Bishop's Tachbrook Pre-School

02/10/2026

We are excited to share that Playdough Disco has now become a daily part of our routine at Bishops Tachbrook Pre‑School and you may already have heard your children singing the songs, tapping rhythms, or talking about “splat, squish, squeeze, roll!” at home.

Playdough Disco was created by Early Years specialist Shannon Boyce, who developed it as a fun, high‑energy way to strengthen children’s hands, fingers and wrists while also supporting creativity, coordination and confidence. It combines music, rhythm and dough‑manipulation to create a joyful, purposeful experience that feels like dancing but works like therapy for little hands.

I had the chance to meet Shannon last academic year and take part in a wonderful Playdough Disco Session led by her. All the adults on the room thoroughly enjoyed it, looking around the room I saw adults laughing and a buzz of happiness filled the room, I knew in that moment, it had to be part of our routine.

Why Playdough Disco matters?

Physical development: The squeezing, pinching, rolling and pressing actions help build the fine‑motor strength children need for early writing, mark‑making, scissor skills and self‑care tasks. Shannon Boyce’s approach is widely used in Early Years settings because it supports the muscles children rely on for pencil grip and hand control.

Creativity: Children express ideas through shape, movement and rhythm. The music encourages imagination, storytelling and playful experimentation.

Emotional regulation: Dough play is naturally calming. Combined with music, it helps children release energy, focus their attention and feel part of a shared experience.

Language and communication: As children sing, copy actions and talk about what they’re making, they build vocabulary, confidence and social interaction.

Whole‑child learning: Playdough Disco supports physical, cognitive, social and creative development all at once. A true example of learning through joy.

What you might notice at home:

I'm sure many of the children have already been coming home singing the songs, showing you their “moves,” or talking about the dough they used. This is exactly what we hope for, children feeling proud, connected and excited to share their learning with you.

We will continue to run Playdough Disco at least once a day, as it has quickly become one of the most beneficial and joyful parts of our routine.

Thank you for your continued support in celebrating the magic of play.

Warmly,
Becky

19/09/2026

. 🌍 New World Map Project 🌍 Celebrating Our Families & Cultures

We’re very excited to share that we now have a beautiful world map displayed on our preschool wall. We would love to turn it into a celebration of our children’s families, heritage, and the wonderful cultures that make our community so special.

To help us bring this to life, we are asking all families to send in:
- A photo of your immediate family, the adults in the home and the children
- Any information about where your family has heritage or links around the world
- If you have family members (grandparents, aunties, uncles) who live in other countries, a photo of them and the country they live in would be amazing too
-You can send them on Tapastry and we can print.

This will give us a lovely opportunity to talk with the children about different parts of the world, celebrate diversity, and help them feel proud of where they come from.

Thank you so much for your support, we can’t wait to start building our map together.

12/09/2026

. 💛 Learning with a Joyful Heart 💛

Jade’s Day with HEART Midlands Early Years Stronger Practice Hub

We were absolutely delighted to send our wonderful Deputy, Jade Shepherd, to the HEART Midlands Early Years Stronger Practice Hub conference yesterday. A day designed to reconnect, recharge, and celebrate everything magical about the Early Years.

Jade came back refreshed, inspired, and full of ideas to bring into our setting. Hearing her excitement on the drive home reminded me exactly why investing in professional development matters, because when training fills our team with joy, enthusiasm, and creativity, it ripples straight through to the children.

The day featured two incredible keynote speakers, Greg Bottrill and Hannah Knowles, both champions of play, connection, and positivity. Jade even managed to get Greg’s new book KOSELIG: The Joyful Warmth of Time Together signed for our team, with a beautiful message reminding us to treasure our time together.

As someone who deeply admires Greg’s philosophy, that we are play people, and that play is powerful, purposeful, and profoundly human. I couldn’t be happier knowing Jade experienced such an uplifting day.

Here’s to continuing to learn, laugh, and lead with heart.



Art of Brilliance
Can I Go And Play Now..?
HEART - Midlands Early Years Stronger Practice Hub

Thank you for always inspiring my team!

10/09/2026

October Teacher Training Day Update

We wanted to let our families know that although the school has a Teacher Training Day on Friday 9th October, preschool will be open as normal on that day.

Our own Teacher Training Day will be held later in the year, as we need to use it for some specific staff training. Once the date is confirmed, it will be added straight onto Tapestry along with all of our other key dates.

This is the only date not yet published on Tapestry, simply because it hasn’t been finalised. Thank you so much for your patience, and apologies for any confusion caused.

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to get in touch. We’re always happy to help.

07/09/2026

Preschool Sessions Available for Reception Children During Staggered Start

As Reception class are operating a staggered start this September, we understand how challenging this period can be for families, especially when you’re trying to balance work, routines, and helping your child settle confidently into their new school environment.

To support you during this transition, we are offering additional preschool sessions for children who attended our setting last year.

Session Details
- Available to: Children who were part of our preschool cohort last academic year
- Cost: £8.50 per hour
- Purpose: To provide familiar, consistent care during Reception settling‑in days
- Spaces: Limited availability, offered on a first‑come, first‑served basis
- Due to insurance we can only offer spaces for children under 5 years.

