Preschool 345

A volunteer committee, a Scout headquarters and a secure outdoor play area give Preschool 345 a clear community character. This Beeston preschool welcomes children aged two to four and has 30 places in total. Its charity structure gives parents and carers a way to contribute to the setting’s running, as well as to their own child’s experience.

Ofsted rated Preschool 345 Good on 30 June 2023 and found its safeguarding arrangements effective. The practical strengths are easy to picture: accessible play resources, time outdoors and a key person for each child. Morning, afternoon and combined full-day attendance are offered during term time.

The setting’s emphasis is on children taking an active part in their day. Choosing play, helping with snack routines and learning how to share sit alongside adult guidance. That makes everyday independence as much a part of the experience as organised activities.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets the learning and development requirements: here, children work towards them through play, conversation and activities shaped around their interests. Practitioners observe what children can already do, then combine demonstrations, guided activities and opportunities for children to direct their own play. This gives the day a purpose while leaving room for individual choices.

Registration is a shared pause in the session. Children sing, discuss the weather and date, and encounter a letter of the week. Story time brings children together again towards the end. The daily Registration and Story time songs make these changes of activity recognisable, giving children familiar cues rather than relying only on spoken instructions.

Construction, drawing, playdough and imaginative play provide different ways to explore ideas. Children can choose among the activities, while staff use observations of their interests and development to plan the day’s learning. Routine Makaton signs add another way to communicate alongside speech; music, baking and art also form part of the offer.

In June 2023, children built pretend homes using blankets, crates and imitation bricks, then moved the materials to create another home elsewhere in the garden. Another episode involved discussing how to retrieve a balloon from a tree. These examples show the value of open-ended play: children had a shared problem to solve and reasons to explain their ideas to one another.

Outdoor and Community Life

The 6th Beeston scout headquarters has adaptable indoor space and an enclosed outdoor play area. Children spend substantial parts of sessions playing inside and outside, with opportunities to use bikes, trikes, balls, sand and water. The garden gives physical play a regular place in the day rather than making it dependent on an occasional outing.

Our Promises is the preschool’s collection of everyday behaviour expectations. It covers taking turns, kindness, quieter indoor voices and keeping hands and feet to oneself. These are concrete expectations children can practise during shared play, including recognising frustration while learning that it does not justify hurting someone else.

In June 2023, a visiting music and movement teacher ran weekly activities involving dance and musical instruments. A lending library also helped children take stories home to share with their families. These were useful extensions of the preschool day, connecting movement with music and bringing books into family routines.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who helps them settle, builds a relationship with their family, tracks development and keeps parents informed. The key person is also available for conversation at the end of sessions. This gives families an identifiable practitioner to speak to about progress or changes at home.

Parents and carers can stay briefly at the start of a session, helping children move into their preschool routine. There are also practical ways to participate beyond these daily conversations. Snack volunteers prepare and serve food with staff guidance, while parents and carers can share a job, hobby or skill with the children. Committee participation offers a further route into decision-making, with meetings once each half-term.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The staff structure includes a SENCO, a language lead and safeguarding responsibilities. The language lead attends training and networking events, and families receive practical communication advice, including giving children time to respond and repeating familiar stories. These are mechanisms for supporting communication rather than a promise that every difficulty will be resolved in the same way.

At the June 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that staff understood children’s starting points, used additional funding sensitively to support individuals and helped children make good progress. The improvement priority was home-language support: children learning English as an additional language needed more opportunities to hear and use words from their home language.

In June 2023, families received learning updates through conversations and an online journal. Staff also exchanged assessments with childminders sharing a child’s care, and used school feedback to shape preparation for the next stage. Cutlery practice was one practical example, helping children prepare for eating at school when their preschool lunch experience involved packed food.

Children have a healthy snack during the morning, choosing milk or water and practising handwashing and tidying. In June 2023, children brought packed lunches; this is a dated lunch arrangement rather than a statement about today’s meal terms.

Sessions and Attendance

Preschool 345 operates at 5 Middle Street, Beeston, Nottingham, NG9 1GA. Attendance is term-time only, Monday to Friday. Morning sessions run from 9am to noon and afternoons from noon to 3pm; combining them gives a full day from 9am to 3pm.

An early start runs from 8.30am to 9am, and a late finish from 3pm to 3.30pm. These are separately charged additions to the session booking. They extend the preschool day at either end, but the term-time calendar remains a central consideration for families arranging childcare around work.

Funding and Paid Extras

Paid sessions and funded childcare are both offered. Funding includes universal support for three- and four-year-olds from the term after their third birthday, additional hours for eligible working families and routes for eligible two-year-olds. Funding is delivered during term time over 38 weeks and can be shared between two settings.

Families must complete a paper funding form and provide proof of their child’s birth date. Where a funding code or confirmation letter is required, it must be supplied before the relevant term starts; without the required information at the beginning of term, sessions become payable. Families should obtain a current written quotation for their chosen attendance pattern.

Getting There

The preschool is adjacent to Beeston’s tram and bus interchange. There is no parking at the setting, and families cannot use its driveway; the nearest free car park is TESCO, with short-term parking also on Church Street, where spaces can be busy.

• Term-time attendance. Morning, afternoon and combined days offer different weekly patterns, but the preschool operates during term time. Families needing holiday childcare will need to plan around that calendar.
• Home-language support. June 2023’s improvement priority concerned opportunities to hear and use children’s home languages. During a pre-arranged visit, ask how this now works for a child who also speaks another language at home.
• The full attendance quotation. Early starts and late finishes carry separate charges. Request a written quotation covering the chosen sessions, funded hours, lunch, snacks and non-food consumables so the whole arrangement is clear.
• Travel with young children. The driveway cannot be used for parking, and pushchairs cannot be stored indoors. Factor the walk from parking or public transport into the daily routine; items left outside remain at the family’s risk.

Preschool 345 suits families seeking morning or afternoon preschool sessions, as well as those combining them into a full day during term time. Its community structure gives parents useful ways to get involved, while the daily balance of chosen play, shared songs and outdoor activity makes its approach tangible.

The June 2023 Good judgement provides a positive inspection position, with home-language support the specific improvement priority to keep in view. The decision rests as much on practical fit as educational character: a preschool calendar, central Beeston location and optional extensions to the day need to work for the family’s routine.