A month into the new school year and all our lovely, well-rested and energetic children are back! As well as being pleased to see them all again we are very happy to welcome Henry, Jonty and Ava to Pre-school.

Woodcote Pre-school is very excited and proud to announce that we have been awarded a food hygiene rating of 4 through the Scores on the Doors programme run by the South Oxfordshire Environmental Health Department. We were recently inspected by the Food Safety Team and were commended on the high standard maintained in the preparation of meals and in keeping our on site kitchen hygienic. Congratulations to all the staff for this achievement!

Even though it is still early on in the school year, the children have already been learning so much. The arrival of autumn and its fabulous colours has us looking at and enjoying the bounty of this time of year. We are learning about the seasons and weather and animals that harvest and hibernate, all through exploring and enjoying the wonderful adventures of the funny and adorable patchwork Elmer the Elephant written by David McKee.

The Woodcote Festival has come and gone and we at Pre-school would like to thank everyone who responded to our appeal for donations of bottles for our bottle stall. Without your help, we could not have been able to provide this very popular attraction. The children were very excited by the preparations happening around them at the village hall and even more so by the thought of participating in the many activities and competitions run by the festival committee.

As always, we will be celebrating Harvest by baking, making food and picking (and eating) the fresh produce from our organic allotment. We will also be collecting jars, cans and bottles of food to donate to the less fortunate in our community. If you would like to contribute anything towards our collection, please feel free to drop it in at the village hall on any weekday between 9 and 3pm. We are also attending a special Harvest service at St Leonard’s Church where we will listen to a story and sing songs about autumn and harvest.

If you are interested in starting your child at Woodcote Pre-school or for more information, please contact Liz on 01491682300 or email .  You can also find us at www.woodcotepreschool.co.uk.