View source for Windmill Under 5s Preschool

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'''History of Windmills Under 5s Preschool'''. began as a playschool in 1967 (click [[The Playgroup]] for details). A [[Nursery Class]] started in 1983.  These Amalgamated to become become Windmills Under 5s Group[[File:Windmill Under 5s Preschool Jun 2020 01.jpg|thumb|see report June 2020]]
click [[Elf Houses]] mentioned below in Hallmark February 2021 (in covid lockdown) for photos of the little homes

See below for the following reports in Hallmark:-

2004 preparing for move to the Sports Club pavilion.

'''2020 June''' report

'''2020 August''' report

'''2021 February''' report

'''2021 August''' report.

From ?  the reports in Hallmark for [[Lacey Green Play Group]] were published under the heading "Windmill Under 5s Preschool"

click [[Sports and Social Club]] for list of articles about the club, including the Sports Pavilion.

2004.  Letter published in Hallmark from Jane Oakford, [[Margene]], Main Road, Lacey Green.   click [[Chris & Jane Oakford]] for more about Jane
[[File:Windmill Under 5s Preschool Jun 2020 02.jpg|thumb|see report June 2020]]
'''Windmill Under 5’s / Sports Club --''' '''Sports Club Redevelopment'''

As many of you will already know our Village playgroup, Windmill Under 5’s, is based at Hampden at present. The aim has always been to get back into the Village with the obvious location being the Sports Club, as it is right next to the school, near the church and has lots of open space.

The Sports Club needs considerable work doing to it, not only to ensure that it is up to the standards required by OFSTED, but also from a practical point of view: storage for the playschool, hygienic showers for the Sports Club, cost-effective heating etc.

We have managed to raise in the region of £16,000 towards this redevelopment and are very grateful to the Parish Council who are helping with the cost of new heating.

The good news is that work has started with old toilets, showers, walls etc. having been taken out. Most of the work, so far, has been done voluntarily by work parties who started after Christmas and have continued most weekends. My thanks go to Bob, Nigel, Chris, Duncan, Colin, James, Kevin and anyone else who has helped us get off to a great start. The more that we can get done voluntarily, the further we can make our money stretch to ensure that we finish within budget!
[[File:Windmill Under 5s Preschool.jpg|thumb|see  report August 2020]]
On that note fundraising is still on- going with an Indoor Car Boot, the Christmas Quiz at The Black Horse which raised £110 (thanks), and with Village Day just round the corner there will be plenty of Draw tickets to sell!

The move of Windmill Under 5’s to the Sports Club will mean that the Sports Club becomes viable and that the club house will be cared for and used so that its existence is saved. There is also the bonus of our Village regaining an important asset of its playschool, saving the use of cars every day to take our children to and from Hampden. Anyone who has had any connections with either the Sports Club or Windmills whether it be past, present or future and may feel that they could donate either time or money, it will be gratefully received and help reduce my stress levels!
[[File:Windmill Under 5s Preschool Feb 2021 02.jpg|thumb|see report February 2021]]
click [[Sports and Social Club]] for list of articles about the club, including the Sports Pavilion.

2004.  Letter published in Hallmark from Jane Oakford, [[Margene]], Main Road, Lacey Green.   click [[Chris & Jane Oakford]] for more about Jane

click [[Sports and Social Club]] for list of articles about the club, including the Sports Pavilion.

2004.  Letter published in Hallmark from Jane Oakford, [[Margene]], Main Road, Lacey Green.   click [[Chris & Jane Oakford]] for more about Jane

'''Hallmark June 2020. Windmill Under 5s Preschool''' by Natasha Kann

We started the year well, with the children having chance to do lots of fun learning in the first part of the term. They enjoyed learning about ‘Winter’, where the setting was turned into an Ice Kingdom while the children learnt about animals from the North and South Pole. Chinese New Year was celebrated in the preschool by making dragons and doing some fantastic dragon dancing!
[[File:Windmill Under 5s Preschool Feb 2021 01.jpg|thumb|see report February 2021]]
Dan Smith from the Lacey Green and Loosely Row Tennis club delivered weekly tennis lessons to some of the older children, which they thoroughly enjoyed. Not only walking over to the ‘big’ tennis courts but having a real-life coach and learning some wonderful new skills. Hopefully some of them will be inspired to take it up as a sport and join the tennis club when they are a bit older!

The children also enjoyed dressing up and sharing their favourite books for World Book day. We had costumes from a wide range of books including a frog and a crayon! (and that was just the staff!) Thank you to all the parents who made the day a great success and making sure the children could take part in the fun.

As the term went on, the children were learning more about germs and did a ‘germ experiment’ to show how germs are transmitted. This turned out to be a very useful learning activity!

