About Us
St Mary’s Playgroup CIO formerly known has St Mary’s Playgroup is a registered charity and is run by a dedicated group of trustees, the playgroup was established in 1985 and changed charitable status to become a ‘Charitable Incorporated Organisation’, in 2023 and is located near the centre of Faversham, in the grounds of St Mary’s of Charity Primary School. We have our own mobile building with a secure fenced outside area, we also use the schools large playing field.
We provide a high standard of care and education for children. Our staff are qualified too or working towards a level 3 qualification in Early Years relevant studies, our staff continue to update their knowledge and skills in all areas of childcare and child development. All staff receive safeguarding training and attend 12 hour, paediatric first aid training.
We are registered to care for children from 2 years to school age and staff work hard to ensure that they provide a curriculum which meets individual needs and enables children to reach their full potential.
We provide 10 x 3hour sessions each week during term time for mixed age groups, our fully funded sessions are explained in our pattern of delivery (See session times and funding)
The playgroup strives to have strong partnerships with parents/guardians and recognises that parents/guardians are children’s first educators and value the contributions they make to children’s learning, helping us to see the whole child when making developmental assessments. We provide opportunities for parents/guardians to get involved in playgroup life and work in partnerships with them to ensure children’s needs are meet and their development is enhanced.
St Mary’s Playgroup is registered for Free Early Education funding for 2, 3 and 4 year olds, we keep our session fees and charges affordable, we do not charge parents/guardians extra for providing children with morning or afternoon snack, topping up sun cream, baby wipes, nappy sacks or the occasional nappy, if there are no more in the child’s bag, but we will ask parents to replace nappies used, the children’s wellbeing and comfort is of utmost importance to us.
Our Building
Our building is used solely by the playgroup, it was refurbished in 2015, using grants from local charity supporters and foundations including Benstead House, Swale Borough Council, and funds raised by the committee and staff at that time. This refurbishment project ensured that the playgroup could continue to operate whilst making the building more energy efficient by adding new heating/air cooling system and double glazed windows. The outside of the building was clad with wooden boards enhancing the appearance of the building.
We have continued to enhance the outside learning environment, in January 20, we were lucky to been gifted a large shed from Dunster House, this has made a big difference to being able to access and store a greater variety of resources safely and was greatly appreciated as it enabled us to move forward to enhance other areas. In July 2020, we had the fence and safety surface replaced to ensure we have a safe and secure area for the children to play outside.
We were lucky to secure a grant from The Edward Vincent Foundation to improve our outside learning space we have had block paving laid, replaced the tall fences, purchased small storage sheds to ensure ease of access to resources. Other enhancements have been to improve the mud kitchen area including a water pump for the children to use independently and purchase puddle suits for the children to be able to fully enjoy playing in the mud kitchen etc. We have made wooden planters to enable children to grow fruit and vegetables and purchased a small green house to enable us to start off our seedlings. In 2024, we gained accreditation as a ‘Natural Thinkers’ setting by providing children opportunities to explore the natural world around them.