OUR PRESCHOOL

» Our Environment - Indoors
» Our Environment - Outdoors
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Our Preschool

Aylesbury Vale Academy Preschool offers nurturing, term‑time only early years education for children from the term after their second birthday until they start school.

As a preschool—not a nursery—our focus is on preparing little ones for their next educational step in a structured, supportive environment.

Operating 38 weeks a year (plus inset‑training days), we provide a mix of AM/PM sessions and 30‑hour places for up to 48 children at a time. We can offer both funded and privately funded places.

Availability of spaces depends on the ages of the children already enrolled in our Preschool. Priority will be given to children aged 3-4 to help prepare them for entry into Reception, while any remaining spaces will be offered to 2-3 year-olds. There will not be a fixed number of spaces for each age group, as this will vary based on the ages of the children already attending and the staffing ratios we can accommodate.

Our main intake is in the Autumn term; spaces in later terms cannot be guaranteed.

We offer a breakfast club and lunch club, that parents can book and pay for through the School Gateway app.

Children have a fruit and carb snack available to them in the morning and afternoon, along with milk and water.

Early Years Education

Our Environment - Indoors

Our cosy indoor environment is thoughtfully created to ensure the children have the best start at the AVA. There are planned areas of learning, with opportunities for child-initiated learning, where Key Carers can scaffold and develop their play alongside the children. There are authentic resources throughout the provision, ensuring children get to experience and play with 'real life' items to expand on their play opportunities.

The love of books is clear throughout, with baskets of books in each area, and the children enjoy sharing their favourite story, which is readily available for them to choose.

The team begin to make relationships with the new children and families before they begin, with home visits, stay and plays, and build up to their full session at preschool.

The communication- friendly setting has calm and neutral decor, with little enclosed spaces, which has been purposely chosen to enable our youngest learners to have a safe, calm space where they can feel secure and communicate their wants and needs.

We have 2 well-equipped classrooms, both with good-sized, attached bathrooms for the children with 3 cubicles in each one. We also have a purpose-built changing table room, for those still in nappies or pull-ups.
Personal care and hygiene are high on our agenda, ensuring children are supported and encouraged to become independent in their own care.
We have an environment, designed for the cohort of children we have; and we extend their play through adults scaffolding their chosen play, communication, invitations to play and following the children’s interests.
We use authentic resources within our setting, which the children incorporate naturally within their play.
We encourage curiosity and carefully plan for different children’s fascinations, alongside our broad themes across the year.
The preschool classrooms-
- Home corner role play
- Cosy reading nooks
- Maths zone
- Message centre
- Malleable area
- Creative area
- Small world
- Large carpet areas
- Loose parts
- Sensory tray
- Sand and water area
- Sensory tent

Click here to view photos of our pre-school indoor environment.

Our Environment - Outdoors

In our preschool garden, we have a continuation of our provision with lots of gross motor opportunities, including using the pirate ship and bikes, climbing, a new mud kitchen, messy play, looking at nature and changing seasons in our nature area, growing our own vegetables and exploration and investigations based on their interests.
The children love to watch and chat with their friends and siblings across the fence, a huge step in becoming part of the AVA community.
- The mud kitchen
- Sand and water play
- The tree stage
- Three bears house
- Seesaw and physical development area
- Construction
- Art zone
- Mark making
- Maths
- Nature area
- Allotment
- Pirate ship
- Riding on bikes

We love to join in with the other year groups, with event days, celebrations and reading partnerships.

We are proud of the provision we offer.

Early Years Garden

Early years garden - Preschool share the outdoor space with Reception, where they enjoy learning through play in a carefully designed environment, with invitations to play in all areas, linked curricular themes and Key Carers extend their play in the moment.