Leaver's 2017 Survey

Please click on the link below if your child is leaving us to start school this September.

As we approach the end of the school year and your child's time at pre-school with us, we would appreciate it if you could spend a few minutes giving us some feedback on your experiences with us. Your opinions are very important and help us to identify our strengths but also to highlight areas we need to focus on to allow us to continue to improve and develop. All repsonses are confidential. We will publish the results of the survey next year online and in our newsletter, and may reproduce your comments (obviously ommiting any personal information if applicable).

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/39CQ22K

Lunch Questionnaire May 2016

Each child has been sent home with a questionnaire about lunch boxes. We would really appreciate your input on this subject, as we are looking to make some changes with a focus on improving healthy eating habits. Please return these to pre-school after the half-term holiday.

Rhyme Time Bag Questionnaire Jan 2016

Parents received a link by e-mail to our questionnaire on Rhyme Time Bags.

A number of parents commented that the unpacking and discovering what is inside is what makes the bags such fun; “It’s like opening a present each week”.

It was evident that most children really like reading the books for the first time with a parent, and that there is a good range of fiction and non-fiction books. The props that support the bags are also popular, not forgetting the dressing up!

3: What kinds of items from the bags does your child least enjoy or use the least, and why?

Most people stated that their child enjoys all parts of the bags. One response said they thought a few books were too long. We include these as some children are ready for a longer story, but please don’t feel obliged to read all the stories. Longer stories could be read over a couple of bedtimes. Another response was that sometimes the games cannot be used by the children independently. This is one of the reasons they are included – it is an opportunity for some ‘special’ time with your child. Alternatively, an older sibling could play the game.

4: What bags has your child most enjoyed and why?

We had a full range of answers to this question, demonstrating how diverse children are with their preferences.  Rhyme-Time bag favourites that were mentioned by more than one family include ‘Five Fat Sausages’, ‘The Tiger who came to Tea’, ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and ‘Walking through the Jungle’. We try to have bags that cater for all children, their interests and abilities, so it follows that some will be better suited to some children than others.

5: What bags has your child least enjoyed and why?

We did not have many specific responses to this question, as most parents felt overall their child gained something from most bags.

6: How does your child use the Rhyme-Time bags?

From this question is was clear that most parents did use the bags alongside their children for playing the games and reading the books, but that most also let their children explore them independently. This is exactly how we hope you would use the bags, and it was clear that friends and siblings also like to have a play too!

7: Do you have any ideas about ways Rhyme Time bags could be improved, or any other comments?

The answers that were given to this question were incredibly useful. It was obvious that parents think the bags are a great idea and that children have fun discovering a new bag each week.

We had some fantastic ideas from parents. It was suggested that the bags include an additional page of ideas to expand upon the theme of the bag, and this is something we will definitely look into, although this will be a longer term project for staff. It was also suggested we have a few bags that are based on numbers and mathematical concepts, and we will also look to introduce some bags like this, or introduce more maths into existing bags. There are already several number rhyme bags. An absolutely fantastic idea was for parents to have a list of the bags available, so they can chat about the bags with their child and indicate which ones their child would enjoy most or would like to try. In response to this, we have sent the list of bags home to parents, have put the list up on our noticeboard in the lobby, and have started a new Rhyme Time Bag page on our website, so parents can visit this at any time to see the most up-to-date list of bags available.

Other comments received included worries about the number of small parts in some bags and parents fear of losing them! Please do not worry, we ask that you do take care of the bags and make every attempt to return the items, but should an accident happen and an item gets lost or broken, it can be replaced.

We did receive a comment about the size and weight of the bags, as some of them can be bulky and heavy. We appreciate this, and if it is not convenient for you to take a larger bag that day, please say and we can find you a smaller one.