General Information
Please use these links for further information:
About Us
Established in 1997, St Mary’s Pre-school was a registered charity constituted with a Management Committee until September 2018. At this time the Pre-school became a Private Limited Company. We are registered with Ofsted to take up to twenty four children per session. We are members of the Early Years Alliance and the Hertfordshire Quality Improvement Forum.
Opening Hours
We are open Monday-Friday during school term times. We offer the following sessions:
- Lunch Club for Nursery children from 11.45 am – 12.30 pm.
- Lunch Club for Pre-school children: 12.00 pm – 12.30 pm.
- Afternoon Pre-School session: 12.30 pm – 3.30 pm.
Subject to availability children can attend between one and five sessions each week. Any changes to your booking or sessions must be notified a full half term in advance.
Age Range
St Mary’s Pre-school is open to children aged from two years six months to five years old. Children may start any time after they turn two and a half and stay until the time they leave to join a full time school Reception class. We are delighted to accept children who have not secured a Nursery place in a school and always ensure that our curriculum and planning is suitably adapted to meet their learning and development needs.
Term Dates
Academic Year 2019/20
Autumn Term 2019
- School Inset Day (1) – Monday 2nd September 2019
- First Day of Term – Tuesday 3rd September 2019
- School Inset Day (2) – Friday 25th October 2019
- Half Term – Monday 28th October – Friday 1st November 2019
- Children start back – Monday 4th November 2019
- End of Term – Friday 20th December 2019 @ 1.30pm
Spring Term 2020
- School Inset Day (3) – Monday 6th January 2020
- First Day of Term – Tuesday 7th January 2020
- Half Term – Monday 17th – Friday 21st February 2020
- Children start back – Monday 24th February 2020
- End of Term – Friday 3rd April 2020 @ 1.30pm
Summer Term 2020
- School Inset Day (4) – Monday 20th April 2020
- First Day of Term – Tuesday 21st April 2020
- Bank Holiday – Friday 8th May 2020
- Half Term – Monday 25th – Friday 29th May 2020
- Children start back – Monday 1st June 2020
- End of Term – Friday 17th July @ 1.30pm
Lunch Club
In addition to our afternoon Pre-school sessions, we also offer a Lunch Club for children attending St Mary’s Nursery in the mornings. Children bring a packed lunch to eat and then can choose to leave at 12.30 pm or stay on for the afternoon session until 3.30 pm. Once settled at Pre-school, we also offer a shorter Lunch Club for children attending our afternoon session. Children bring a packed lunch to eat at 12.00 pm and then stay on for the afternoon session.
Fees and Funding
Our fees for 2019/20 are as follows:
- Lunch Club for Nursery children – £4.00 per session.
- Lunch Club for Pre-school children – £4.00 per session.
- Afternoon Pre-school session – £16.00 per session.
- Healthy Snack – 30p per afternoon session.
In addition, we ask for a non-refundable registration fee of £25.00 when you submit your application form.
We are registered with Hertfordshire County Council and can offer 15 hour funded places for eligible 2-year olds. We also offer 15 hour funded places for 3-4 year olds. This funding is normally available from the term after a child turns 3 years old.
From September 2017, we have also offered the Government 30-hour funding for eligible working families of 3-4 year olds, this is offered in conjunction with St Mary’s C of E Primary School. Children of eligible families attending St Mary’s School Nursery will be able to use the funding to attend Pre-school sessions as well, subject to place availability.
Further details on eligibility for the new funding can be found on the following link.
https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/
Registering Your Child
If you would like to apply for a Pre-school place, please contact us to request an application pack or download the application and registration forms using the links below. Early registration is recommended. We also strongly recommend you come along to meet us and view the facilities and resources that we offer. This would also provide an opportunity to answer any questions you may have or discuss any individual needs.
Getting Involved
We do not operate a parent or carer help rota system as we realise it is usually difficult for parents and carers to change their regular commitments. Instead we offer an open invitation to all of our families at Pre-school, and actively welcome any family member or carer who would like to volunteer. Any contributions that parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles or carers make to the Pre-school are highly valued and we are always delighted when someone gives an hour or so of their time to spend time with the children.
Open afternoons and Evening
Each year we hold a summer open afternoon in July and a Christmas open afternoon in December. This provides a fabulous opportunity to welcome family and friends into Pre-school to enable the children to show their loved ones the special things they have been doing. We also enjoy singing a medley of our favourite songs for your enjoyment. We are currently learning British Sign Language so the children may also sign as well as sing during our little performance.
We also have our annual open evening, usually at the beginning of July, to again welcome all family, friends and visitors to come along to enjoy our Pre-school. This is often a popular event as some family members find it easier to attend in the evening due to daytime work commitments.
St Mary’s C of E (VA) Primary School
Although closely affiliated with St Mary’s C of E (VA) Primary School, the Pre-school functions as a completely separate organisation. Please note that children attending the Pre-school are not in any way guaranteed a place at St Mary’s Nursery, which is part of St Mary’s C of E (VA) Primary School and has its own admissions procedures. For further information on the Nursery and School, click on the link below: http://www.stmarys916.herts.sch.uk/