Growing Stars Pre-School

An enclosed garden filled with natural materials gives Growing Stars Pre-School a clear outdoor identity. Based at Marston Leisure Park in Marston Moreteyne, it combines space to explore with an emphasis on children's individual interests. This is a preschool where play, language and practical independence have a substantial place in the day.

Ofsted rated the setting Good on 18 November 2024. It has 30 places in total and accepts children from two years old. Morning, afternoon and all-day attendance run during term time, making it relevant to families seeking either shorter sessions or a fuller preschool day.

The strongest reasons to consider it are concrete: access to a playing field and local park, individual planning for children with additional needs, and Tapestry, the online learning journal through which parents can see photographs and observations. Those details connect outdoor experience, care and communication rather than leaving each as a separate promise.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care. Here, learning through play gives children opportunities to practise social skills, use their imagination and become more independent. Individual planning takes account of their interests, so the starting point is the child rather than simply an activity set for everyone.

In November 2024, children helped construct a water wall, choosing materials and trying unfamiliar ways to attach them. This gave practical exploration a clear purpose: making something work. Another activity involved dough, spices and colouring, with children describing changes in texture, scent and appearance. These are useful examples of conversation growing out of something children are doing, rather than language practice standing apart from play.

Outdoor storytelling also featured in November 2024. Children used stones to invent narratives and turned to books for further ideas. The link between making up a story and exploring a book gives reading a role within children's own interests.

Language experiences extend beyond English. Staff share songs and nursery rhymes in other languages, learn basic words to support children who speak English as an additional language, and invite parents to contribute their languages. For families, this offers a practical connection between home language and preschool life.

Outdoor and Community Life

The large enclosed garden contains natural materials for children to investigate. Access to a playing field and local park adds different spaces for activity, while community links include care-home visits, contact with pets and emergency services. Outdoor experience therefore reaches beyond the garden itself.

In November 2024, outings included a supermarket, post office and forest centre. Parents also contributed traditional food and dances. These experiences connected children's learning to familiar services and other people's lives, giving them subjects to talk about beyond the preschool's immediate surroundings.

There is a qualification to the positive picture. In November 2024, some activities needed more demanding questions and opportunities for children to work out solutions. Practical play was engaging, but the next step was to make it more consistently stretching.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a keyworker who acts as the family's principal contact and records their development. That gives parents a clear person with whom to discuss their child, rather than relying solely on whichever member of staff happens to be nearby.

Tapestry brings photographs and observations together in a Learning Journey, covering experiences at preschool and at home. Its practical value is continuity: parents can see what has interested their child and connect it with family experiences. The journal is more useful than a simple account of completed activities because it follows learning over time.

In November 2024, staff used children's interests to help them settle and offered parents practical suggestions for extending learning at home. Children also used labelled boxes to express their feelings, with adults helping them manage disagreements and sharing. The emphasis was on giving children ways to communicate what they felt and resolve small difficulties.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the November 2024 inspection, Ofsted identified SEND support as a strength, found that staff worked effectively with families and professionals, and judged safeguarding effective. Current support arrangements include SENCO and safeguarding lead roles, individual planning, small-step action plans reviewed with parents, and a one-page profile for each child with SEND. The profile gives staff and external professionals a shared account of the child's needs.

The team included ten childcare staff in November 2024, six of whom held early-years qualifications at level 2 or above. These are figures from that period rather than a description of today's staffing deployment.

Children bring lunch from home, while snacks attract a separate per-session contribution; the preschool has a nut-free policy and discusses individual dietary requirements with the keyworker and manager. Parents retain responsibility for packing a lunch suited to their child's needs.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Marston Leisure Park, 143 Bedford Road, Marston Moreteyne, Bedfordshire, MK43 0LD. Attendance is term-time only, Monday to Friday. The morning session runs from 8.45am to 11.45am, followed by Lunch Club from 11.45am to noon; the afternoon session runs from noon to 3pm.

All-day attendance is also offered. Early drop-off runs from 8.30am to 8.45am and carries a separate charge, as does Lunch Club. This gives families a choice between a shorter preschool session and attendance spanning the day, with the lunch interval treated as a separate part of the charging structure.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form, which asks for the child's details and requested days and sessions, or by telephone on 07864818102. The form includes a setting choice, so Marston is the relevant selection for this branch.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare and privately paid sessions are offered, and Tax-Free Childcare is accepted. For eligible children aged three to four, the funding information describes 30 hours each week across 38 term-time weeks. Eligibility remains a condition of that entitlement.

A per-session contribution is requested for snacks and malleable materials, also supporting celebration crafts, messy play and external visitors. These items are charged separately from attendance; parents supply lunch. An additional charge may apply to Forest Schools and other extra activities. Forest Schools is identified here as an activity that may carry an extra charge, rather than a specified regular session.

An administration charge applies when registration is accepted and includes a logo polo shirt. A deposit holds the requested days and sessions and is credited against the final month's invoice. Current prices come in the preschool's written quotation, allowing families to consider attendance charges alongside lunch arrangements and other contributions.

• Challenge during play. In November 2024, children sometimes needed more opportunities to reason and solve problems. At a visit, ask how staff now extend an activity when a child has mastered its first stage.
• The lunch transition. In November 2024, routines before lunch sometimes stopped children from continuing absorbing play or stories. Ask how the morning session, Lunch Club and afternoon attendance fit together for a child staying all day.
• Term-time care and extras. Attendance runs during term time, with separate charges for early drop-off and Lunch Club, plus contributions towards snacks and materials. Families needing holiday care should weigh that calendar alongside the complete written quotation.
• Visits and dietary needs. Tours require an appointment arranged through the contact form. Families managing allergies should use that discussion to confirm current practice under the nut-free policy and agree arrangements for home-packed lunch.

Growing Stars Pre-School suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions, as well as those wanting all-day preschool attendance within a term-time calendar. The garden, wider outdoor access and language experiences give children several routes into learning, while the keyworker and Tapestry provide clear points of contact for parents.

The November 2024 findings leave two useful questions about practice: how consistently children are challenged, and how smoothly play continues around lunchtime. Alongside those considerations, individual SEND planning and the practical connection between home and preschool make this a setting with specific reasons to merit a visit.