Pre-school sessions

We are open Monday to Friday with various session times, term time only (six sessions a week in total). Please refer to our Prospectus for session times and details of optional lunch clubs for children over three years of age.

Fees and Funding

Full details of our fees and when they are payable are in our Fees policy.

Children are eligible to receive Early Years Education funding from the start of the term following their third birthday.

For more details on Early Years Education funding, please click here. For how to claim this funding in South Gloucestershire, click here.

Please note that parents/carers must pay for any non-funded sessions which are missed due to absence for any reason.

We can also accept childcare vouchers.

Typical pre-school session

Daily routine

9.00. Registration and group time.

9.15 (approx) to 11.30. Free flow play indoors and outdoors. During this time there are also adult-led activities and the children are free to access the snack bar when they are ready. All children will be encouraged to have a drink and a snack during this time. St Helen's has a healthy pre-school award for our encouragement of a healthy lifestyle. Children have fruit/vegetables with milk or water to drink for their snack and we enable children to participate in a full range of experiences outdoors, encouraging an active lifestyle.

11.30. Everyone helps to tidy away the toys etc. that we have used during the morning before coming together again on our group time mat for a planned circle time activity. Children who choose not to participate in this activity can access books and puppets in the library area. Circle time is followed by story time.

12.00. Morning session children are collected.

12.00 to 12.45. Lunch club (Wednesday and Friday). Children and adults eat together in a group; this is a very social occasion with lots of opportunity to chat and share interests. After lunch, activities are then suggested by the children.

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Forest school sessions

Pre-school sessions on Monday afternoons and Thursday mornings are now running as forest school sessions.

The Forest School ethos is to encourage and inspire children to develop their independence and self-confidence through activities in a woodland or outdoor setting. We use locations in the local area which are easily accessed, on foot, from pre-school. Exploring and learning about the natural world helps the children to understand and value the plants and animals that make up our environment.

The children have opportunities to take part in a wide variety of activities, such as art and craft activities, story making and telling, constructing temporary shelters and playing adult-led and child-initiated games, encouraging the children to solve problems, take risks and work together. There are also opportunities for tool use, building on the woodworking sessions that the children already take part in at pre-school.

Forest school and forest school activities support the holistic nature of children's exploration and learning, with many emotional and physical benefits. Click here for more information about the benefits of Forest Schools.

Read about a volunteer's experience of forest school sessions at our pre-school.

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