It wasn’t long after this that we had to make a few changes at the preschool. Parents could no longer sign the register, everyone was hand sanitizing before entering the building and the children were learning to sing Happy Birthday whilst they washed their hands. The Corona virus meant that we had to close our doors on Friday 23rd March. and everyone had to stay at home. For such young children the change in routine, not seeing their friends and not being able to do what they usually do, is hard for them to understand. The staff were now doing what they could to help the families with activities to carry out at home.
[[File:Windmill Under 5s Preschool Feb 2021 03.jpg|thumb|see report February 2021]]
As a result, the children and staff have been sharing their activities with each other online and the children have even had a few Zoom meet ups, so they can see their friends. (Interesting to say the least! Anyone with small children in the family will know that video calling is hard work at the best of times, let alone when there are 10 or more!) The staff have put together videos of songs that the children sing at preschool and the children have really enjoyed seeing videos of their teachers reading their favourite stories. The staff and children have also been putting together their own version of the ‘Toilet roll challenge’, which the children have really loved doing!

Hopefully we will be able to say goodbye to our children leaving us at the end of the year and starting at big school in September. We look forward to when we can open safely again and welcome our remaining families back!

'''Hallmark August 2020.  Windmill Under 5s Preschool'''  by Natasha Kann

As term draws to a close we get ready to say goodbye to our school leavers, which is always emotional for all involved. The teaching team has done an excellent job getting them ready for 'big school' throughout the challenge of lockdown, and will be sending them off with lots of happy memories.
[[File:Windmill Under 5 Preschool Aug 2021.jpg|thumb|see report August 2021]]
A wonderful time has been had by all in our newly finished outdoor wildlife and gardening area. The children have loved our new barked area with the log circle for outdoor snack and story time whilst watching the birds and squirrel feeding from the new bird feeder.

Thanks firstly to The Co-op and our Local Pioneer Miranda Gomm, for enabling us to be their ‘local cause’ and earn the funds to transform this neglected space into something usable. To the Sports Club Committee for their agreement to neaten up this little area and ongoing support. To the parents, villagers and team of volunteers from the Horticultural Society for clearing the area. To Alex Stallwood for his tree trimming and landscaping skills and Darren Peters for some wonderful new raised beds! To Rachael for leading and everyone else who’s supported this project - the team and children are absolutely delighted with the results.

We are grateful too to the Early Years Team at Buckinghamshire Council who have offered ongoing support throughout this challenging time, and awarded us a grant to replace our rotten pirate ship with an amazing new outdoor obstacle course and climbing frame, which the children have spent a lot of time using.

Windmills would not be the fantastic preschool that it is without the excellent teaching team, our Business Manager Rachael who keeps us all organised, and our very committed committee and parents, who do a huge amount for Windmills in their own time. We'll enjoy a well-earned rest over the summer and look forward to starting the autumn term, hopefully back to normal, in September.

We are on the lookout for a new Treasurer to join us. If you would be interested in supporting our local preschool or know someone who would, please get in touch.

'''Hallmark February 2021.   Windmill Under 5s Preschool'''  by Natasha Kann

The second half of the Autumn Term started well albeit with a few restrictions in place. We knew the term was going to be slightly different and that our – usual Christmas festivities would not be the same. However, that didn’t stop the fun happening at Windmills!

The children have spent lots of time outside making the most of the nice weather and outside equipment, before it became much colder. They also enjoyed watching a local tree surgeon cutting some branches off a neighbouring tree and spent a long while at the window talking about what he was doing.

When the weather turned a little cooler, the children spent a little more time inside building, painting, cooking, creating and practising their Christmas songs.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t perform our usual Christmas performance to the parents on the stage in the village hall, but the children and staff still put on a wonderful performance of songs which was recorded and shared with families to watch together in their own homes.

Although it was a different Christmas for us at Windmills, the children still received a gift from Santa (which was delivered by the woodland animals this year), made cards for their families, made reindeer food and had an end of term Christmas party.

We were excited to begin the Spring Term with a new member of staff, Michelle, who has many years of experience working in preschools and will be a great addition to the Windmills teaching team. We have also been able to increase our opening hours, offering 9am-3pm Monday to Thursday, with our usual 9am-1:30pm on a Friday. We are hoping that this increase to our hours will support more local families and make Windmills the preschool for them!

As I write this, we are now days into our 3rd national lockdown and luckily for the preschool and their families, we have been able to stay open.

Having a routine and playing with friends is so important for under 5s, and we are grateful that we can be there to offer this to our children. The staff, families and children are now so schooled at what to do, that this has been an easy transition for them. | would like to say a huge thank you to all the staff and families for their hard work, understanding and support during these unprecedented times.

