The preschool room takes children in the year before grade one, which is eighteen children this year, and runs from eight until eleven.
Most of it is play, and deliberately so. Sand, water, blocks, dressing up, being read to, singing, and a good deal of running about in the yard. A four year old learns through their hands and their feet before anything else, and a room of four year olds sitting at desks copying letters is a room learning very little.
Two of the five mornings have some structure aimed at grade one: holding a pencil, recognising their own name in writing, counting objects to twenty, listening to a story and then answering a question about it, and lining up and sitting down when asked. That last one sounds trivial and is half of what makes the first week of grade one bearable for a child.
Families may stay for the first week and several do. A child who cries at the door on the fourth morning is normal and we will not tell you otherwise, and it almost always stops in the second week.
There is no charge. Bring a water bottle, a hat and a change of clothes, and expect all three to come home wet.