Terms & Times

Term Dates

Barcombe Playgroup term dates correlate with those of Barcombe School. The term dates for the school year 2023/2024 are as follows:

Term 1

Monday 4 September – Friday 20 October

October Break

Term 2

Monday 30 October – Friday 15 December

Christmas Break

Term 3

Tuesday 2 January – Friday 9 February

February Break

Term 4

Monday 19 February – Thursday 28 March

April Break

Term 5

Monday 15 April – Friday 24 May

May Break

Term 6

Monday 3 June – Friday 23 July

Summer Break

Opening Times

Barcombe Playgroup is open from 9am to 2.45pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and 9am to 12.30pm on Tuesdays and Fridays, during term time. Children can be dropped off from 8.50am onwards.

Children can attend for mornings or afternoons, or whole days, depending on availability. It is advisable to call us to put your child’s name on our waiting list as early as possible as our numbers tend to reach capacity.

Lunchtime is between 12.30pm and 1.30pm on the days that we are open until 2.45pm. Children must bring a packed a lunch.

Settling In

We recommend that parents make several visits to the Playgroup with their child before they actually start to help familiarise them with the setting. We want your child’s first experience of Playgroup to be a happy one and rely on your help in settling your child in.

It may be necessary for you to spend some time with your child once he/she has begun to make the settling-in process successful. You are welcome to stay for as long as it takes for your child to settle. Each child is different so there are rules about how long the settling-in process should take.
The staff are happy work with you to decide on how to best help your child settle smoothly into Playgroup.

Moving on to School

Barcombe Playgroup has very good links with Barcombe village primary school.

Every Wednesday morning we visit the school sports hall, where the children play ball games and take part in other physical activities and games. Through these weekly visits the children become familiar with the school surroundings which then helps with their transition into reception class when they start school.

We have termly visits from the reception class teacher at Barcombe school, offering the children the chance to familiarise themselves with their prospective teacher and vice versa.

In the final term before school our school leavers visit the reception class at Barcombe several times and stay a while for some play and story time. This gives them their first taste of school life and is invaluable in smoothing their transition to school when the time comes.

The Playgroup is also regularly involved in village activities such as fun days, street parties, summer fairs and other community events.