Moving Premises

[Guest]

Hi all

 

We are being forced out of our village hall where we currently hold our pre-school session. Long story, but we have considered so many different venues in our locality to be able to continue to provide preschool education for local people, and we just cant find anywhere. That is until the local pub landlady said she would be willing for us to use her funtion room, which isnt used much in the daytime. We have sent out questionnaires to parents to get their views and majority are happy. Some are concerned about the image of the pre-school being in a pub, others are concerned that the pub is at the side of a very busy A road.

 

Any body else out there run from a function room at the back of a pub?

 

Anybody else operate next to a busy road? What safety measures have you put in place to ensure safety of the children when arriving/departing, going outdoors to play?

 

We are hoping that Ofsted will be ok with the premises or else we will have to close, which would be a shame for all concerned. (not a very settling time for staff at the moment!)

 

Thanks

[Guest]

Wow what a place to operate from!

 

Not heard of a Pre School operating from a pub but I do know of a church who had the same issues and they met in a pub function room.

[Panders]

We rent our hall which is in one corner of a very busy crossroads in our large town. Fortunately the children come into a car park before entering our hall via some some steps up to the hall. The entrance to the car park has a five bar gate which we lock when the children are out there playing. I have a member of staff on the door who takes the register as the children arrive and go straight in, and of course, who is there to make sure there are no escapees while parents are taking their leave.

 

To be perfectly honest - some of our parents are not always that vigilent when they are leaving and we have seen children running out of the car park on to the pavement outside!

 

it is parental responsiblity getting them in and out at arrival and departure I feel but you will obviously need robust plans for when you take the children out. Our adults just ensure the gate is locked and a couple of other areas are "plugged", we also have large photos of areas we deem to be unsuitable for the children to go to in the grounds and gather the children together on the mat and go over the safety aspects before they go outside, showing them the photos to give them a visual reminder

[Guest]

I cant see any reason why parents would object to a pub room - so long as the general public have no access to the children , toileting is separate from bar /pub users and they can come and go using a separate door . \lizzz

[Guest]

And just think,when it all gets too much - you can pop next door and have a swift half

[Rea]

And just think,when it all gets too much - you can pop next door and have a swift half

 

 

Oh I'm glad someone said that

[Cait]

We are on what is now a busy main road since the bridges all went down in the floods - all the traffic from north of the bridge has to come via the village to the only remaining bridge over the river, so we get juggernauts and all sorts!

 

It's scary, and we had a mum in a head on crash with a bus yesterday after she'd picked her daughter up. The bus driver was cutting corners apparently. Everyone's ok, shaken, not stirred!

[Guest]

Hi all

 

Thank you for your replies. Maybe there arent many that run from a function room! I'll let you know what Ofsted think of it and if we get the go-ahead.

 

Thanks for the comments regarding safety with the road. I think Panders made a helpful suggestion about having robust plans in place when children arrive and leave and when we go out to the play area/beer garden! The idea of photos is also helpful. We are fortunate in that the couple who run the pub have made the outdoor area child friendly so the children cant escape anywhere. We just need a new gate and latch so it can be locked from the other side.

 

Yes, the entrance is totally separate from the main entrance and the function room has its own toilets so we may be able to have free flow(!) instead of one member of staff taken out of the main hall taking children to the toilet.

 

Cait, I'm sorry to hear about the recent accident involving one of your parents. Will you be able to complain to the highways department to get some signs up warning of your groups existance so traffic will slow down.

 

regarding nipping next door - I may need to put something in the contract to stop such behaviour whilst a work!!

 

Annabell