Little Preppers

Our Sherborne Prep’s Toddler Group has grown in size and popularity under our wonderful leader Jen Waddon.

Toddlers and parents have come along to a variety of activities with interactive play at the heart of sessions. Gardening and outdoor learning, art and craft, sensory and messy play, music and rhyme have all been well-received. Highlights of the year have included tasting fruit with The Hungry Caterpillar, getting messy discovering frozen paint and planting their very own beanstalk.

With sessions carefully planned around the Early Years Foundation Stage, they draw upon the seven areas of learning and development to ensure children are given plenty of opportunities to learn and develop new skills.

Our very own Mrs McFarlane has run the British Gymnastics programme at Sherborne Sports Centre and on Fridays our ‘stay and play’ sessions see a toddler take over in the nursery building and outside whenever possible. Fortunately, the takeover has not yet resulted in too much chaos.

With a new Monday musical session, Toddler Tunes, starting in September Little Preppers is going from strength to strength. To find out more please visit our Facebook page or our website:

facebook.com/littleprepperstoddlergroup/ sherborneprep.org/pre-prep/toddler-group

Highlights of the year have included tasting fruit with The Hungry Caterpillar, getting messy discovering frozen paint and planting their very own beanstalk.

Emilio and I loved going to Little Preppers.

It was a special time for us as it was the only playgroup we did together. What I particularly loved was that there were always 2-3 stations set up with a themed weekly craft that he could do on his own or we could try together, but they also had “regular” corners which encouraged familiarity and consistency; painting corner, indoor “shop” or the play stations.

Then there was the outdoor playground which had so many interesting corners - the mud kitchen and sandpit were always a hit for Emilio (not so much for me!). And not forgetting snack time! Having these experiences has meant that Emilio’s transition to nursery has been extremely easy. Firstly, he was able to meet and get to know the nursery leads at Little Preppers, which meant that when he started nursery, they were familiar faces and friends. Secondly it is an environment he feels very relaxed in as we were able to experience it together for many weeks before he started his nursery journey.

Overall, we are delighted with how easily Emilio has settled into his nursery days and we hope this will set a solid foundation for his learning years to come.