What is Kindergarten?

Discover the Fairfield Pre-school experience

The Kindergarten, Fairfield’s wonderful pre-school offer, aims to provide a warm, caring and stimulating environment for children aged 3-4, and welcomes children from their third birthday. Situated at the heart of our independent prep school, the Kindergarten is your child’s first experience of school life. It provides a vibrant educational setting where children discover a curiosity for learning that will last them a lifetime. 

What does a typical day in Kindergarten look like?  

The Kindergarten children spend most of their time in our stimulating ‘free-flow’ outdoor and indoor areas where they learn through planned, purposeful play and through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activities. Alongside this, we actively encourage awareness of other environments within the School and children will regularly take part in enhanced activities such as Forest School, Music, Modern Foreign Languages, PE, and Ballet.  

Our Kindergarten curriculum has been especially developed to bring learning to life. Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) education at Fairfield aims to recognise the unique child and develop resilient, capable, confident and self-assured individuals. We also focus on creating positive relationships and providing secure environments where opportunities and experiences respond to the individual needs of the child.  

When it comes to lunchtime, our dedicated Pre-school catering team means we have complete control over the sourcing of our food and menu planning, enabling us to meet a wide range of dietary, cultural and religious needs, while providing a delicious, healthy and nutritious lunch. Kindergarten staff members are always on hand to help encourage good table manners and sensible eating habits during lunch.  

How will my child be supported during their time at Kindergarten?  

Kindergarten children are each assigned a ‘Key Person,’ who is their Class Teacher, to ensure that everyone has a member of staff who knows them best and is available to discuss any questions or concerns you may have. We have excellent staff-to-child ratios. 

We value the strong and collaborative relationships that we have with our parents to focus on providing a seamless learning experience. You can expect to receive regular updates on your child’s learning, including photos, observations and comments from Class Teachers, to build a record of your child’s experiences and developments during their time with us.  

How seamless is the transition from Kindergarten to Reception and what activities do the children take part in which help them to prepare?  

Our team of highly qualified Kindergarten staff strive to ensure the transition between school years is as seamless as possible. Towards the end of the Summer term, we run an exciting transition programme where those children joining Reception get the opportunity to experience their new classroom and to meet their new teacher. Whilst this is a more structured programme, by this point, children have already developed familiarity with lots of different areas of our wider multi-school campus and easily recognise many familiar faces.  

Throughout their time in Kindergarten, children thoroughly enjoy Forest School, spending time at both our Forest School site and the designated outdoor learning area. Taught by our qualified Forest School Leader, sessions aim to cultivate a deep awareness of the natural world and build skills such as independence, confidence, problem-solving, teamwork and imagination.  

The children also have specialist teaching in Music and Singing, Modern Foreign Languages, PE and regular Ballet classes. These experiences provide the children with an enjoyable and varied curriculum whilst also developing their concentration skills, ultimately helping to facilitate a smooth and seamless transition to the next step of their learning journey. 

Why choose our pre-school?   

• Fully qualified teachers guide your child’s development.  

• Specialist subject teachers in Ballet, Modern Foreign Languages, Music, Forest School, and PE.  

• 30 hours of government funding accepted, ensuring high-quality early education with financial support.  

• Purpose-built facilities include a dedicated dining room, kitchen and three spacious classrooms.  

• Engaging indoor and outdoor, free-flow learning spaces. 

• Interactive cinema-standard projection for an immersive, sensory room experience.  

Holistic learning approach encourages curiosity, creativity and independence.