These sessions are designed to give children a smooth, reassuring bridge between preschool and Reception, while giving families a little more flexibility during the staggered start period.

If you would like to book a space or need more information, please contact us as soon as possible, we expect these sessions to fill quickly.

We hope this helps make the transition into Reception a little easier for you and your child.

01/09/2026

Our lovely friends over at Kingsway Children's Centre have sent over information for their magical free event!! It really is a wonderful experience.

Dear all,

We’re delighted to join Sonrisa Arts again to invite families to this playful and magical event, after last year’s success.

Please share with your families this amazing opportunity.

Families need to book their free tickets either using the link below.


https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sonrisa-dance-in-the-dark-age-3-and-their-grown-ups-royal-spa-centre-tickets-1994654192384?aff=oddtdtcreator

Many thanks for your continued support.

DANCE IN THE DARK - A FREE DANCE AND MUSIC PERFORMANCE FOR AGES 3+ AT THE ROYAL SPA CENTRE

27/08/2026

. 🌟 Our Preschool Amazon Wish List 🌟

As many of you know, we are a small charity‑run preschool, and we are incredibly lucky to have such supportive families and a wonderful community around us. Over the years, lots of parents have kindly asked if there are any resources we would find useful in the classroom, especially when birthdays come around and families choose to gift a book or a small item for the children instead of sweets.

With that in mind, we’ve put together a Preschool Amazon Wish List. These are not things we need, and there is absolutely no pressure or expectation for anyone to purchase anything. It’s simply a collection of resources that would be exciting for the children to explore and that our staff could use to create some really lovely activities.

Some items are small and practical, and others are more “wishful thinking” the sorts of things we would love to invest in when we have spare funds or receive donations for the preschool. Think of it as a little window into what we’re aiming for in the future to enrich our learning environment.

If you ever find yourself wanting to contribute something to the preschool whether for a birthday, a celebration, or just because this list might give you a few ideas. But again, there is no obligation at all. Your support, kindness, and the joy your children bring every day are already more than enough.

Thank you for being such a thoughtful and generous community. We appreciate you more than you know. 💛

https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/1HG70DP53X3UM?ref_=wl_share

27/08/2026

. 🌼 One Week to Go! 🌼

This time next week we’ll be opening our doors for the start of the 2026–2027 academic year, and the whole team is super excited.

We can’t wait to welcome our new families and to see our returning families again!

It's always such a special moment when the classroom comes back to life with little voices, big smiles, and all those wonderful quirks that make each child who they are.

For me, this is one of my favourite times of the year. Watching the children settle, seeing their confidence grow, and supporting them as they explore our environment is truly magical. It’s also the time when I get to see staff in all their glory, using their skills, their warmth, and their creativity to make every child feel comfortable, safe, and ready to shine in a new environment.

We’ve been busy getting the classroom ready with new resources, fresh ideas, and lots of thoughtful touches from the team.

This will be our first full year together as the staff team we are now, and we’re all incredibly excited to make positive changes and create a magical start to their education journey.

We can’t wait to see you all very soon.

Best wishes

Becky.

26/08/2026

If anyone is struggling for uniform, the Sydney Centre still has some available to take for free.

If you have just pulled out all of last year's uniform in an attempt to make it last a few more months and unfortunately it doesn't fit, please consider donating it.

Plenty of school uniform left. Please call in to have a look and take what you need. Sorry, but we can't take individual requests for what is there, but once it's gone, it's gone!

Call in to browse and take what you need - Quick!!

26/08/2026

(This has been emailed to parents but I'm sharing it here incase anyone misses it)

Hello everyone,

We hope you’ve all had a gentle and enjoyable summer in whatever way suited your families. Preschool will be reopening on Thursday 3rd September, and we are really looking forward to welcoming all the children back and hearing about their adventures over the holidays.

If any parents would like their child to have a settling‑in visit before starting, please contact me and we can arrange this. Please note that this may delay their official start date. If you would prefer your child to begin on Monday 7th September and have settling‑in sessions on Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th, that is absolutely fine. We will always work around our families as best we can.

We understand that settling in can be challenging, especially as we are a term‑time setting with limited flexibility. If you have any concerns or would like to talk through anything, please feel free to get in touch. We also know that some families may have had a difficult summer, and if you need support, please remember we operate an open‑door policy. Nothing is too big or too small.

I have sent out Tapestry join requests to any parents who are not yet connected. These have been sent to the email originally used when your child joined. If you would like an additional parent, or relative added to your child’s account, we are more than happy to do so we just need their name and email address.

A key dates form will be sent out as soon as possible. We are currently confirming dates with the school so that our term dates and training days align, helping families with siblings avoid additional days off work.

Uniform information has already been shared and is also available on our page. Please do join our page, as we will be using both Facebook and Tapestry to keep parents updated throughout the year.

It is essential that all families are signed up to Tapestry, as our payment system and invoices will be moving over to Tapestry this year.

All staff will be completing Pediatric First Aid training on Tuesday 2nd September and on Monday 1st September we will be preparing the classroom ready for your little ones and so if you would like a chat on the phone please do feel free to call us.

We are genuinely excited to see the children we haven’t seen all summer and to meet our new families.

We can’t wait to welcome you all back soon.

Warm regards,

Becky & The Pre-School Team