ICT Use of Multimedia Computers

6.Settling in

7.Sick Children

8.Staff Sickness

Also, a Children in Care Policy has been added.

Just to say that the ‘Typical Day’ page has been updated to show the Winter Term activities.

See whats in store for Jan/Feb!

A number of updates have taken place over the last few weeks. They are as follows:

Our Hours - The page now shows the 2011/12 term dates.

Policies & Procedures - This now has all the Policies & Procedures that the Pre-school have adopted. There are quite a few of them and you will need to keep scrolling down the screen to see them all. You don’t have to read them all! But, they are available if you wish to.

The Team - Introduction to the new Pre-school Manager Di Westlake and updates to the staff and committee.

Typical Day – The page now shows the Autumn/Winter term plan up to Dec 15th.

Site Admin.

Thanks to Matthew for all his hard work in setting up the site and maintaining it to date.

Click on the image to make larger.

State of the Pre-School
The first thing to say is that after a rather rocky year last year due to a birth rate dip and the St Mabyn/St Tudy uncertainty, the Pre-School’s finances are looking robust for this year, so well done everybody and thank you for your support.  Also, we have gone up in our Ofsted rating from Satisfactory to Good: well done the staff and committee for all their hard work to improve our setting!

New Hours
We have had some important changes to our structure this year.  First of all, we are now offering a new Thursday afternoon session from 12.10-3.10pm, which you are welcome to take advantage of on a first come, first served basis.  So our hours for 2010-11 are:

Mondays 9.10-12.10 and 12.10-3.10
Tuesdays: toddlers from 9.10-11.10
Wednesdays: 9.10-12.10
Thursdays: 9.10-12.10 and 12.10-3.10
Fridays: closed

Rates are £7 per three-hour session; children are funded the term after their third birthday.

Baby and Toddler group
The toddler group is still meeting on Tuesday mornings from 9.10-11.10, and we hope if you have friends or relatives with babies or small children, you will invite them to come along. Rates are £2.50 per child plus £1 for siblings, to include a snack for toddlers and hot drink for parents and carers!  We are not running the Pre-School session on Tuesdays at present.

Staff Changes
With two afternoon sessions on offer, the Committee reviewed the Pre-School’s staffing structure based on its needs, and last term we met with all the staff to mutually agree a way forward.  The outcome of these discussions was that Sharon Lewis will now be taking on the role of Pre-School Manager, and she will be at all its weekly sessions, morning and afternoon, as well as running the toddler group. As Manager, Sharon will be the head of staff. Angela Brown will still be working in the morning sessions as Pre-School Supervisor, and also continues to work at the Wadebridge after school programme (WASPS) in the afternoons.  We thank Angela for all her hard work running the Pre-School previously, and for her continued contribution to our team.  This term, we welcome a new member of staff, Di Westlake, as Pre-School Deputy Supervisor.  Di worked as Deputy Manager of Bodkins at Bodmin College, and has experience both at Egloshayle Pre-School and St Mabyn School. She will be working Mondays and Thursdays for both sessions.

We are excited to launch this well-qualified team into a new term, and we hope you will join us in welcoming them and helping them settle into their new roles.

Committee info
St Mabyn Pre-School is a charity run by volunteers. Both the current chairman, Gillian Molesworth, and treasurer, Matthew Slater, will be stepping down at our next AGM in October. We are delighted to announce that Beth Gillespie has agreed to take on the chairman’s role and Kate McLean, the treasurer’s. Natalie Slater has kindly agreed to continue in her role as secretary.  We’re leaving it in good hands!

We hope more parents will be able to join the committee to help with fundraising, publicity etc.  Our AGM is scheduled for Wednesday, October 13 at 7.30pm.

Where the information is
Finally, if you would like more information about how the Pre-School runs or any of its policies and procedures, there are two ways: there is an Operational File held at the Pre-School which parents are invited to examine at any time; also, Matt Slater has put a lot of work into designing a terrific new website and a lot of the policies and procedures are on there.  We will be uploading full policy documents to our web site over the course of this academic year.

Policies and procedures cover everything from child safety and protection to healthy food and what to do if you have a problem, so it’s worth getting familiar with them.

See www.stmabynpreschool.co.uk for more.

Finally, don’t forget that if there’s something you’d like to see introduced or changed at the Pre-School, say something!  We welcome new ideas and positive thinking.

St Mabyn toddlers have been discovering that you’re never too young to grow your own.

The green-fingered tots and their mums have been learning how to grow their own food with the help of a professional grower from the Camel Community Supported Agriculture scheme at St Kew Highway.

It’s all part of the Cornwall Pre-School Learning Alliance Healthy Tots project, which has support from the Lottery Local Food fund.
Horticulturalist Jane Mellowship has been showing the group how to sow and grow a variety of vegetable plants in containers and pots outside St Mabyn Village Hall – including potatoes, spring onions, lettuces, runner beans, radishes, tomatoes and carrots.

Jenny Ahern, the Pre-School Learning Alliance development worker for north Cornwall said: “The purpose of the project is to bring parents and children together to demonstrate how foods can be grown in a variety of ways and how you don’t need a large garden to do that.

“It’s been so much fun. Jane’s been brilliant. It’s proved how easy it is to grow your own veg, how simple it is and what a difference it makes.”

A 2010 Ofsted inspection made a judgement that St Mabyn Pre School was deemed to be a Good school.  Due to the great work of the staff, the pre school’s rating has been lifted from Satisfactory to Good.  On we all go to make the next inspection Outstanding!

To read the full report click here: OFSTED ST MABYN PRE SCHOOL 2010