Stondon Stompers Pre-school

A village hall with a permanent preschool home gives Stondon Stompers its current character. Sole use of the building, secured in spring 2025, ended the daily packing away of resources and made room for age-specific spaces. This is a substantial change to the children's surroundings, rather than a new name for the same arrangement.

At its September 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated Stondon Stompers Outstanding, recognising the quality of education and finding safeguarding effective. That judgement predates the refurbishment and the expansion to younger children. Today, children can join from one year of age, and the setting has capacity for 50 children in total.

Based at the Village Hall in Lower Stondon, this charity is run by a voluntary parent and carer committee. Attendance is term-time only, with morning, afternoon and full-day patterns alongside shorter extensions. Its practical appeal is the combination of sessional care, a garden and a named contact for each family.

Rooms and Ages

The summer 2025 refurbishment reorganised the hall into spaces for different ages, with the 3-4 year old room already operating when the changes were announced. Dedicated spaces now support the different age groups, and children from one can attend. For families considering the younger provision, the layout and daily routine deserve close attention during a visit.

The garden adds several kinds of physical play. A climbing frame and balance beams sit alongside tyres and crates that children can arrange into obstacles. Another area allows running, scooters and ball play, so outdoor activity includes both balancing challenges and more open movement.

A covered part of the garden supports play in different weather. The wellies zone is a digging area where children can make mud cakes and get messy; a separate growing area involves planting fruit and vegetables. These give children materials they can change and investigate, rather than only equipment to use in a fixed way.

Learning and Activities

EYFS provides the foundation for learning through play, including communication, physical development and relationships. Stompers adds concrete curriculum goals: making up stories, dancing to familiar music, building confidence in movement and beginning to write a name. Planning can change with children's interests while keeping those longer-term goals in view.

Healthy Movers forms part of the physical activity offer, alongside dance and yoga. Weekly cooking activities bring another practical element to the day. Handling ingredients gives children something tangible to explore, with the policy linking baking to mathematical learning and taking turns.

In September 2022, everyday routines supplied teaching opportunities: children explored subtraction through empty seats at the snack table and quantities through potion-making. Staff also used conversation to extend vocabulary and encouraged children to attempt tasks such as preparing snacks and mixing paint. The examples matter because they show learning embedded in ordinary activity, rather than confined to a separate lesson.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who tracks development and acts as the family's main contact. Tapestry, the app used for photographs, observations and messages, gives parents a view of activities and learning. Parents can also contribute observations from home, helping staff connect a child's interests across both settings.

Settling is tailored to the child. A typical start includes an initial one-hour session with a parent or carer able to stay, followed by a two-hour session in which separation depends on readiness. The administration charge includes up to six hours of settling sessions and the consumables used during them. Regular updates accompany the process.

The key-person policy also provides a second familiar practitioner when the main contact is away. That is a useful continuity arrangement: the relationship with the setting need not depend entirely on one adult being present.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENDCo oversees support planning with the key person and parents. The Assess, Plan, Do, Review approach gathers information, agrees support, puts it into practice and revisits how it is working. Outside professionals can contribute, and additional inclusion funding may support individual intervention where applicable.

At the September 2022 inspection, Ofsted found outstanding SEND support, with joint planning, help for families using sign language and funded individual support contributing to children's progress. Those are dated findings; the current support mechanism is a plan developed with the family, rather than a general promise that every need will be met in the same way.

Staff undertake regular training, including annual updates in allergy awareness, food hygiene and safeguarding, and all have paediatric first-aid training. Serious allergies trigger an individual care plan setting out the allergen, response and measures to reduce contact. These arrangements give families concrete procedures to discuss.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Village Hall, Hillside Road, Lower Stondon, Bedfordshire SG16 6LQ. Childcare runs Monday to Friday during term time. Morning sessions run from 8.45am to 11.45am and afternoon sessions from 12.15pm to 3.15pm; Early Bird runs from 7.45am to 8.45am and Night Owl from 3.15pm to 4.15pm.

Full-day choices include 8.45am to 3.15pm and 7.45am to 3.15pm, with longer combinations also offered. Earlier morning sessions start at 7.45am, and an extended afternoon ends at 4.15pm. The minimum attendance is two sessions each week: two mornings, two afternoons or one full day can meet it.

Admission enquiries use an online form. Families can arrange a visit by contacting the setting, and open days take place during the year. These routes allow parents to discuss a specific attendance pattern rather than treating the opening window as a single booking option.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes universal funding, extended funding and two-year-funding for eligible children, delivered within the term-time offer. Extra hours beyond the funded allocation are charged privately. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, and the fees and funding information explains the charge structure.

Lunch Club runs from 11.45am to 12.15pm and covers staffing rather than food; it is included in private full-day fees, charged separately from morning or afternoon sessions, and remains payable when funded hours are used. Families using funded morning and afternoon sessions can instead collect at 11.45am and return at 12.15pm.

Parents provide packed lunches, while snacks are supported by a voluntary contribution on funded hours that is invoiced monthly and can be removed. Stompers uses a My Smiles approved snack menu and publishes a nut-free policy, with allergy information agreed with parents.

Non-food items have a mixed arrangement: parents supply nappies or pull-ups, wipes and creams, while the voluntary funded-hours contribution also supports additional resources and activities. The one-off administration charge is non-refundable and includes the settling provision described above.

Moving on to School

Stompers describes close links with Stondon Lower School, including use of its outdoor play area, field and library. Transition arrangements include visits, sharing agreed learning information and contact between staff and the receiving school. These can help children become familiar with their next setting. Attendance does not guarantee a school place; families still apply through the local authority admissions process.

• Term-time attendance. Morning, afternoon and full-day bookings follow the term calendar. Families needing childcare through school holidays will need to account for those breaks, as well as the minimum two-session weekly commitment.
• Longer-day finishing times. The full-day choices include an 8.45am to 4.45pm entry, while Night Owl and another full-day option finish at 4.15pm. Confirm the exact end time in the booking agreement before organising collection.
• Younger children's routines. Admission now starts at one, following the refurbishment into age-specific spaces. During a visit, ask to see the youngest children's space and discuss sleep, care routines and movement between indoor and outdoor areas.
• Funded lunches and allergies. Lunch Club remains a paid session for funded children, and families bring lunch from home. Include that arrangement in the cost comparison and, where allergies apply, confirm current food handling and the individual care plan.

Stondon Stompers suits families seeking term-time morning or afternoon sessions as well as those combining sessions into a full day. The permanent hall arrangement, varied garden spaces and key-person communication give the offer substance. The Outstanding judgement supplies strong inspection context, but it belongs to September 2022, before the building changes and younger intake. For a family choosing now, the most useful fit is between the child's age-specific daily routine, the session pattern and the separate funded-lunch arrangements.