Shipdham Pre-School

27/08/2026

Preschool Update – Start of Term

We are still waiting for confirmation as to whether we will be able to access and use our preschool building at the beginning of term. We appreciate that this uncertainty is frustrating, and we are doing everything we can to get a clear answer as soon as possible.

In the meantime, we have been working on a backup plan. If we are unable to use our preschool building, our intention is to temporarily operate from Bullock Park Hall, at least for the first week of term, so that we can continue providing childcare for as many of our families as possible.
We understand that using an alternative venue may cause some difficulties and disruption, particularly while we are working to get everything set up, but our priority is to keep your children’s childcare running wherever we safely can.

Unfortunately, due to a prior booking at Bullock Park Hall, Thursday may be the one day when we are unable to operate from the hall. We are continuing to look at all available options for this day and will update you as soon as we know more. However, for this reason our first day back will be Friday 4th September.

For our new starters, we also want to reassure you that we are considering what will be best for your children during this uncertain period. If we are unable to return to our preschool building at the start of term, we may need to delay settle sessions and start dates until we are able to return to our usual setting. We feel this may help to avoid introducing children to a temporary environment and then having to move them again shortly afterwards, which could cause unnecessary distress and disruption during what is already a big transition for them. We will contact each family individually if this becomes necessary.

We will keep you informed as soon as we receive confirmation about access to the preschool and will provide clear information about arrangements for the first week.

Thank you so much for your patience, understanding and support while we work through this unexpected situation. We know this is not ideal for anyone, but we are doing our very best to minimise the disruption to our children and families.

Shipdham Preschool Team

13/08/2026

Important Update for Preschool Families

We wanted to make you aware that there has been a fire at the school site today.

As far as we are currently aware, the preschool building has not been affected, and we are awaiting further information regarding the situation.

We will continue to monitor things closely and will keep all preschool families updated with any information that may affect preschool sessions or arrangements.
The last Stay and Play session planned for next Wednesday will unfortunately be cancelled.

Thank you for your understanding, and please bear with us while we establish the full situation.

11/08/2026

A little reminder to please check your childcare funding before the deadline.

If you are currently receiving, or are hoping to receive, funded childcare from September, please make sure you have applied or renewed your funding and reconfirmed your details on the relevant portal before the deadline of 31 August 2026.

For families accessing the Working Parent Entitlement (up to 30 hours), you must have a valid HMRC eligibility code in place by 31 August for the autumn term. If you already have a code, please log into your childcare account and check that your details are up to date and that you have reconfirmed your eligibility.

Please don’t leave this until the last minute, as delays with applications or renewals could mean that your funding is not available when your child starts with us in September.

Please remember that it is the parent/carer’s responsibility to apply and keep their funding eligibility up to date, so please take a few minutes to check your account before the deadline.

If you have any questions or are unsure what you need to do, please speak to us and we will be happy to point you in the right direction.

11/08/2026

Hello, hope everyone is having a lovely Summer.

Leavers 2026, You should be receiving your children's Tapestry learning journals link via email for you to download as PDF today. If you do not get an email or have trouble with your download, please let me know and we can send it to you personally.

Enjoy the rest of your Summer

10/08/2026

We hope to see you all this Wednesday from 10.00 to 12.00 for another stay and play session. This week will be water play themed fun.
Our final session on Wednesday 19th August will be raising funds for Breast Cancer Research and will be afternoon tea themed. All proceeds from this session will be donated, so we hope to see lots of you then.

29/07/2026

As we continue transforming our preschool outdoor environment, we’d like to take a moment to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us. Community support makes such a difference, and we are incredibly grateful.

A special thank you to:

• James and Robert for all their hard work with the new fencing.
• Peter for keeping our grounds looking fantastic with the grass cutting.
• Colin for giving his time to strim and tidy the outdoor areas.
• Abigail and Taylor Hawthorne for providing wooden stools and stepping stones.
• Everyone that has answered our calls for donations and provided ice pops and Lollies during the hot weather
• The Thomas Bullock Trust and Ben for funding and carrying out the painting of our preschool building, giving it a wonderful new lease of life.
• Shipdham Parish Council for their generous grant towards our Garden Refresher Project.
• All of our preschool families for your donations to our Garden Glow Up appeal and for supporting our fundraising events throughout the year. Every contribution has helped us improve our children’s learning environment.
• Our wonderful Preschool Committee for their continued support, encouragement and commitment to our preschool.
• And finally, thank you to our amazing preschool team. Your dedication, enthusiasm and willingness to roll up your sleeves and get involved in every project, whether it’s moving equipment, painting, planting, cleaning or coming up with new ideas.

We are incredibly fortunate to have such a caring and supportive community surrounding our preschool. Every act of kindness, every donation, and every helping hand has contributed to creating a beautiful space where our children can learn, explore and thrive.

From all of us at Shipdham Preschool, thank you for supporting us in what we do and for helping us make it all possible.

29/07/2026

Thank you to everyone who came along to our first Stay and Play of the summer holidays. It was lovely to see so many familiar and new faces enjoying the garden together.

As many of you will have noticed, our building has had a fresh new coat of paint and we've installed an improved play surface, making the space even more welcoming and enjoyable for the children.

This is just the beginning! We have lots more exciting improvements planned over the coming weeks, and we can't wait to share them with you. Thank you for your continued support – it's wonderful to see our preschool community enjoying the changes.
We look forward to seeing you next Wednesday 10.00 - 12.00

22/07/2026

Can You Help Our Garden Glow Up?

As many of you know, we’re busy transforming our preschool outdoor area into a beautiful, natural space where our children can explore, create and learn through play.

We’re on the lookout for a few items that you may have tucked away at home or know where we could source locally:

* Wooden cable reels (similar to the ones pictured) to turn into activity tables and seating.
* Large tree logs for log stools. Log slices for stepping stones.
* Thick natural rope

If you have any of these items that you no longer need, or know of a local business that may be able to donate them, we’d love to hear from you.

Thank you to everyone who has already supported our Garden Glow Up project. Every donation, no matter how big or small, helps us create a wonderful outdoor learning environment for our children.

Please comment below or send us a message if you can help. Thank you for supporting Shipdham Preschool. 🌿

20/07/2026

Watch This Space...
There's lots of exciting changes happening at Preschool this week as we begin transforming our outdoor garden into an even more inspiring space for our children.
We can't wait to share the finished result with you.
Keep an eye on our page over the coming days for progress updates and a first look at the changes. We think you're going to love what's taking shape.

Garden Glow Up - is a project to create a safe, inclusive outdoor learning and play environment for child… Maxine Hinde needs your support for Garden Glow Up