Wheathampstead Playgroup is a community-based preschool. We have been providing early years education for the children of our village and beyond for the past 40 years. We aim to provide a happy, safe and stimulating environment where learning is achieved through play. This enables the children to follow a curriculum structured around the Government's Early Years Foundation Stage ("EYFS"). The Playgroup is a registered charity and is non-profit-making. All funds raised, whether through fees, via funding or from fundraising, go towards the running of the setting. It is run by Trustees and volunteering parents known as 'Friends of Playgroup'. In January 2011, Wheathampstead Playgroup moved from a church hall to new, purpose-built premises on Nurseries Road, based on a school site. Because of this many people believe that we are part of and supported financially by the school, which we are not. We are responsible for the upkeep of our rented premises as well as for the day-to-day running of the pre-school. Like most other early-years settings, we find that government funding is not high enough to cover the actual running costs. We have to rely on fundraising to ensure that we can keep providing our children with the best start possible to their education. We are proud of what Wheathampstead Playgroup provides for our village - and has been providing for 40 years - and it is important to us to ensure that we can keep working with children for many years to come.