It really does show how much of a fantastic ‘Windmills Family’ we truly are!

The children have also been involved in searching the village on muddy walks with their parents for the Elf Houses! They have all really enjoyed finding these and would like to say ‘Hello’ to the Elves who have moved into Lacey Green!   Click [[Elf Houses]] for photos.

Thank you to whoever has made these wonderfully cute structures for us all to enjoy!

This term we are learning about Winter, animals and birds, keeping warm and healthy, storytelling, Chinese New Year (2021 is the year of the Ox) and Valentine’s day.

'''Hallmark August 2021.   Windmill Under 5 Preschool'''    by Natasha Kann,  Chairperson

We have finally made it to the end of the school year; and what a year it has been! A huge thank you to all our families for helping us all stay safe by following our rules to ensure that we have not had to close due to this uncertain year.

We were able to say goodbye to our school leavers, which is always emotional for all involved. The teaching team have done an excellent job getting them ready for 'big school’, throughout the challenges faced and will be sending them off with lots of happy memories. They were also lucky enough to have some tennis sessions with Dan from the Tennis Club too, which they absolutely loved and was a great way to practice getting changed into their PE kit!

We have spent the term looking at how things grow and flourish. We have planted beans and sunflowers and watched caterpillars grow into beautiful butterflies before releasing them on to the field. We have been fortunate that we have the field beyond ours where we have been delighted to watch tractors and various farm machinery getting it ready for the cows to come back.

Writing this in the sunshine makes it hard to remember the really wet weather we had earlier last month, but this did help us with our under the sea project looking at animals and plants that live in the water! The children have learnt some great movements to songs and we showcased these to the parents at a socially distanced Sports Day where great fun was had by everyone who took part.

Windmills would not be the fantastic preschool that it is without the excellent teaching team, who have worked so hard all of the year to ensure that the children haven’t noticed that anything different has been going on! Special thanks to our Manager Tracey, and our Business Manager Sarah, who keep us all organised and on top of all the ever-changing regulations and requirements.

We are also so grateful to our very committed committee and parents, who do a huge amount for Windmills in their own time. We will all enjoy a well-earned rest over the summer and look forward to starting the autumn, hopefully back to normal, in September.

Due to the restrictions in place, again, many of our usual fundraising and social events have had to be cancelled. This not only effects our ever-needed fundraising but also meant that many of our families never really got more than the passing hello in the morning queue. Hopefully things will return to normal in September so more social interaction will be able to take place and we can have our family quiz nights in person rather than on Zoom!

With this being said, however, we were able to hold our annual summer raffle and would like to say a huge thank you to all the local businesses and families that donated such wonderful prizes! Thanks to: [[The Black Horse]], [[The Whip]] Inn, [[The Pink and Lily]], The Co-op (Walters Ash), Sue’s House of Cakes, Beckonscot Model Village, Dan (Lacey Green and Loosley Row Tennis Club), Sizzorhands, Countrywide Coaches and The Goat Centre who helped us the raise a fantastic £360!

'''Hallmark November 2022'''.  Report by Darren Peters – Chairperson

lt has been another wonderful start to the term and an exceptionally busy start to the new academic year for Windmill Under 5s Preschool.

The children have settled in nicely after their long summer break and upon their return they were keen to share all the exciting things that they had been up to, with the staff and their friends.

As the summer weather didn’t last very long into the new term, our activities turned from learning about our families, with creative finger-painted family trees to a focus on the season change and a celebration of all things autumnal.

The children brought in a beautiful array of conkers, acorns and all shades of leaves to put to good use in a variety of art, in play dough and for a wall display in the setting.

The children have also been having lots of fun and showing their brave side whilst enjoying some ‘spooky’ tuff tray activities and crafts along with learning practical skills, testing their scissor control in the creation of some rather sparkly ghosts.

In amongst the seasonal celebrations, the children have been engaging in focused activities and play to teach them to recognise their names, colours and numbers. At Windmill Under 5s Preschool, we have long adopted a ‘learning through play approach’ which gives the children an opportunity to explore their own setting independently and activities are set out each day to facilitate this.

Looking ahead into the second part of the Autumn term, the children will enjoy learning about Bonfire night and Diwali before all focus turns to one of the Preschool’s favourite times of year – Christmas!

If you would like to arrange a look around the preschool or enquire about a place for your child, please call or email Tracey Winfield (Preschool Manager) on 07502 198405 or email manager@windmillunder5s.co.uk.   We are open Monday – Thursday, 9am – 3pm & Friday 9am – 1:30pm during term time and welcome children aged 2-4 years.

windmillschair@gmail.com