Tiggywinkles Pre-School

A purpose-built outdoor classroom and a strong emphasis on children's independence give Tiggywinkles Pre-School its character. Based at Popels Hall in Winkfield, it accepts children aged two to five and has 32 places in total. Learning combines individual interests with planned teaching, while practical tasks give children opportunities to do things for themselves.

At its December 2025 inspection, Ofsted judged the assessed areas Strong standard, including curriculum and teaching, inclusion, achievement and welfare, and found that safeguarding standards were met. That is a report card with area judgements, rather than a single overall grade. Its detail is useful: children tested ideas with building blocks, practised dressing skills and took responsibility for everyday jobs. These are concrete foundations for the next stage of learning.

Attendance is term-time, with morning, morning-with-lunch and full-day options, subject to a minimum of three sessions each week. The choice gives families different ways to build a regular preschool routine.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage brings together children's communication, physical and emotional development with literacy, mathematics, understanding the world and creative expression. Here, planning uses termly themes but changes in response to children's interests and development. It provides a framework for the day, rather than requiring every child to work at the same point or pace.

Elements of Montessori sit alongside this framework, with an emphasis on individual development and adjustments to children's needs and interests. The practical question is how learning is matched to the child. In December 2025, counting activities varied with children's understanding, and staff encouraged them to touch or indicate objects as they counted. The task remained recognisable while its challenge changed.

Jolly Phonics provides daily structured work on the relationship between letters and sounds. Adult-supported activities sit alongside independent exploration, with reading and writing materials accessible throughout the day. This gives children opportunities to return to an interest after a planned session finishes, rather than confining early literacy to a single lesson.

In December 2025, story sacks supported book enjoyment, and children took a reading book home each day to share with their families. Staff used questions that allowed time for children to formulate an answer. Block play also became an opportunity to predict and experiment: children considered what might happen when differently sized blocks were stacked. Getting an answer wrong was part of working an idea out.

Outdoor and Community Life

A bright classroom and purpose-built outdoor classroom provide settings for practical mathematics and physical activity, weaving movement and hands-on learning into the day.

December 2025 examples included textured tiles explored with bare feet and a balance beam offering a different physical challenge. Children also practised managing shoes and socks, with help adjusted to what they could already do. Physical development included everyday self-care as well as organised activity.

The preschool works within Christian values and welcomes children of every faith. In December 2025, children's curiosity about a patka led to a visitor demonstrating how it was worn. This made discussion of different traditions specific and responsive to children's questions.

Relationships and Communication

Each child is allocated a key person before starting, giving the family a familiar practitioner for sharing information and discussing settling. Introductory sessions and visits are adapted to individual needs, and parents can remain briefly during the first week. If a child forms a stronger connection with another practitioner, the nominated key person can be reconsidered. The relationship takes priority over keeping the original allocation.

Communication includes written progress reports, consultation meetings and learning observations recorded through Tapestry, an online journal. Parents can contribute observations from home, while children's own learning journals include work they choose to celebrate. The approach gives families several ways to understand progress and add their knowledge of the child.

In December 2025, weekly newsletters, meetings and activity materials sent home gave parents practical ways to share children's learning.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the December 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that the key-person arrangements supported secure relationships, that signs and visual resources helped children with communication difficulties, and that leaders should pursue a greater impact for disadvantaged children, children with SEND and others facing barriers. The positive judgement therefore sits alongside a clear continuing priority for inclusion.

The SEND policy sets out an assess, plan, do and review cycle, coordinated by the SENCO with the child's key person and parents. Support can include different materials, additional adult input or advice from outside professionals. Plans have agreed outcomes and review dates, so families have a mechanism for discussing whether an intervention is helping.

There is an important boundary: where resources, training, funding or support are insufficient to meet a child's needs, the preschool may review whether the place is suitable. Such concerns are discussed with parents, although a serious risk to safety or wellbeing can lead to immediate contract termination. Families requiring substantial support should weigh that condition alongside the individual planning arrangements.

Staff have undertaken paediatric first-aid training, with safeguarding training refreshed regularly. In December 2025, children used cuddle cards to communicate a need for reassurance, and staff gave a reluctant child time to become comfortable removing a coat. Those examples show how emotional needs were handled through small, individual adjustments.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Popels Hall, Church Road, Winkfield, Windsor, SL4 4SG. Morning attendance runs from 8.30am to noon; Morning w/Lunch extends to 12.30pm; Full Day runs from 8.30am to 3.30pm. The minimum booking is three sessions per week over the term, and the calendar includes term breaks and INSET closures. Families need an attendance plan that accommodates those interruptions.

The contact form requests the start date, child's age, anticipated school transition and preferred days and sessions.

Funding and Paid Extras

Tiggywinkles accepts targeted funding for eligible two-year-olds, the Universal Entitlement of 15 hours for three- and four-year-olds, and the Working Parent Entitlement of up to 30 hours, subject to eligibility. Funding is used within the term-time attendance model. The Working Parent Entitlement requires initial and continuing HMRC eligibility, and funding claims also require the relevant parent declaration and supporting identification.

Attendance using free early education hours only runs from 8.30am to 11.30am, Monday to Friday, with a waiting list for completely free places. This has a different finish time from the standard morning session. Tax-Free Childcare and Childcare Vouchers are also accepted, subject to their applicable conditions. Current prices come in the preschool's written quotation; the fees and funding page explains the funding routes.

Hot lunches are included in the fees when a child attends for four or more hours. Food is home-cooked, the menu rotates over three weeks, and the preschool's policy is to avoid serving food containing nuts while catering for special diets.

For moving on, the preschool describes partnerships with Meadowbrook and Lambrook to support transition. Attendance does not guarantee a school place: families still use the local authority admissions process for a state school or the school's own process for an independent school. For children with SEND, summer-term meetings can bring together parents, preschool staff, the receiving school and relevant professionals to share successful strategies.

• Term-time rhythm. The three-session weekly minimum and term closures shape the commitment. Morning attendance and a day ending at 3.30pm suit different routines, but both require regular bookings.
• Funded-only mornings. Free-hours-only attendance ends at 11.30am and has its own waiting list. Compare that pattern with the later finish of Morning w/Lunch when planning collection and meals.
• Individual support. The SEND policy combines reviewed support plans with a suitability condition where a child's needs cannot be met. At a visit, how would the key person and SENCO organise settling, daily support and reviews for your child?
• Allergy arrangements. The preschool has a no-nuts food policy and caters for special diets. Families affected by allergies should confirm current practice for their child's particular requirements.

Tiggywinkles suits families seeking regular term-time preschool education through either morning sessions or full days, with a morning-with-lunch option between them. Its outdoor classroom, individual planning and practical independence give the offer substance. The December 2025 findings add strong inspection support, while the continuing inclusion priority and the SEND suitability condition deserve careful attention from families whose children need additional help.