About Us

Westcliff U.R.C Pre-School is a privately run pre-school established in 1987. The session is held in the large church hall, which is airy and light. We use three other rooms for smaller group work. We also have the use of the lovely church garden which is safe and secluded. Our full capacity is 30 children at the morning sessions with 7 staff in attendance various mornings. The age range of the children is 2 years to 5 years. We are open during term time every morning Monday - Thursday 9.00am - 11.50am. The 2½ year olds are collected at 11.30am from their room at the front of the building. As soon as they are 3 they join the rest of the group in the main hall and are collected at 11.50am. Our fees are £7 per session which is every four weeks. An invoice is issued to each parent. We are registered with the Pre-School Learning Alliance and Southend Borough Council Early Years Department. We have had two successful OFSTED inspections. The reports are at hand for you to view, or you can find them on the internet at: www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports. Early Years education flourishes in a warm and loving atmosphere, so the guiding principle at Westcliff U.R.C Pre-school is that our children should be happy and fulfilled.

Our aims

• To teach children to play and live together.
• To give experience in manual and manipulative skills.
• To give freedom of play under a watchful eye.
• To encourage independence.
• To prepare the children for school and to make the transition easier.

Daily routine

 The hall is set up for immediate play for the 3  to 5 year olds when the children arrive. During the morning the children will have the opportunity to enjoy all aspects of play including painting, play dough, printing, cutting, sticking, playing with sand, water, construction toys books and many more. No child is forced to do these activities so please do not expect a masterpiece every day. We have lots of free play during the morning. Then we have carpet time where we can learn nursery rhymes have circle time and get to know each other as a group. After our carpet time we all go into the garden, which is situated at the end of the building. It has a locked gate and the children are safe. Here the children can play with the larger outside toys like bikes, balls, Wendy house etc. After outside play we come in for our snack time. We only have fresh fruit and vegetables for our snack and milk or water which is provided. After snack the children work with their key worker. They are not forced at anytime to do the activity with the key worker and are free to say no and do another activity. Each child has a key worker which enables staff to really get to know the children and are able to assess them towards their stepping stones. This also forms a good relationship between staff and the children. On Thursday afternoon there is a 30 minute P.E session with a qualified P.E teacher.
The Front room is designed for the 2 to 3 year olds, working towards birth to 3 matters. They follow their own time table which covers the same as the older children but on a smaller scale, this allows the younger ones to play at their level whilst the older ones are being encouraged to do more advanced activities including basic computer skills, playing games, basic number work and writing patterns.

In the term before your child turns four they will enter the ‘school room’. They will have their own work folder which will include all the work they have been doing in the ’school room’ which they will be able to take home with them. In the ’school room’ we do not do work sheets, we do a lot of physical, creative and practical activities that help with their fine motor skills and developing their knowledge and development. This might include writing in the sand, making letters out of play dough, air writing, games, songs etc. Doing this work encourages the child to sit for a while, getting them used to a school environment.