General Information
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About Us
Originally established in July 1997 St Mary’s Pre-school was a registered charity until becoming a Private Limited Company in 2018. We have continued to work passionately to maintain our high standards in every area and aspect of early care and education and we are extremely proud of our setting.
In July 2021 we were delighted to have attained the gold standard of The Herts for Learning Early Years Quality Standards Award Scheme.
In July 2022 we were graded ‘Good in all areas’ by Ofsted.
Opening Hours
We are open Monday-Friday during school term times. We offer the following sessions:
- Lunch Club – 11.45 am – 12.30 pm.
- Afternoon Pre-School session – 12.30 pm – 3.30 pm.
Age Range
St Mary’s Pre-school accepts children aged from two years six months to five years old, and we are registered to take up to 24 children in any one session. 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 act as a wrap-around service for the Nursery class of St Mary’s Primary school, accepting the Government 2-year, 3&4-year, and 30-hour funding for eligible families. We always ensure that our curriculum and planning is suitably adapted to meet the learning and development needs of each child.
Term Dates
Academic Year 2024/25
In 2024-25, schools have 5 staff inset days and 1 occasional day on which to close the school. These are all taken during the school terms template issued by Hertfordshire County Council.
Autumn term 2024
- Monday 2nd September – Staff inset day (1)
- Tuesday 3rd September – Staff inset day (2)
- Wednesday 4th September – pupils return
- Monday 28th October to Friday 1st November – Half term break
- Monday 2nd December – Occasional Day
- Friday 20th December – Last day of term (1:30pm finish)
Spring term 2025
- Monday 6th January – Staff inset day (3)
- Tuesday 7th January – pupils return
- Monday 17th February to Friday 21st February – Half term break
- Friday 4th April – Last day of term (1:30pm finish)
Summer term 2025
- Tuesday 22nd April – Staff inset day (4)
- Wednesday 23rd April – pupils return
- Monday 5th May – Bank holiday – school closed
- Monday 26th May to Friday 30th May – Half term break
- Monday 2nd June – Staff inset day (5)
- Wednesday 23rd July – Last day of term (1:30pm finish)
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, they can bring a packed lunch from home to eat and then leave at 12.30 pm or stay on for the afternoon session until 3.30pm.
For our Pre-school children, they can arrive at Pre-school at 11:45am with a packed lunch to eat and stay on for the afternoon session until 3:30pm.
We recommend that Pre-school children are settled in the afternoon sessions before joining our lunch club. Please speak with us for further information.
Fees and Funding
Our fees for 2023/24 are as follows:
- Lunch Club – 11.45am to 12.30pm – £6.25 per session.
- Afternoon Pre-school session – 12.30pm to 3.30pm – £21 per session.
- Healthy Snack – .50p per afternoon session (optional)
In addition, we ask for a non-refundable registration fee of £25.00 which includes a school bag, your child’s digital Tapestry photo journal, and the initial administration set up costs. Some families may be exempt from certain fees, please contact us for further information.
We offer a mixture of privately paid and funded sessions for 2, 3 and 4 year olds.
We are registered with Hertfordshire County Council and can offer funded places for eligible 2, 3 and 4 year olds.
Universal 15-hour funded places for 3-4 year olds are available from the term after a child’s 3rd birthday.
We also offer 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. The first 15 hours per week of funding is allocated to St Mary’s Primary School, from 8:45am to 11:45am. The remaining 15 hours of funding can be used to provide sessions in the afternoons. As our sessions are 3.75 hours per day, 11:45am to 3:30pm, this amounts to 4 afternoon sessions per week to total 15 hours. If all 5 days are required the 3-hour daily educational sessions will be covered by government funding and our daily lunch clubs will be charged at the above rates.
All places are subject to availability.
Further details on 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 offer an open invitation to all of our families at Pre-school, and welcome any family member or carer who would like to volunteer an hour or so of their time to share with us. If you play a musical instrument, enjoy gardening, painting, reading stories, etc any contributions that parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles or carers make to the Pre-school are highly valued and we the children are always delighted to see someone new.
Open mornings, afternoons and evenings
We hold an end of year summer open afternoon in July. 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. If the weather permits we have a picnic on the school field.
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.
We also work with St Mary’s Primary School to offer prospective parent/carer tours of the School, and to offer ‘stay and play’ events on some Saturdays throughout the year.
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/