Oldfield Park Pre School

Daily access to the school playground and nature area extends play beyond Oldfield Park Pre School's classroom. Based at Oldfield Park Infant School in Bath, it combines play indoors with movement in the playground, activities in the garden and weekly use of the school hall. The school setting is part of everyday life here.

Children can join from age 2, and there are 38 places in total. At its June 2022 inspection, Ofsted judged the pre-school Good overall. Its current offer includes an online learning journal, practical help with toilet training and separately charged, optional PE and ballet sessions.

A volunteer parent committee oversees the charity, while the manager handles daily provision. Fundraising has paid for changes children can use directly, including replacement flooring, Astroturf in the garden and easier bathroom access. Morning, afternoon and full-day sessions give families different ways to arrange attendance.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care: play, conversation and practical experiences help children build skills across their day. Here, the routine moves between outdoor activity, cooking, creative work, songs and stories, with opportunities for children to choose activities and join adult-led experiences.

The classroom was refurbished in February 2024, replacing carpet with wood-effect safety flooring. Areas for construction, cooking and mark making sit alongside a larger home corner and a quiet space with cushions and fairy lights. That gives active play and quieter moments their own places within the room, rather than expecting every activity to share the same space.

Optional sessions bring visiting specialists into the hall. Bath City Football Foundation provides a 30-minute PE lesson on Wednesday mornings; Little Dancers runs a 30-minute ballet lesson on Thursday mornings. Both carry an additional charge.

Recent experiences show how children's interests can become something tangible. The End of term Tea Party in April 2026 grew out of pretend tea parties: children helped prepare food before eating together at decorated tables. In May 2026, Little City brought role play together with the school's Reception classes, using settings such as a café and police station.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor access has several parts. Children use the playground and nature area daily, while the garden opens during activity periods so they can move between inside and outside. The playground routine includes time for physical activity and opportunities to manage fruit and drinks themselves. Everyday tasks sit alongside the bigger movements.

The Longleat small animals team visited on 10 February 2026, bringing guinea pigs, a snake, cockroaches and a spider. Children could observe the creatures closely, with some opportunities to touch them gently while keepers explained more about them. It was the team's second year visiting the pre-school. Fundraising helps support experiences of this kind.

Outings have also included performances at The Egg, local walks, bus journeys and visits to shops. These give children experiences to bring back into play.

In June 2022, children helped decide what they wanted to learn next, including choosing resources for making fruit salad. They also explored growing food, showing strawberries and pea pods and talking about healthy eating. However, adults sometimes moved through questions too quickly, and activity planning did not consistently build on each child's individual starting point.

Relationships and Communication

Tapestry is the pre-school's online learning journal, combining photographs with staff comments about children's development. Parents can view entries through an app or browser and contribute photographs and comments from home. This creates a practical connection between family experiences and conversations with a child's key person.

In June 2022, children had close relationships with their key person, and staff knew families well. Parent play sessions also gave adults a chance to take part in learning: making food holders for birds helped families understand learning through play and meet other parents. Those are dated examples of partnership in practice, alongside today's Tapestry arrangements.

Parents can join the volunteer committee, which discusses finance, health and safety, and staffing at termly meetings and holds an annual meeting each October.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the June 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and SEND support strong, including early discussion with parents, involvement of outside professionals and resources or extra sessions purchased with additional funding. The current staff structure includes a SENCO role and designated safeguarding responsibilities.

Toilet training receives detailed practical support. Children can attend while using nappies or learning to use the toilet, with steps and toilet seats to help them feel secure. Staff move at the child's pace, help with clothing and share updates through Tapestry's care diary or conversations at collection. A door added in summer 2025 connects the room directly to the bathroom, making this part of self-care easier to incorporate into the day.

Welcome time includes Makaton signs, alongside conversation about feelings and behaviour. At lunch, an adult sits with children and encourages them to manage containers and clothing-related self-care skills are practised during changing. The emphasis is practical: children have opportunities to try manageable tasks, with help close by.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Oldfield Park Infant School, Dorset Close, Bath, BA2 3RF. Sessions run Monday to Friday: mornings from 9am to noon, afternoons from noon to 3pm, and full days from 9am to 3pm. A morning excludes lunchtime, while a full day includes time to eat the packed lunch brought from home.

An 8.30am start is offered to children with siblings at Oldfield Park Infants or Junior schools, with the additional time charged at the private rate. The recommended starting pattern is at least 6.5 hours each week across a minimum of 2 sessions; it is a recommendation rather than a stated compulsory booking minimum.

In June 2022, opening was during term time only. Admissions enquiries can be made by telephone or email, and registration uses a form. Attendance at this school-based pre-school does not guarantee a Reception place: families still apply through the local authority admissions process. Sharing a site can make the surroundings familiar, but the school application remains a separate decision.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered for eligible two-year-olds. The 15-hour entitlement starts from the term after a child's third birthday; additional funded hours under the 30 hours funded childcare initiative depend on eligibility and a funding code supplied to the pre-school. The pre-school caps the hours it offers at 26.25 per week, so the larger entitlement does not translate into that full number of hours here. Additional attendance can also be privately paid, subject to the setting's hours.

Families provide fruit for snack and a packed lunch, as well as nappies, wipes and nappy sacks where needed; a separate voluntary consumables contribution is requested per session, including for funded attendance. The pre-school has a policy excluding foods containing nuts.

Monthly invoices distinguish funded hours, private attendance, contributions and additional learning experiences, so totals vary with attendance during the month. PE and ballet are optional and charged separately. A non-refundable administration charge accompanies registration, and full fees remain payable during a child's sickness or family holiday. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the funding and fees page explains the charge structure.

• Individual learning. In June 2022, planning needed to address children's next steps more precisely, and adults needed to allow longer for answers. During a visit, ask how a key person now chooses an activity for an individual child and gives them time to respond.
• Attendance and sibling arrangements. The choices include mornings, afternoons and full days, with an earlier start conditional on a sibling attending one of the named schools. Discuss how your proposed pattern fits the term calendar and the recommended starting attendance.
• Food and extras. Families supply snacks, lunches and relevant changing supplies, alongside a voluntary consumables contribution and optional activity charges. Allergy-affected families should confirm current food handling practice, and the written quotation should distinguish chosen extras from private attendance.

Oldfield Park Pre School suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as school-length full days, especially those who value daily outdoor use and a practical connection with a school setting. The playground, nature area, visiting activities and Tapestry journal give it a recognisable offer, while toilet-training support addresses a concrete concern for younger children.

The June 2022 Good judgement is a positive starting point, with individual planning and time for children to think the most useful areas to scrutinise.