Wealden Times | WT200 | October 2018 | Kitchen & Bathroom supplement inside

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Going back to work?
Perhaps you want to go back to work now you have
seen your children through their first years but do not
know how this can be managed logistically? Some
parents are lucky enough to have family close at hand
to help, but however keen to look after grandchildren
or nephews and nieces, they may still be working themselves,
and life can become a tricky jigsaw of childcare and work.
At Fosse Bank we try to make life easier for working
parents. Little things help, such as holding early morning
meetings where possible, or starting evening events at
6.30 to fit with the local train service from London. This
summer we made a rather bigger change to the school.
Last May we made the decision to run the school for fifty weeks
a year and this was our first summer with the school open
throughout the school holidays. This was a huge success with
many parents using this facility to work round family holidays
and work commitments. A great advantage, particularly for our
two-year-olds, is that they have stayed in familiar surroundings
with familiar teachers and friends. Led by Mrs Gill Palmer,
Nursery Manager, and a team of our own staff, it has been a
real pleasure for me to drop in during the holidays and see the
children so obviously happy and busy. I was often met with
just a note on the door saying ‘we are in the Yurt’, or ‘we are in
the forest, or ‘find us on the tennis courts’ and so forth. It has,
of course, been brilliant weather for investigating those distant
parts of the twenty-eight acres that make up Fosse Bank.
The holiday club also had an unexpected advantage
allowing new children to settle in and get to know
their classmates before our September start.
Wraparound care with breakfast from 7:30am and a flexible pick
up time up to 6:00pm are also a boon to busy parents, especially
those who take advantage of the ten minute walk to Hildenborough
railway station, and the children LOVE after school club.
Following a fairly formal tea time, if the weather is reasonable, the
children do what many of us did after school as children, they are
outside on bikes, tricycles and little cars, running and climbing and
making dens and friends. It helps that it is our Forest School staff
who run the after school activities as adventure is in their DNA!
Whatever the children are doing, after school or in the holidays,
they are happy and safe, learning and being sociable. And
that is what parents tell me they want for their children.
Miss Alison Cordingley, Headmistress
Fosse Bank School, Mountains, Noble Tree Road, Hildenborough TN11 8ND
www.fossebankschool.co.uk • Tel: 01732 834212 • E-mail: admissions@fossebankschool.co.uk