Longstanton Village

 Mad Hatters Pre-School
Hatton Park Cp School, Hattons Park
Longstanton
CAMBRIDGE CB24 3DL

Tel: 07890 335 223

Summer Term 2008

Lunch Club 5 days a week : extension of play sessions in the mornings and afternoons for children over 3 years of age attending one or more sessions.

Cost:

 Mad Hatters offer pre-school education for children between 2 years and 6 months and school age. Pre-school is funded for all children in the term after a child's 3rd birthday but affordable education at £7 per session of 2.5 hours for children under 3 years of age is offered. Annual Parish Meeting – The Mad Hatters Pre-school Report (22April 2008)
Since the Parish Council last heard from us there has been a great deal of change – extended services, staff turnover and improved financial status.
Extended services:
The Spring term opened with 7 sessions being run; 5 mornings and 2 afternoons. This served to accommodate more children overall and better prepare the older ones for their next step into school by offering them the afternoon sessions. We currently have 40 children on role.
The Summer term opens with 9 sessions. This and the Spring term sessions are at an all time high, previous years having only ever offered 6 or 7 sessions in the Summer term.
January also opened with an extension to our Lunch Club service increasing it from 2 days to 5 days thanks to a Sure Start grant. This has proved to be very popular and as such an overall success. The Lunch Club serves to allow families the option to extend the existing 2.5 hour pre-school sessions by 1 hour, to 3.5 hours.
Staff turnover:
There have been a number of changes in staff – 2 members have left in order to pursue other career avenues and 1 member has moved for promotion. We have also taken on an extra staff member bringing the team to 5 in total, this enables us to cover further training of staff on day release and accept the increasing demand for child places.
Financial status:
Financially, the pre-school is much more stable, having replenished the savings account to the recommended level. This has been achieved by fund-raising, grants (including that of the Parish Council), a number of very generous donations and careful spending. The committee continue to endeavour to stay informed of any grants for which the pre-school is eligible and ensure these are claimed at the appropriate time.
The Mad Hatters Pre-school now looks to a new chapter in its 27 year life. The Pre-school Learning Alliance (PLA) which is a charity that has been advising the committees over the years has offered to take on the management of the pre-school. This affords the staff and pupils a consistent, knowledgeable and experienced management of the setting, which should further enable the pre-school to go from strength to strength.
Should the PLA’s offer be taken up, the member families of The Mad Hatters Pre-school will remain heavily involved and will continue to be responsible for financing the pre-school needs by way of fund-raising events, and grant applications.