Magic Box Pre-School

Books borrowed for home, outdoor water painting and village-school visits gave Magic Box Pre-School a clear community character in June 2023. Its base is Wellow Village Hall, Wellow, Bath, BA2 8QA, and it has 20 places in total.

At its June 2023 inspection, Ofsted judged the provision Good, found safeguarding effective and reported good progress, including for children receiving additional funding and those learning English as an additional language. Children attending then were aged two to four. That age range describes the inspection-time group.

In June 2023, learning followed children's interests: dinosaur books encouraged reading, while clipboards and pens gave older children opportunities to draw shapes and write numbers. Younger children painted outdoors with water. These were different ways into literacy, rather than one task for everyone.

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care. Here, the June 2023 activities brought those requirements into play: children investigated floating and sinking, talked about how full containers were and practised counting and addition.

Community experiences extended beyond the hall. In June 2023, children attended events at the nearby church, visited the village school and tackled physical challenges on equipment in the adjacent park. School visits helped familiarise children with a different environment.

Family days included Father's Day breakfast, bringing children, dads and granddads together. A wake and shake group session also featured in June 2023, although younger children's participation in some group activities needed more support.

In June 2023, each child's key person gathered information from parents at the start. Some staff continued building that picture over subsequent weeks, but others collected too little, and contact with other settings children attended was sometimes slow. This weakened the consistency and speed of planning around individual needs.

Independence was practised in small, useful steps that June. Children helped put toys away and changed their shoes with guidance; older children buttered toast and cleared their belongings after lunch. Staff also encouraged persistence with tasks, giving children opportunities to try things for themselves.

In June 2023, opening hours were 9am to 3pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, during term time. These were opening hours, rather than separately defined morning or afternoon bookings.

The pre-school received funding for free early education for children aged two, three and four years in June 2023. That is a dated funding position, rather than a guarantee of an individual child's entitlement.

• Starting information. June 2023 practice varied in how fully staff gathered children's needs and contacted other settings. At a visit, ask how the key person now brings those contributions together before planning begins.
• Younger children's group learning. In June 2023, some younger children were unclear about group tasks and participated less fully. Ask how activities are adapted to help them understand and join in.
• Attendance fit. The June 2023 timetable covered Monday, Wednesday and Friday in term time. Discuss the current attendance pattern alongside your family's weekly commitments.

Magic Box Pre-School suits families drawn to village-based early learning, with books, outdoor exploration and community experiences forming the strongest features of its June 2023 provision. The dated timetable points towards families seeking term-time attendance on the specified weekdays. The two practical questions are how starting information is gathered and how younger children are supported during shared activities.