It is with great sadness that after 35 years of providing a community service, WUFA Pre-School closed its doors on March 31st 2023. For advice on other local childcare providers please visit the Families Information Service on https://fisd.oxfordshire.gov.uk/kb5/oxfordshire/directory/home.page which lists registered childcare, early education, family support and activities for children and families with a dedicated area for parents of disabled children and those with SEN or additional needs.
WUFA Established in 1987
WUFA: Established in 1987 and set up as a Charity to service Woodstock families and surrounds.
At WUFA we offer a range of services:
- Pre-School for children aged 2 – 4 years which is open from 8.30 am – 3.00 pm.
- Extended Pre-School Day 3.00 pm – 5.30 pm (From 3 years old)
- After School Club Sessions 3.15 – 5.30 pm (Our dedicated team can collect from School)
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Pre-School
At WUFA our main aim is to help Children to feel safe, secure and increase and develop independence, to achieve this we offer a wide curriculum. We have a balance of learning inside and outside and Children are continually monitored and observed when appropriate. These observations can be easily accessed by parents through a handy online journal. Here you can view photo’s, read our observations, comment and post yourself. It is specific to you and a really lovely way of seeing what your child does during their time with us.
Throughout the year the Children are learning and developing towards the Early Years Foundation Stage, this is done at their own pace and is based around our Curriculum and Children’s interests. We have an open approach and we like to get to know our families well, outside our front door we make a note of what they have done and eaten that day.
As a Charity Community and Fundraising plays a huge part of our WUFA week, we aim to take the children into our Community as often as possible to the Park, Residential Care Home, Fire/Police Station. This gives Children a fantastic insight into the World around them and even a short walk can be a fantastic learning opportunity.
WUFA has two lovely outdoor areas one is set up daily for all areas of learning and our second garden is where we look at planting, watering, growing and eating. Learning can be fun both inside and outside at WUFA!
After School Club/Extended Pre-School
Children love coming to our Clubs, our highly qualified team prepare a wealth of activities each day in a setting that is age appropriate. Activities are in line with our Curriculum and include Celebrations and Festivals.
“Our sons have really enjoyed their time at the WUFA after school club. They have found it a supportive, happy, relaxed environment where they’ve had lots of fun. Thank you!!!”
OFSTED
A copy of our OFSTED report can be found here: https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/16/EY551987
Mission Statement
To work in partnership with families and the community to provide a safe, stimulating and nurturing environment environment so all children can learn and develop through play
Management Committee
WUFA is run by a volunteer management committee made up of parents. When you enrol your child at our setting you automatically become a member of the WUFA CIO. This means we do have an expectation of support and we will ask for it on a regular basis. As a Charity we do not make profit, we with your support work hard to fund raise and all money raised goes straight back into your child’s setting. Please do let us know if you would like to join our dedicated committee or our fundraising sub committee.
Update on Planning Applications involving WUFA September 2022
As some of you may be aware Woodstock Primary School must expand due to the large amount of housing that is currently being built in Woodstock. This planning application has now been granted so WUFA will have no alternative but to move off the Woodstock Primary School site to a brand new building on the Park View Development site.
We have no fixed timeline for this move, however we have been reassured by the local authority and developers that we should remain on here in situ for the next academic year (September 2022 – July 2022) We will update you as and when we have more information.
In the meantime we are very much still offering Early Education from 8.30am – 5.30pm Monday to Friday (Term Time only/ 3pm on Fridays) We also run Easter and Summer Clubs so don’t hesitate to get in touch!
The New Building:
We have been fully involved in the planning and design of the new building. It has lots of space inside with some lovely additional rooms such as a large kitchen, bright hallway and a wellbeing room which will be perfect for small group teaching and 1:1 sessions. Outside there will be 2 large gardens one of which we hope to turn into a kitchen garden. We will have ample parking for cars and bikes which we know will make your drop off much easier!
Note: Drawing to follow
Fundraising and Events to Date:
October 2021 Blenheim 7K: One of our very supportive parents raised over £500
September 2020: During lockdown the local authority provided us with a grant so we could built an outdoor covered area, this enabled us to lower the risk of COVID by encouraging outdoor learning all year around for longer periods of time.
June 2020 Go Fund Me: £1750 Raised by Woodstock Community to support our setting during Lockdowns
Saturday 14th September 2019: “Kidstock” This fantastic family event was a complete success, we were joined by over 200 hundred of Woodstock’s local community and raised a whopping £2,581.98 above and beyond fantastic. With thanks to all that were involved and watch this space for any future fundraising plans/news.
March 2019 – Blenheim Bursary Fund: WUFA was awarded 4.5K from the Blenheim Bursary, this was fantastic news and we are very grateful to all involved. This Bursary enabled the setting to purchase an agility wall for our outdoor area and an ICT touch table. Both have been a huge success and enhanced our children’s learning and experiences whilst at WUFA.
Click here for information on Blenheim Bursary
2018: WUFA achieved a huge amount thanks to this fantastic communities support. We raised over 6 thousand pounds and this money has enabled us to purchase new and exciting bespoke Mud Kitchens, Wooden shop front, new Bin Store, safer entrance gates and fantastic age appropriate equipment to enhance our indoor and outdoor areas.
Community Defibrillator December 2018: Our fundraising objective this year was to purchase and fully install a community defibrillator. To enable this to happen we had to raise enough funds to have an entirely new front gate and a lot of wiring dug into our front garden. We did it, the AED is now installed and fully functioning. Please do continue to read and click on the link below to see how our training went. We are also very proud to announce that we had a small mention in the January Issue of “Under Fives” a Pre-School Learning Alliance publication and we will be featuring in a full page article in February 2019.
Monday 28th January 2019 @ 6 pm – FREE Community Defibrillator Training
This FREE training was a huge success and we hope to hold a further one later in the Summer. To find out more about this training and why we held it please click on the link below:
Monday 29th October 2018 – The “Just Because Raffle”: This community raffle was open to EVERYONE and thanks to all of our friends and business owners we were able to raise an outstanding 1.7 K.
Saturday 5th May 2018 – Community Fun Day @ WUFA – Celebrating 30 years: The aim of this open day was to was to raise funds for a new front gate, community AED and garden equipment to enhance the outdoor play area. We were joined by Trish Woodstock’s Mayor, Councillors, members of the public who helped set up WUFA 30 years ago and lots of happy children and parents!
This event was sponsored by Flowers Estate Agents and all photography kindly by Jay Flowers
WUFA Manager:
Kate Bailey
WUFA Deputy Manager:
Donna Pratley
Current CIO Committee:
Nadine Pettitt (Chair)
Gareth Gwilt
Kylie Henderson
A Note from our current chair Nadine,
I was previously on the WUFA committee a number of years ago. My role then was predominantly fundraising but it gave me great insight into what a fantastic setting this is and an absolute asset to Woodstock!
I have now come back and stepped into the role as Chair, as a fellow childcare professional I feel I can bring a wealth of knowledge and understanding . My aim is to have a cohesive and open relationship with all of the team and help WUFA through this challenging time
If you would like to join our small but dynamic committee please do get in touch!
Nadine