The Tin Hut

About us

The Tin hut was established over 60 years ago and was originally our only site until we acquired our Woolley Road site.

The Tin Hut is a great place for your young ones to begin their Pre-School journey, as it is homely and the qualified and caring staff offer a nurturing environment where children can begin to make relationships with other children with a wide variety of activities and resources for children to develop new skills and knowledge.

The Tin Hut is open 5 mornings a week from 9am - 12pm.

We accept children from 2 years, our sessions are £18 each. We also accept 2 year funding for working families.

We have three regular staff who work each day with the Children, They are Cassie, who is the leader at the Tin Hut and we have Jess and Lisa, both of whom had their own children at Matlock Pre-school previously.

The team at the Tin Hut will work closely with parents/carers to offer a tailored settling in process to help your children settle into Pre-School happily.

If you would like to book a visit before you decide to put your child's name down for a space please contact us on 01629 583639 or 07368855743

Our Curriculum and Pedagogical approach!

We believe that children learn best through play with supportive adults, who scaffold and interact with children during their play.

"Play is considered essential for brain development as it enhances curiosity, facilitating memory and learning" (Yogman, 2018)

We aim to provide an environment where children can access activities and resources that support them to learn in the 7 areas of learning. Activities on offer include:

Small world play, block play (large and small construction), quiet and cosy areas for reading stories, books, role play (home corner), open ended resources for role play, malleable and messy play opportunities, mark making equipment and materials, musical instruments and toys that encourage cause and effect, opportunities for climbing through, under and over, outdoor opportunities for riding trikes, scooters and wheeled toys, and a wonderful garden with trees, plants, and flowers to explore the outside world.

"By providing children with time, space and opportunity to play, they can experience new things and practice existing skills" (Bales, 2016)

These areas are Personal and Emotional Development, Communication and Language, Physical Development, Maths, Literacy, Understanding of the World and Expressive Arts and design.

We intend:

For children to feel safe and secure
For Children to be able to communicate their needs
For children to become independent in their self care and to independently choose activities and explore their environment
For children to enjoy playing with their friends
For children to be able to name their emotions and to begin to understand them
For children to be able to develop their fine and gross motor skills

Environment and Activities

We have a large playroom, with a variety of activities inside split into different areas.

The resources are carefully selected to ensure they are suitable for the children, they follow the children's current interests and are arranged so that they are accessible for the children to access independently.

We have a story of the week which we read each day so that the children get familiar with the story and by the end of the week begin to join in and repeat parts of the story. The following week we set up resources for the children to continue exploring the story in a different way.

We also ensure there is a mix of resources for example, role play, books, small world resources, building resources, musical instruments, drawing and painting materials and messy play.

We have two toilets and facilities for potty training and nappy changing and a small kitchen area where we can prepare our daily snack.

Our outside area is amazing it consists of a large garden which is split into 3 separate areas. We do go outside every session, unless the weather makes it unsafe to do so.

We have climbing equipment, slides, sand, water, ride on toys, tuff spots with a variety of resources, areas for gardening, and a fantastic nature area at the bottom of the garden with a willow dome, where we can enjoy stories, singing and when the weather allows to eat a picnic snack.

Our Routine

9:00am - Welcome to Pre-School. Come inside, staff support children to take off coats, hang belongings up and wash hands, before going off to play inside.

Free play inside. Children throughout the session can select their own activities or join in adult led activities.

10:00am - Tidy up time - staff encourage children to put tidy away the toys ready for story time

10.05am - Story time, story of the week, followed by self registration - children are shown their name card which they place on the registration board, before washing their hands for snack.

10:20am - Snack time (Toast, fruit, milk or water).

10:30am - Nappy changing and preparing for outside play

10:45am - Free play outside

11:35am - Tidy up time. Time to go inside

11:40am - Singing and/or dancing/show and tell.

11:55am - Coats on, collect belongings, sitting on the carpet ready for home time.

12.00pm - Home time - Parents/carers come inside to collect children from the carpet area.

This routine is not set in stone and is flexible to support children's needs and interests and to incorporate festivals, local events and different types of weather.